Marciano Art Foundation

A Temple Transformed

Walk up to the Marciano Art Foundation and you’ll see a building that demands attention. The 1961 Scottish Rite Masonic Temple sits like a fortress on Wilshire Boulevard, its white marble and travertine facade decorated with cryptic symbols, biblical passages, and eight towering 14-foot sculptures depicting figures from Masonic history. Artist and architect Millard Sheets designed every detail, from the exterior mosaics telling the story of temple building through history to the interior spaces where Freemasons once performed elaborate rituals.

The Marciano brothers purchased this enigmatic structure in 2013 for $8 million and transformed it into a contemporary art museum. Architect Kulapat Yantrasast of wHY handled the conversion, gutting some spaces while preserving others. The result gives you access to a building few people ever saw inside. Walk through doors that once admitted only Freemasons, climb staircases adorned with Nicolas Party’s fantastical forest mural, and explore galleries carved from what was once a 2,000-seat auditorium.

The Collection and Exhibitions

The foundation’s holdings focus on contemporary art from 1990 forward. You’ll find work by established names like Ai Weiwei, Yayoi Kusama, Christopher Wool, and Takashi Murakami alongside emerging artists. The Marcianos collect in depth, acquiring multiple works from individual artists to show how their practices develop over time. Rotating exhibitions draw from this collection, supplemented by occasional commissioned installations.

The Theater gallery presents a changing array of large-format installations and presentations.

Current (as of writing) exhibitions include John Giorno’s text-based paintings and archival materials from his role in New York’s art scene since the 1960s, plus Corita Kent’s lesser-known slide archive from her teaching years at Immaculate Heart College.

The Relic Room: Masonic Secrets Revealed

Make your way to the mezzanine level and step into the former Masonic library, now the Relic Room. This space preserves the original dark wood cabinetry and a stunning double-headed eagle stained glass window that once filtered the temple’s limited natural light. The Masons left behind more than they took when they departed in 1994, and the foundation displays this abandoned collection as a window into a secretive world.

Glass cases hold silk and satin banners embroidered with Masonic emblems in gold and silver braid. The Masons carried these ornate banners during rituals and occasional public processions, each one identifying a specific lodge. You’ll see tasseled fezzes, elaborate theatrical costumes with wigs and false eyebrows, and photographs of past lodge members lined up in their regalia. The most remarkable objects are the painted theatrical backdrops, some dating back over a century. Scottish Rite Masons staged elaborate ritual dramas as forms of ethical instruction, with members advancing through 29 additional degrees beyond basic Masonry. These performances required intricate costumes and multiple scene changes, turning spiritual lessons into theatrical spectacle.

The Relic Room curator, Susan L. Aberth, notes that these theatrical productions functioned as methods for spiritual and moral self-improvement. Standing before a massive backdrop depicting an infernal scene of writhing souls, you get a sense of how these rituals combined drama, symbolism, and moral education. The Masons loved their ceremonies and pageantry, and the objects they left behind tell that story without romanticizing or dismissing it.

Architecture and History

The building’s Masonic past keeps revealing itself as you explore. Beyond the Relic Room, you’ll notice original gold-tiled water fountains (no longer functioning), elevator doors emblazoned with bronze compasses, and cryptic symbols woven into the architectural details. Sheets’ original mosaics appear throughout, and the Quaternion installation by Kristen Wentrcek and Andrew Zebulon responds directly to the building’s Masonic symbolism with furniture carved from foam and coated to look like stone.

The foundation preserved architectural elements other renovations might have destroyed. High ceilings and long windowless walls that once created dramatic settings for Masonic ceremonies now provide ideal spaces for large-scale contemporary art. The former 2,000-seat theater became a massive gallery with exposed structural traces across the concrete walls, ghosts of the raked seating visible as architectural scars. You can feel the building’s original purpose even as it serves its new function.

Planning Your Visit

The museum spans multiple floors with varied gallery sizes. Most visitors spend 1.5 to 2 hours exploring the current exhibitions and permanent installations. Start on the ground floor and work your way up, saving the Kusama room and stairwell murals for the upper levels.

Photography is allowed throughout the galleries without flash or tripods. The polka-dot room attracts crowds, so visit midweek if you want less competition for photos. Staff members know the building’s history and can point out preserved Masonic details you might otherwise miss.

The foundation takes a different approach than LA’s other contemporary art venues. LACMA, MOCA, and The Broad each have distinct identities and collections. The Marciano offers something different through its focus on a single private collection shown in rotating themes, plus the added dimension of the building’s extraordinary history and architecture.