The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, commonly known as simply the Scottish Rite or in the United Kingdom as the Rose Croix, is one of several Rites of Freemasonry. A Rite is a progressive series of degrees conferred by various Masonic organizations or bodies, each of which operates under the control of its own central authority. In the Scottish Rite the central authority is called a Supreme Council.
The Scottish Rite is one of the appendant bodies of Freemasonry that a Master Mason may join for further exposure to the principles of Freemasonry. In England and some other countries, while the Scottish Rite is not accorded official recognition by the Grand Lodge, there is no prohibition against a Freemason electing to join it. In the United States, however, the Scottish Rite is officially recognized by Grand Lodges as an extension of the degrees of Freemasonry. The Scottish Rite builds upon the ethical teachings and philosophy offered in the craft lodge, or Blue Lodge, through dramatic presentation of the individual degrees.
The Scottish Rite Creed is: "Human progress is our cause, liberty of thought our supreme wish, freedom of conscience our mission, and the guarantee of equal rights to all people everywhere our ultimate goal."
The Scottish Rite Temple located next to Lummus Park in downtown Miami. The temple was built under the requirements of the Masonic Association. It borrows motifs from Greek Classical architecture. This landmark is Miami's first Art Deco style building. According to the American Institute of Architects, AIA Florida Top 100 Buildings: “Well before the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs in Paris that gave Art Deco its contemporary name, Scottish Rite Masonry laid the cornerstone for its building in October 1922. Employing abstracted and stylized decorative elements from Egyptian and European history, and a simplified form of Neoclassicism, Kiehnel and Elliott’s design was an early harbinger of Modernism in Miami. The two-headed eagles on the entablature above the façade’s four Doric columns are symbols of the Scottish Rite, and the number is that of this lodge. The pyramidal roof, based loosely on the mausoleum of Halicarnassus, was a popular motif for civic temples, and was also used to crown the Dade County Courthouse.”
