Freemasonry came to California just prior to the Gold Rush of 1849 . By 1850 , a Grand Lodge was constituted in Sacramento , to oversee the Lodges operating throughout the State at that time ( primarily in port towns along the Sacramento Delta and gold mining towns in the Sierra foothills ) . Construction began in 1861 for a new Grand Lodge building in San Francisco at the corner of Post and Montgomery Streets . It was completed in 1863 and destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake . The architectural firm of Bliss & Faville designed a new building for the Grand Lodge of California at 25 Van Ness Avenue which was completed in 1913 and occupied by them until 1958 when it relocated to the new building at 1111 California Street . The 25 Van Ness building is currently used by the Rent Board of San Francisco , but evidence of its Masonic history survives in the façade , lobby and other areas that bear Masonic motifs
1906 San Francisco earthquake
1906 San Francisco earthquake
SF Masonic Auditorium