Hill Devendorf, PC (Modern Maccabees Temple/Ladies of the Modern Maccabees Temple)

Prominently located on a triangular site in a residential section of the city is the former headquarters of the Ladies of the Modern Maccabees, a beneficiary society for women. The temple is an imposing Beaux-Arts classical design created by a local architect, Harvey (1870–1942). The two-story limestone building stands on a raised penciled foundation of the same material. A giant pedimented portico supported by Composite columns and reached by a monumental staircase fronts the cube. An entablature with a block modillion-supported cornice braces a parapet wall that fronts a low-pitched roof, which is topped by a shallow dome clad with red tile. The interior is arranged around a central grand staircase underneath the lighted dome. On its rise upward the staircase splits at a landing and culminates in a tower room underneath the dome. The fabulous Composite-columned lobby has golden scagliola wainscoting. The floral motif of the mosaic floor, in blues, roses, and golds, swirls around an insignia of the Modern Maccabees original order.

In 1902 the Ladies of the Modern Maccabees severed its ties with the Knights of the Modern Maccabees with which it had organized as an auxiliary in 1886. In 1904–1906, as the membership to whom it offered “Industry, Fraternity and Protection” approached 50,000 in Michigan alone, the organization constructed this building. In 1926 the women and men merged into one organization known as the Maccabees and moved in 1928 to their headquarters in Detroit. Hill Devendorf, PC, now occupies the Maccabees building.