The stone structure that towers over the corner of Murray and Main streets in Downtown Binghamton has, for as long as many Binghamton residents can recall, been a source of mystery. Its deteriorated, cream-colored walls, boarded up windows and rust-decorated doors blend into the Binghamton scenery, yet it has not provided its residents with any useful function in over four decades. However, the latest Broome County tax foreclosure auction on Feb. 21, 2015 has landed the Masonic Temple under the ownership of John Diehl, who plans to transform the deteriorating property into a theater for live music performances.

Back in 1922, Walter H. Whitlock and Charles H. Conrad designed the temple after an Art Moderne style, fitting it with a large theater and a grand ballroom. It was during the 1960s and ’70s that the Masons opened the temple for community functions, such as live concerts, Broadway performances and even the Tri-Cities Opera.

Floyd L. Maines Veterans Memorial Arena, which began hosting many of the functions that once supported the Masonic Temple, was constructed in 1973. It was soon after that the vision of the temple’s purpose began to grow fuzzy. Binghamton residents of the 1980s witnessed the inception of a plan to convert the Masonic Temple into senior housing, while $200,000 later, those of the 1990s witnessed that plan’s demise because of an unanticipated halt in funding. By 1997, the property was foreclosed.

Binghamton Associates, a company operated by David Band, a Florida developer, purchased the property for $85,000 with the aim to convert the once-dynamic community center into student housing. It only took one year for that project to be abandoned, too. Instead, the edifice currently houses scattered piles of construction debris.

Even today, the future of the Masonic Temple is unclear. On Nov. 15, 2014, Sam Khan, a Brooklyn contractor who operates the company Great American Contracting Inc., purchased the building for $19,500 at last fall’s Broome County tax foreclosure auction. When asked what his plans for the property were, his answer was rather ambiguous.

“Try and do something, like build a gym,” Khan said. “It’s a big place, it is a huge place.”

Due to this skeletal business plan, Broome County turned down Khan’s bid offer and put the property up for auction yet again on Feb. 21, 2015. For $7,500, John Diehl and a small group have obtained ownership of the Masonic Temple and plan to repurpose it as a theater for live music performances. Additionally, Diehl has expressed that he wishes to add a community performing arts center, with classrooms, to engage Binghamton residents and provide opportunities for instruction.

Today, the interior walls of the old Masonic Temple are stripped bare. Unfinished and unsightly plumbing remains exposed. The dark, dreary air of the catacombs underneath the auditorium has spread throughout the building like an infectious disease. Time and time again, plans have been conceived to save the degrading structure from slipping into a purposeless grave, yet time and time again, these plans have all fallen themselves. However, not all hope is lost. Only time can tell us if the tired walls that once contained music and laughter may do so once again.