By Brete Murphy · November 11, 2026
Astoria Lodge and King David Lodge both used Advance’s temple before their histories brought them to Castle Hall at 37-09 31st Avenue. Their later institutional continuations now share another building in College Point. Between those addresses lies a story of separate lodges, shared premises and an incomplete meeting-place record.
← Advance Temple, Then and Now: Connecting Story 13 · Connecting Stories: Complete Guide · The Seven Lodges
An October 28, 1934 newspaper notice announced King David Lodge No. 994’s next meeting in its “new quarters.”
The address was Castle Hall, 37-09 31st Avenue in Astoria.
The meeting was scheduled for October 29, with proposed bylaw changes among the business.[1]
The announcement records a transition.
King David had previously used Advance Lodge’s temple on Grand Avenue, now 30th Avenue.
Its notices now placed it in another building.
Astoria Lodge No. 963 also used Castle Hall, according to its later institutional history.
The exact dates of Astoria’s stay remain unresolved.
The two lodge histories therefore connect the same pair of Astoria addresses.
Their later continuations supply a third: the Anchor-Astoria temple in College Point.
The Hard Years in Astoria’s Account
The Anchor-Astoria history describes 1930–1937 as a difficult period for Astoria Lodge’s membership and finances.
It also records the move to Castle Hall.
The account does not give a precise arrival date or establish the terms under which the lodge used the premises.[2]
King David’s notices provide a more closely bracketed transition.
A January 1933 reference still placed it at 114 Grand Avenue.
The October 1934 notice announced the new Castle Hall quarters.
Further notices in late 1934 and 1935 continued to identify activity there.[1]
The timing places both stories within the Depression years.
It does not establish that either lodge moved because Castle Hall was cheaper.
No supplied lease, account or minute entry compares the costs of the two buildings.
Even King David’s reported business concerning delinquent members and bylaw amendments cannot, by itself, explain the move.
The financial context is relevant.
The particular decisions remain to be reconstructed.
Two Lodges From Advance’s Temple
Astoria’s first regular meeting under dispensation took place in Advance’s temple on June 27, 1919.
Its later history describes thirteen Masons organizing after leaving an unnamed “mother lodge.”
Several connections point toward Advance, but the earlier affiliation of every founder still requires confirmation.[2]
King David received its charter in May 1922.
Its early meeting-place history also belongs to Advance’s building.[3]
These are parallel uses of a temple, not proof of identical origins.
The record does not establish that King David’s founders all came from Advance.
Nor does it establish that Astoria and King David coordinated their later moves.
What can be stated is narrower and useful.
Both institutions began their documented lodge work in Advance’s temple.
Both later appear in connection with Castle Hall.
They remained separate lodges.
Read Astoria’s Thirteen Founders →
Read Advance Temple, Then and Now →
What Sharing an Address Establishes
The Castle Hall references do not yet supply a complete occupancy calendar.
Astoria’s arrival and departure dates are unknown.
King David’s move is bracketed by notices, but its final Castle Hall meeting has not been identified.
The exact period when both used the building therefore remains unresolved.
Nor do the references establish that the lodges occupied the same room, used the same entrance arrangements or held joint events.
Those details should not be reconstructed from a street address alone.
The connection does not depend on describing an undocumented interior.
The building supplied premises for two institutions whose earlier histories had already intersected elsewhere.
That is enough to make it part of the connecting series.
What Kind of Hall Was It?
Castle Hall’s ownership and operation in the 1930s remain open questions.
The name has prompted a possible Knights of Pythias connection in the research.
No supplied record establishes that origin for this property.
The name should therefore remain a lead to investigate, not a finding.
The author’s later-use research describes the building around 1940 as a restaurant and bar with rooms above.[4]
That description does not automatically establish the arrangement during the lodges’ earlier occupancy.
It should not be used to place either lodge on a particular floor without a dated source.
The building’s original purpose is also unresolved.
Calling it a property that was “never a temple” would go beyond the evidence.
For now, Castle Hall is the name attached to the meeting-place references.
Directories, deeds, permits and contemporary advertisements may establish who managed it and how its rooms were offered.
The Lodges Continue
Astoria’s history records activity beyond the Depression years, including wartime service and later anniversary gatherings.
It reports sixty-five members serving in the armed forces during the Second World War.[2]
King David also continued.
The supplied research records its participation in a 1954 service at the Astoria Center of Israel.
That reference documents an occasion and a relationship with another institution.
It does not establish King David’s regular meeting address that year.[3]
The same caution applies to membership composition.
A program on Jewish humor and participation in a synagogue service are meaningful aspects of King David’s activities.
They do not, without fuller evidence, establish the religious identity of every member or provide a demographic comparison with Astoria Lodge.
The meeting-place histories after Castle Hall remain incomplete.
A later description associated King David with Forest Hills, but the full address sequence still needs to be assembled.
Their Later Institutional Paths
Astoria consolidated with Anchor on December 1, 1985.
The resulting lodge became Anchor-Astoria No. 729.[2]
King David followed another sequence.
It combined with Cardozo in November 1975.
Rufus King joined that body in February 1982.
The resulting Cardozo-Rufus-King-David branch entered Harmony No. 241 in November 1990, alongside Maspeth-Constitution and North Shore.[5]
These changes explain where the earlier lodge histories continued.
They do not mean the old lodges remained separately active under the later names.
They also do not fill the missing address histories between Castle Hall and consolidation.
Institutional succession and physical occupancy need to be followed separately.
Read Anchor-Astoria’s Lineage →
The Building’s Later Uses
The author’s research, drawing on Forgotten New York and Holy Cross Ukrainian Catholic Church material, identifies a later church use.
The supplied account dates the Basilian Fathers’ purchase to 1944 and places Holy Cross worship in the building until the parish moved to its own church in the late 1960s.[4]
The same research identifies Casa Galicia with the property from 1994.
These are later institutional chapters.
Their exact acquisition and occupancy dates should follow the property and organizational records.
The sequence is useful without treating it as a complete demographic history.
A building used by lodges later accommodated a parish and a cultural society.
That does not show that one population simply replaced another, or that every change in occupancy reflected the same cause.
It shows that premises could be adapted to different organizations over time.
A Shared Building Again
Under the author’s November 2026 account, Harmony began meeting in the Anchor-Astoria temple in College Point in September 2024.[5]
That supplies the present-day connection.
Astoria’s institutional history continues within the host lodge.
King David’s continues within Harmony.
They now share a building, as their predecessors both used Advance’s temple and later Castle Hall.
The pattern is not an unbroken joint tenancy.
The dates, rooms and arrangements differ.
Its significance lies in the recurring practicality of shared premises.
Separate institutions could use the same address without becoming one lodge.
Castle Hall is one chapter in that longer story.
Read Where the Lines Meet: The College Point Temple →
Endnotes
1. King David’s Meeting Notices
Times Union:
- January 8, 1933, page 28.
- October 28, 1934, page 20.
- November 25, 1934.
- December 16, 1934.
- November 24, 1935.
The October 1934 reference announces the October 29 meeting in new quarters.
An announcement is distinguished from a retrospective account of the completed event.
The notices do not establish the financial reasons for the move.
2. Astoria Lodge
Anchor-Astoria Lodge No. 729, “History,” approximately 1998, as transcribed in the author’s research packet.
Supports the founding account, Castle Hall reference, reported wartime service and 1985 consolidation.
The precise dates of Astoria’s Castle Hall occupancy remain unresolved.
See Astoria’s Thirteen Founders.
3. King David’s Activities and Later Location References
The author’s King David article and underlying sources, including:
- Times Union, March 24, 1935.
- Daily News, March 14, 1954.
- Brooklyn Record, April 2, 1954.
- Herald Statesman, January 14, 1972.
Programs and service participation are distinguished from a complete membership profile or regular meeting-place chronology.
4. Castle Hall’s Later Uses
Brete Murphy’s research notes, November 2026.
Forgotten New York, “Casa Galicia.”
Holy Cross Ukrainian Catholic Church historical material cited in the author’s research.
The article attributes the restaurant, church and Casa Galicia sequence to these supplied references.
The original building purpose, 1930s ownership and exact room arrangements remain unresolved.
No direct source URLs were supplied.
5. Consolidations and Present Meeting Place
Grand Lodge of New York records as compiled by Brete Murphy.
The author’s Harmony and Anchor-Astoria series.
Brete Murphy’s November 2026 confirmation of Harmony’s September 2024 arrival in College Point.
Harmony’s 1990 formation included three bodies: Maspeth-Constitution, Cardozo-Rufus-King-David and North Shore.
6. Scope and Remaining Gaps
The article follows documented meeting-place references and later institutional continuations.
It does not establish:
- That Castle Hall was a cheaper alternative.
- That the lodges coordinated their moves.
- The exact period of overlapping occupancy.
- A Knights of Pythias origin.
- An interior arrangement.
- Ethnic identity inferred from founders’ surnames.
- A complete demographic succession represented by the building.
Questions for Further Research
- Who owned and managed Castle Hall in the 1930s?
- What do directories and advertisements say about its rooms?
- Was there a documented Knights of Pythias connection?
- When did Astoria arrive?
- When did each lodge leave?
- Did the lodges use the same room?
- Where did each meet afterward?
- Did other lodges or fraternal bodies use the property?
- What records establish the later purchase and occupancy dates?
- Does a 1930s photograph or historic tax photograph survive?
Follow the Lodge Histories
- Astoria’s Thirteen Founders
- Anchor-Astoria: Across Queens to College Point
- Harmony: A Manhattan Number, Six Lodge Histories
- Advance Service Mizpah: Three Kinds of Queens
Continue Through the Connecting Stories
- Advance Temple, Then and Now
- The Two James Prowses
- Where the Lines Meet: The College Point Temple
- Connecting Stories: Complete Guide
← Advance Temple, Then and Now: Connecting Story 13 · Connecting Stories: Complete Guide · The College Point Temple →
The Seven Lodges: Start Here · Seven Lodges, Thirty-Three Histories · Queens History Blog
