Family business to sell million-dollar Masonic Lodge Hall in Armidale

The Armidale couple bought the former Freemans Society building in 1995 for about $225,000 and expect to sell it for around the million dollar mark.

The auction is going ahead on September 10, at 10am.

At the height of their successes, the Easts had 50 staff members working across the 480 metre squares of floor-space.

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There, they manufactured and packaged their own educational CDs for export to homes and schools across Australia and parts of the world.

But today it is whisper-quiet beneath the high-arched ceilings, bereft of the usual hum-drum of human activity.

Since the introduction of the internet, Mr East said the demand for their CDs dropped.

The family business had to turn their educational CDs into online content, which is now accessible via their website EdAlive.

Employees at the business have since been streamlined into IT, admin and tech specialists mainly working remotely or from home.

"So, now we have a very big building with an online business that doesn't package or ship anything anymore," Mr East said.

"It's time for somebody else to use the building."

Mr East said the main hall of the building is about 150 years old. It is rumoured to be the oldest Masonic Lodge Hall for the Freemason Society in NSW.

"And being masons, and into building things, they joined two buildings together and extended the main part out towards Barney Street," he said.

"Then added a new facade out the front."

When the Easts bought the big brick building in 1995, they added a loading dock, air conditioning, repainted the walls, and kitted out one of the two halls into an office space. The other hall they used as a warehouse.

The building has two halls, two offices, a foyer with internal stained-glass windows, a spacious kitchen, and a general all-purpose area.

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