Throughout Ghana’s history, fraternal societies and their associated architectural designs have dominated many buildings across parts of the country.

While some of these buildings now stand alone today, others remain relevant to members belonging to one of the oldest fraternal organisations in the world known as Odd Fellows.

For instance, Cape Coast in the Central Region is home to many of these fraternal society buildings that still exist with unique designs, architecture and special inscriptions.

A photo of one of these buildings has recently been sighted and shared by @AsafoFlags, a handle on X which focuses on telling stories of the Fante people from the Central Region.

The image shows a building which was built by the Odd Fellows, one of the oldest fraternal societies founded in 1730 in the UK.

This showed that as far back as the days of slavery in the then Gold Coast, fraternal society organisations like Freemasons, Odd Fellows existed.

The rather tall building has a notable trend with most of its windows and doors completely shut out – a unique theme of most fraternal society buildings.

Today, that very building has the inscription 'Belgrave Memorial Hall,' with the date '1879' embossed on it.

According to research, Freemasons and Odd Fellows are two different organisations with almost the same similarities.

For instance, Odd Fellows exist with aim to provide a framework that promotes personal and social development. It is also an international fraternity consisting of lodges.

Freemasons, on the other hand, is the oldest fraternal organisation in the world that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons and builders in the 14th century.

“Doing my rounds in Cape Coast taking in the architecture, I was told this building was built by the Odd Fellows, one of the oldest fraternal societies founded in 1730 in the UK they dabbled in Freemasonry. probably explains the Masonic coins being washed up on the beach regular,” the post by AsafoFlags read.

See the image and post below

Doing my rounds in Cape Coast taking in the architecture, I was told this building was built by the Odd Fellows, one of the oldest fraternal societies founded in 1730 in the UK they dabbled in Freemasonry.. probably explains the Masonic coins being washed up on the beach regular pic.twitter.com/Rf5NE4WG2w

— Fante Asafo Flags (@AsafoFlags) March 22, 2024