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Foire du Caire building (1828), from Paris, the earliest manifestation of Egyptian Revivalism: façade adorned with heads of the Egyptian goddess Hathor

Egyptian Hall (1812) in London

Egyptian revival is an architectural style that uses the motifs and imagery of ancient Egypt. It is attributed generally to the public awareness of ancient Egyptian monuments generated by Napoleon's conquest of Egypt and Admiral Nelson's defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of the Nile in 1798. The size and monumentality of the façades 'discovered' during his adventure cement the hold of Egyptian aesthetics on the Parisian elite. Napoleon took a scientific expedition with him to Egypt. Publication of the expedition's work, the Description de l'Égypte, began in 1809 and was published as a series through 1826. However, works of art and architecture (such as funerary monuments) in the Egyptian style had been made or built occasionally on the European continent and the British Isles since the time of the Renaissance.

History

Egyptian influence before Napoleon

The most important example is probably Gian Lorenzo Bernini's obelisk in the Piazza Navona in Rome. It influenced the obelisk constructed as a family funeral memorial by Sir Edward Lovatt Pierce for the Allen family at Stillorgan in Ireland in 1717, one of several Egyptian obelisks erected in Ireland during the early 18th century. Others may be found at Belan, County Kildare; and Dangan, County Meath. The Casteltown Folly in County Kildare is probably the best known, albeit the least Egyptian-styled.

Egyptian buildings had also been built as garden follies. The most elaborate was probably the one built by Frederick I, Duke of Württemberg in the gardens of the Château de Montbéliard. It included an Egyptian bridge across which guests walked to reach an island with an elaborate Egyptian-influenced bath house. Designed by the duke's court architect, Jean Baptiste Kleber, the building had a billiards room and a "bagnio".

Post-Napoleonic era

The Egyptian Gates (1827–30) in Tsarskoe Selo (St. Petersburg, Russia)

New after the Napoleonic invasion was a sudden increase of the number of works of art and the fact that, for the first time, entire buildings began to be built to resemble those of ancient Egypt. In France and Britain this was at least partially inspired by successful war campaigns undertaken by each country while in Egypt.

According to David Brownlee, the 1798 Karlsruhe Synagogue, an early building by the influential Friedrich Weinbrenner was "the first large Egyptian building to be erected since antiquity."^[1] According to Diana Muir Appelbaum, it was "the first public building (that is, not a folly, stage set, or funeral monument) in the Egyptian revival style."^[2] The ancient Egyptian influence was mainly shown in the two large engaged pylons flanking the entrance; otherwise the windows and entrance of the central section were pointed arches, and the overall plan conventional, with Neo-Gothic details.

Among the earliest monuments of the Egyptian revival in Paris is the Fontaine du Fellah in Paris, built in 1806. It was designed by François-Jean Bralle. A well-documented example, destroyed after Napoleon was deposed, was the monument to General Louis Desaix in the Place des Victoires was built in 1810. It featured a nude statue of the general and an obelisk, both set upon an Egyptian revival base.^[3] Another example of a still standing site of Egyptian Revival is the Egyptian Gate of Tsarskoe Selo, built in 1829.

A street or passage named the Place du Caire or Foire du Caire (Fair of Cairo) was built in Paris in 1798 on the former site of the convent of the "Filles de la Charité". No. 2 Place du Caire, from 1828, is essentially in overall form a conventional Parisian structure with shops on the ground floor and apartments above, but with considerable Egyptianizing decoration including a row of massive Hathor heads and a frieze by sculptor J. G. Garraud.^[4]

One of the first British buildings to show an Egyptian revival interior was the newspaper office of the Courier on the Strand in London. It was built in 1804 and featured a cavetto (coved) cornice and Egyptian-influenced columns with palmiform capitals.^[5] Other early British examples include the Egyptian Hall in London, completed in 1812, and the Egyptian Gallery, a private room in the home of connoisseur Thomas Hope (1769-1831) to display his Egyptian antiquities, and illustrated in engravings from his meticulous line drawings in his book Household Furniture (1807), were a prime source for the regency style of British furnishings.

Later revivals

4th Precinct Police Station (1836) in New Orleans

The Tombs (1838) in New York City

Entrance to Egyptian Avenue and the Lebanon Circle of Highgate Cemetery (1838–39), London

Egyptian Building of the Medical College of Virginia (1845), Richmond, Virginia

The Great Synagogue (1878) in Sydney

Krasnoyarsk regional museum. Krasnoyarsk, Russia (1913–29)

1914 Masonic temple built in Egyptian revival style, Charlotte, North Carolina (1914–1987)

The Scottish Rite Temple (1921) in Mobile, Alabama

National Museum of Beirut (1930–37), Beirut

The National World War I Museum and Memorial (1921) in Kansas City, Missouri

Egyptian revival architecture enjoyed considerable popularity in other countries as well. The first Egyptian revival building in the United States was the 1824 synagogue building of Congregation Mikveh Israel Synagogue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania^[6] It was followed by a series of major public buildings in the first half of the 19th century including the 1835 Philadelphia County Prison, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, the 1836 Fourth District Police Station in New Orleans and the 1838 New York City jail known as the Tombs. Other public buildings in Egyptian style included the 1844 Old Whaler's Church in Sag Harbor, New York, the 1846 First Baptist Church in Essex, Connecticut, the 1845 Egyptian Building of the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond and the 1848 United States Custom House in New Orleans. The most notable Egyptian structure in the United States was the Washington Monument, begun in 1848, this obelisk originally featured doors with cavetto cornices and winged sun disks, later removed. The National World War I Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri is another example of Egyptian revival architecture and art.^[7]

The South African College in the then-British Cape Colony features an "Egyptian building" constructed in 1841; the Egyptian revival building of the Cape Town Hebrew Congregation is also still standing.

The Great Synagogue was Australia's first Egyptian revival building, followed by the Hobart Synagogue, the Launceston Synagogue and the Adelaide Hebrew Congregation, all by 1850. The earliest obelisk in Australia was erected at Macquarie Place, Sydney in 1818.^[8]

The expeditions that eventually led to the discovery in 1922 of the treasure of Tutankhamun's tomb by the archaeologist Howard Carter resulted in a 20th-century revival. The revival during the 1920s is sometimes considered to be part of the art deco decorative arts style. This phase gave birth to the Egyptian theatre movement, largely confined to the United States. The Egyptian revival decorative arts style was present in furniture and other household objects, as well as in architecture.

List of buildings

• 1798 Karlsruhe Synagogue^[9]
  


• circa 1820: Memorial to Elizabeth Donkin, Port Elizabeth, South Africa.


• 1824: Congregation Mikveh Israel Synagogue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Designed by William Strickland. The congregation left this building in 1860; it was demolished in 1902.^[10]
  


• 1825–26: Egyptian Bridge in St. Petersburg. Collapsed on 20 January 1905, although the new bridge (1955) incorporated sphinxes and several portions of it remains.


• 1827–30: Egyptian Gates in Tsarskoe Selo, St. Petersburg


• 1826–30: Groton Monument in Groton, Connecticut, United States


• 1835: Philadelphia County Prison, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Designed by Thomas Ustick Walter, it was demolished in 1968.


• 1835–37: The Egyptian House in Penzance, Cornwall. Built by local bookseller John Lavin as a museum, it is still standing.


• 1836-40: Temple Works, a former flax mill in the industrial district of Holbeck in Leeds, UK. Built for textile industrialist John Marshall and held the distinction of being the largest single room in the world when it was built.


• 1836: 4th Precinct Police Station on Rousseau Street in New Orleans. Designed by Benjamin Buisson, it originally served as a jail and police station. Later altered significantly; now used by the Knights of Babylon krewe for Mardi Gras float storage.


• 1838: The Tombs, a court and jail complex in New York City by John Haviland. Demolished and replaced by a new building in 1902.


• 1838: Pennsylvania Fire Insurance building, Philadelphia [1] by John Haviland. Extant.


• 1838–39: The Egyptian Avenue and inner circle of the Lebanon Circle in Highgate Cemetery, London.


• 1838–40: Abney Park Temple Lodges, Hackney, London.


• 1840: Gates of the Granary Burying Ground, by Isaiah Rogers, in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.


• 1842: Croton Distributing Reservoir in New York City.


• 1827–43: Bunker Hill Monument in Charlestown, Boston, Massachusetts, United States.


• 1843: Gates and gatehouses of Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Designed by Jacob Bigelow.


• 1843: Union Suspension Bridge, Between Ottawa and Gatineau, Quebec, Canada. Replaced in 1889 with another bridge.


• 1844: Old Whaler's Church, Sag Harbor, New York, United States. Designed by Minard Lafever.


• 1844: Launceston Synagogue, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia.


• 1845: Hobart Synagogue, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.


• 1845: The brownstone entry gates of the Grove Street Cemetery, by Henry Austin, New Haven, Connecticut, United States


• 1845: Egyptian Building of the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia, United States.^[11]
  


• 1846: First Baptist Church in Essex, Connecticut
  


• 1846–8: Old Synagogue at Canterbury, England, United Kingdom.


• 1848: Washington Monument, Washington, D.C., United States. In addition to taking the form of an obelisk, it originally featured doors with cavetto cornices and winged sun disks, later removed.


• 1848: United States Custom House in New Orleans.


• 1849: Lighthouse of l'Agulhas, the second-oldest lighthouse in South Africa, also called the "Pharos of the South".


• 1851: Downtown Presbyterian Church, Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Designed by William Strickland.^[12] It was the church of US presidents Andrew Jackson and James K. Polk.


• 1856: Egyptian Temple housing elephants at the Antwerp Zoo. Designed by Charles Servais.


• 1856: Skull and Bones undergraduate secret society at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut in the United States. Architect's attribution in dispute, but may also be Henry Austin of the Grove Street Cemetery gates.


• 1862–64: Egyptian temple in the park of Stibbert Museum, Florence, Italy.


• 1867: Queen's Park Church in Queen's Park, Glasgow.


• 1870: The Egyptian Halls in Glasgow. Designed by Alexander Thomson.


• 1881–1889: Mausoleo Schilizzi in Naples, Italy.


• 1891: The Typhonium built in 1891 near Wissant by the Belgian architect Edmond De Vigne


• 1914: Regional Studies Museum in Krasnoyarsk, Russia


• 1914: Scottish Rite Cathedral Meridian, Mississippi, United States.


• 1914: Masonic Temple in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States (1914–87).


• 1920: Marmon Hupmobile Showroom, Chicago, Illinois, United States. Designed by Paul Gerhardt.


• 1921: Scottish Rite Temple in Mobile, Alabama, United States.


• 1921: National World War I Museum and Memorial, Kansas City, Missouri.


• 1922: Grauman's Egyptian Theatre, Los Angeles, California, United States.


• 1922: Reebie Storage Warehouse, Chicago, Illinois, United States. It features twin statues of Ramses II and the use of ancient Egyptian images and hieroglyphics. Reliefs depict ancient Egyptians moving grain on barges.


• 1923–24: Peery's Egyptian Theater, Ogden, Utah, United States.


• 1922–26: Mary G. Steiner Egyptian Theatre, Park City, Utah, United States.


• 1925–26: Sphinx Head Society clubhouse, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
  


• 1927: Emulation Hall, Melbourne, Australia
  


• 1927: Pythian Temple, New York City.


• 1927: Salt Lake City Masonic Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah


• 1927: The Egyptian Theatre, Boise, Idaho, United States.


• 1927: Empress Theatre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.


• 1924–29: Lenin's Mausoleum, Moscow, Russia. Designed by Aleksey Shchusev, it utilizes elements borrowed from the Pyramid of Djoser.


• 1926–28: Carreras Cigarette Factory, Camden, London.


• 1928: Lincoln Theatre, Columbus, Ohio, United States. Has an Egyptian revival interior.


• 1928–29: Egyptian Theatre, DeKalb, Illinois, United States.


• 1929: Balsiger Ford Dealership, Klamath Falls, OR, United States.


• 1929: Fox Theatre, Atlanta, Georgia, United States. While the exterior is Moorish revival, the interior features extensive use of Egyptian revival design.


• 1933: Egyptian Theatre, Delta, Colorado, United States.


• 1934 Pyramid Theatre, Sale, Greater Manchester, UK (formerly a cinema, both independent and Odeon now a Sports Direct)


• 1930–37: National Museum of Beirut, Beirut.


• 1937: Manly Town Hall, Manly, New South Wales, Australia.


• 1939: Social Security Administration Building, Washington, D.C, United States.


• 1940: Mary E. Switzer Memorial Building, Washington, D.C, United States.


• 1939–41: Marion Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Marion, Illinois, United States.


• 1966: Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, San Jose, California, United States.


• 1993: Tama-Re, Eatonton, Georgia, United States. Demolished 2005.


• 1997: Sunway Pyramid, Bandar Sunway, Malaysia.


• 2001: Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt building, Cairo.

Post-modern variants

• 1989: Louvre Pyramid, Paris.


• 1991: Pyramid Arena, Memphis, Tennessee, United States.


• 1993: Luxor Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States.


• 1997: Wafi City, Wafi, Dubai City, Dubai UAE

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Egyptian Revival architecture.

• Ancient Egyptian architecture


• Egyptian revival decorative arts


• Revival architecture


• List of pyramid mausoleums in North America

References