So you have been to “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs” at the Field Museum and have sphinxes on the brain. You want more.
There’s no need to hop on a plane to Cairo (Egypt, not Illinois). The Chicago area is full of buildings and monuments built by fellow Egyptomaniacs. There’s even a six-story gleaming golden pyramid in Wadsworth.
What drives this fascination with ancient Egypt?
“It is this mysterious `other’–especially from the East,” said Egyptologist Michael Berger, who gives tours of the Chicago area’s Egyptian Revival landmarks. “There is definitely a romantic aspect to it.”
Waves of Egyptomania have washed over the American landscape since the 19th Century, when people went ancient Egypt gaga following Napoleon’s campaign in Egypt between 1798 and 1801, which produced detailed drawings and information about the civilization, Berger said.
Another wave hit after King Tut’s tomb was opened in the 1920s, and more Egyptomania flooded the nation during the 1970s, when the lush treasures from that tomb toured the U.S.
Egyptomania influenced movies, literature, art, theater, even race relations (as the racial identity of ancient Egyptians became a topic of debate). And, of course, it influenced architecture, dotting warehouses, mausoleums, Masonic temples and other structures with pyramids, sun disks and Pharaohs, all hallmarks of the Egyptian Revival style, Berger said.
At Play asked Berger to list his top five Egyptian Revival buildings and monuments in the Chicago area. So, in no particular order:
Reebie Storage Warehouse, 2325-33 N. Clark St.: Egyptomania meets the warehousing industry. One of the city’s best-known Egyptian Revival buildings, this 1920s-era warehouse has it all: Pharaohs flanking the entrance, winged sun disks, plaques with Egyptian heads. One of the statues in front is inscribed with hieroglyphs, which say something to the effect of, “I will protect your furniture.” Even today, Reebie Storage and Moving uses a Pharaoh’s head in its logo.
Graceland Cemetery, 4001 N. Clark St.: Head to this cemetery for obelisks, pyramid-shaped monuments and other Egyptian-style grave markers, Berger said.
“It was this amazing civilization that devoted a lot of time and resources to providing for the dead, so it seemed like the perfect fit to create a lot of cemetery monuments” in the style, he said.
One of Berger’s favorites in Graceland Cemetery is the Schoenhofen mausoleum, which is shaped like a pyramid and has a sphinx (and, in a nod to Christianity, an angel) standing watch over the tomb’s entrance.
Monadnock Building, 53 W. Jackson Blvd.: You won’t find sun gods or pyramids on this landmark building, but the oldest part of the Monadnock is still considered an Egyptian Revival building, Berger said.
“It’s very simple. There isn’t a lot of ornamentation on it. It’s Egyptian, not in decoration, but in form,” Berger said. Finished in 1893, the Monadnock is massive like an Egyptian pylon, or gate.
Egyptian Theatre, 135 N. 2nd St., DeKalb: An Art Deco theater that went wild with its Egyptian theme, the Egyptian Theatre was recently restored to its original glory and is used as a movie theater and performing-arts center. The outside is colorful and filled with Egyptian motifs, including a stained-glass window with a beetle holding a sun disk in its little beetle legs, Berger said. Inside, the auditorium walls feature enormous paintings of Egyptian scenes separated by Egyptian-style columns; gilded kings and gods flank the stage. “It’s really amazing,” he said.
Rosehill Cemetery, 5800 N Ravenswood Ave.: Drive by this cemetery, and you’ll see the tops of Egyptian-style obelisks peaking over the cemetery wall. Berger’s favorite here is Darius Miller’s tomb, which looks like an ancient kiosk, or a roof supported by columns. Berger said the tomb seems to have been modeled after the famous Trajan kiosk on the island of Philae near what is now the Aswan dam. Miller’s tomb has columns outside the mausoleum walls holding up a roof with winged sun disks on all four sides.
Don’t want to drive around looking for these on your own? Join Berger’s “Egyptomania, Chicago Style” all-day bus tour, July 15, $79. Call the Field Museum, 312-665-7400, for more information.
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