Egyptian Revival Architecture

Egyptian Revival is an architectural style which makes use of the motifs and imagery of Ancient Egypt. The ancient Greek architecture used the pyramid shape and required huge rocks in order to build the building. If you will look at the pyramid which is among the Seven Wonders of the World then you will find out that the Egyptians were really rich and they used to build the buildings which looked like being a huge luxurious place for living.

Egyptian Architecture before Napoleon

One of the most important examples which your will find related to the Egyptian revival architecture is probably Bernini’s obelisk in the Piazza Bavona at Rome. Others may be found at Belan, County Kildare and Dangan, County Meath. The Casteltown Folly in County Kildare is among the best known master piece related to the Egyptian revival architecture.

You can say that the Egyptian buildings have been used for different purposes Egyptian buildings had also appeared as garden follies. The most complicated was perhaps the one built by the Duke of Württemberg in the estate of the Château de Montbéliard. In this you will find an Egyptian bridge across which guests walked to reach an island with an Egyptian swing and an elaborate Egyptian “bath house”. The building featured a billiards room and a “bagnio”. It was premeditated by the duke’s court architect, Jean Baptiste Kleber.

Some of the important buildings which were built with the help of the Egyptian revival architecture are as follows:

1.1820 pyramid, memorial to Elizabeth, Lady Rufane on Donkin Hill at Old Portuguese Algoa Bay in what is now South Africa.

2.The 1833 First Presbyterian Church (Sag Harbor) by Minard Lafever, a rare example of an Egyptian revival church.

3.The 1835 Philadelphia County Prison (demolished in 1968), design by architect Thomas U Walter.

4.The Tombs and 1838 prison and court complex in New York City.

5.The 1845 Hobart Synagogue, Tasmania, Australia.

6.The 1840 railroad station in New Bedford, Massachusetts was done in Egyptian Revival style.

7.1840 gates of the Granary Burying Ground in Boston by Isaiah Rogers.

8.College of Cape Town, South Africa, now the University of Cape Town.

9.The 1843 gates and gatehouses of Mount Auburn Cemetery by Jacob Bigelow.

10.The 1845 massive brownstone entry gates of the Grove Street Cemetery at Yale by architect Henry Austin.

11.1845, the Egyptian Building of the Medical College of Virginia.

12.The 1846 First Baptist Church of Essex, Connecticut.

13.The 1846-8 Old Synagogue at Canterbury, England.

14.The 1848 Washington Monument is an obelisk. It originally featured doors with cavetto cornices and winged sun disks, later removed.

I really feel that these are some of the examples of the buildings which used the Egyptian revival but I would definitely say that you will find all the buildings which have been built in this style to be gorgeous.