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| Actress Gwen Lee seated on one of the Sphinx's legs |
The building is very loosely but enchantingly based on the Great Sphinx at Giza in Egypt that is thought to represent the Old Kingdom ruler Khafre. Although overwhelmed by tourists and hemmed in by fencing, it remains a splendidly powerful presence at the base of the Great Pyramids of Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure. It first found its way into Western perception as a result of Napoleon Bonaparte's invasion of Egypt in 1798. Scholars, known as "savants" that accompanied Napoleon recorded all aspects of Egypt, and when their stunning illustrations were published, Europe and America became fascinated by all aspects of ancient Egypt. In the following years there was a trickle of Egyptian items to the west, which became a fairly startling flow of goods. Museums collected objects in their 1000s, and by the late 18th century and throughout the 19th century Egypt became a popular destination for artists and archaeologists, as well as tourists. Hierolgyphs were deciphered in 1822 and a century later the tomb of Tutankhmen was discovered. Egyptian items have become part of popular Western cultural iconography ever since. The Los Angeles sphinx head is one of the more bizarre manifestations of this enthusiastic appropriation of Egyptian themes.
The bizarrely flat-topped head was located at at 537 North Fairfax Avenue, opposite today's Fairfax High School. It was the premises of a realty/real estate company called the Sphinx Realty Company on a section of road that was also studded with small realty offices. Advertising boards scattered around it are often in the form of camels and pyramids and advertise various diverse properties: 50 ft. Kings Road - $2150; Well Located Lot - $1895; Corner near here $2800; Beautiful five bedroom home, $6,750; Six room corner stucco near here, $7,200; Seven room stucco, $7,650; Corner near here, $2,500.
Apparently the sphinx-shaped office was only one of around 75 themed buildings that were erected in the Los Angeles area in the inter-war years, modelling themselves on the success of the 1926 Brown Derby restaurant on Wilshire Boulevard, which was built in the shape of a hat. The style is known somewhat flatly as "programmatic," "novelty," "mimic" or "mimetic" but its essence is humour and creativity with more than a touch of the surreal and often kitsch thrown in for good measure. The style rose to
prominence after the run-away success of the Brown Derby restaurant and was largely influenced by the rising importance of motor vehicles. Many of these buildings were positioned in prominent roadside locations. Some of them were themed to advertise products or services that were being sold within (known as "ducks"). All were designed to attract the attention of drivers and their passengers. Although some modern examples are considerably large, most of those built in the inter-war years were quite small, sometimes actively bijou. Like many of these distinctive creations, the little building was something of a local celebrity and was sufficiently famous for Gwen Lee, an actress in the 1920s and 30s, to be pictured in front of it. Sadly, one shows a sign stuck to the front door saying "For Rent" and the last one shows it in an apparently abandoned state. Inevitably demolished, Google Street View shows a typical modern block on the site where it once stood. A sad loss.
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| Fairfax High School on the right. The location of the Sphinx Reality Co on the left. Source: Google Street View |
The information and photographs come from three sources, as follows:
Water and Power Associates (with lots of other wonderful "Programmatic-Style" buildings)
Martin Turnbull home page (with other photos of the building)
Odd restaurant buildings: ducks (with photos of other themed buildings)
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