Architecture
The building is constructed from brick, stucco and cast iron. Its battered walls—thinner at the top than at the bottom—give an impression of solidity and height. This effect is emphasized by the relatively minimal windows for a five-story building. These windows are diamond paned and incorporated without a style break. A primary feature of the building is its distyle-in-antis porticoes with monumental columns at each end. The columns have intricate palm frond capitals. The shafts of each column represent bundles of reeds. Several obelisks flank the structure and are connected by a cast iron fence that incorporates what appears to be hermai, resembling sarcophagi (mummy cases), forged by R. W. Barnes of Richmond.
Also prominent throughout the building is the use of the Winged sun disk. On the exterior it is found repeated in the cavetto cornices that cap the pylons. This winged disk represents Horus, as a sun disk with outstretched wings, flanked by the goddesses Bekbet and Uaset in the form of snakes. This is the form Horus took in Egyptian mythology when he battled the god Set. Later the image took on other meanings with the Sun disc representing eternity, the serpent representing wisdom, and finally the wings representing the spirit.
On the interior, the lotus flower design is used repeatedly. The interior colors have intentional symbolic meaning: red represents divine love; blue represents divine intelligence; and the golden yellow represents the mercy of God. Hieroglyphs are incorporated in the antechamber decorations and the floor tiles depict a large scarab beetle.
The hieroglyphics in the antechamber to auditorium come from an Egyptian hymn to the gods Amun and Aten in the reign of Amenhotep III (1390-1353 B.C.). The right side of the jambs reads "I never took pleasure in any conversation wherein were words of exaggeration and lies." The left side of the jambs reads "Thou didst make me great because I was performing my duty." Amun is the king of gods and Aten is one of the Sun gods (the other being Ra).
The lintel, or horizontal part of the door jamb, bears a different set of messages. On the left is reads, "Tutankhamen: To whom life is given forever" and on the right it reads,"Tutankhamen: Living image of Amon." This message likely represents the fervor with which the public associated Egypt with the child Pharaoh, King Tut (Tutankhamen), who was discovered in 1922, very near to when this interior was remodeled.
Read more about this topic: Egyptian Building
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