Fit for a Cornish Pharaoh

The Egyptian House, Penzance, was built in 1835, at the height of the British obsession with ancient Egypt

LUCINDA LAMBTON

The Egyptian revival style was the most daring and the most dashing of all the architectural oddities that raged through 19th-century Britain. And rage they did, from Piccadilly to Penzance. The Egyptian House is one of the most appealing buildings in the country ever to have been created. All of them were built with the marvellously full-whack glory of the oddities of the style, along with its splendid colours and contours. The Egyptian House was built in 1835. It was almost an exact copy of London's 1812 version – only fractionally less flamboyant – which stood bang in the middle of the capital. In London, the window frames were sprinkled with hieroglyphs, with two naked figures, Isis and Osiris, standing over lotus columns. In Penzance, there are two draped female…

You're reading a preview of

The Oldie (Digital) - 1 Issue, January 2025

DiscountMags is a licensed distributor (not a publisher) of the above content and Publication through Zinio LLC. Accordingly, we have no editorial control over the Publications. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers or other information or content expressed or made available by third parties, including those made in Publications offered on our website, are those of the respective author(s) or publisher(s) and not of DiscountMags. DiscountMags does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, truthfulness, or usefulness of all or any portion of any publication or any services or offers made by third parties, nor will we be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on information contained in any Publication, or your use of services offered, or your acceptance of any offers made through the Service or the Publications. For content removal requests, please contact Zinio.