I don’t know about you, but personally, I would be dubious about buying a house through a reality company who operated out of an office shaped like the Egyptian Sphinx—even if the name of that company was called Sphinx Realty. It seems an odd name for a realty company, even for the early 1920s. Did they call it that so they’d have an excuse to build the sphinx at 537 N. Fairfax Ave (opposite what would later become Fairfax High School)? Whatever the reason, if that “FOR RENT” sign is anything to go by, it didn’t seem to have worked.
Howard A. says: “When I was growing in the Fairfax area, it was sitting near the alley on the west side of Fairfax. We would ride our bikes over there and play near it. We called it “The Egyptian.” It would have been in the mid 1950s. You couldn’t see it from Fairfax. There were buildings that fronted on Fairfax, so it was back near the alley. It had been turned, so it faced west towards the alley. We considered a secret and mysterious place. We would rides our bikes in the alleys.”
Building the Sphinx Realty. Article dated December 7, 1923:
As cheesy as it was, I kind of wish it was still there, especially seeing as how that address is now just a parking lot. This image is from May 2019:
Wouldn’t want to enter by the backdoor.
I love buildings like this. Assuming it had a window, I want my office in the left ear.
It looks like it could be a bit crumbly and drafty, but yes, having an office there would be cool. Everybody would know where your workplace was!
Architecture takes itself way too seriously as it has taken it upon itself to presume it is a style setter. Across the nation it all looks the same as strip malls from coast to coast are churned out . . . soulless clones of mediocrity.