ABSTRACT
In the one monograph that has been written on American Egyptianizing architecture, Carrott argued that the true Egyptian Revival in architecture was limited to the first six decades of the 19th century. The associational symbolism of Egyptianizing architecture of the period is the main concern of Carrott's book, beginning with a project he describes as an early comprehensive use of Egyptian revival style: Benjamin Latrobe's 1808 design, never executed, for the interior of an otherwise Classicizing United States Library of Congress. In north America, Egyptianizing forms for piers and bridges were introduced in the 1830s. One motivation for the use of Egyptian battered gateway forms and obelisks for suspension bridges was that they were functionally well-suited as suspension supports. Other technological structures that sometimes used an Egyptianizing style were reservoirs and pumping stations, massive battered Egyptian walls being very well suited for reservoirs. The most impressive was the Croton Distributing Reservoir in New York City, built between 1837 and 1842.
