June 2025.
The Aurora Elks Lodge is a prominent example of Mayan Revival architecture, an Art Deco-era style that incorporates ancient Mesoamerican forms and decoration into modern buildings. Art Deco architecture can include Mayan decorative or massing cues, but when inspiration becomes imitation, it is generally a work of Mayan Revival architecture.
The Elks Lodge is located at 77 South Stolp Avenue in downtown Aurora, Illinois. It is bordered by commercial buildings to the north, Benton Street and the Old Aurora Library to the south, Stolp Avenue and the Illinois Bell Building to the east, and the Fox River to the west.
History
Historic postcard of the building. I’m unsure why the colors are incorrect, but it might be based on an old rendering. (eBay)
The Aurora Elks Lodge was designed in 1925 by Chicago architecture firm Zimmerman, Saxe, & Zimmerman. It is described as being within the Prairie School style with Mayan ornamentation. (The choice is unusual, since Mayan religion does not hold significance to the Elks, and most historic designs use classical or Western revival styles. Indeed, it was originally conceived in the Beaux-Arts style.) Anecdotally, one of the Zimmermans visited archeological sites in Mesoamerica and was inspired by Mayan architecture. The building has a steel and concrete frame, and its exterior is clinker brick and terra-cotta in the eastern section and standard brick in the western. It was completed in 1926. The bold, square massing of the design is emphasized by its small and irregular fenestration.
Aside from being an exemplary example of the Mayan Revival style, the building is in excellent condition. It is wholly unaltered on the exterior, a very rare feat for a building of its age, and the only notable change is interior painting. The original door hardware, furniture, and interior finishes likewise remain and share Mayan touches as the exterior does. The eastern portion of the building houses the lobby, private dining rooms and meeting rooms, a ballroom, and two bars. The western served a residential purpose for traveling members, as well as a large dining room and bowling alley.
As of 1979, the Elks decided to keep the building instead of demolishing it, and they began restoration work afterwards. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. Today, the building is an apartment complex known as The Mayan.
Photos
The textural effect this building gains with its rich terra-cotta ornamentation and rough clinker brick is really interesting. It pops in the sun:
The east facade:
Note how the lintel above the door reads “BPOE,” which blends in with the filigree of ornament surrounding it:
Detail of the carved lintel and reliefs:
This sculpture above is worn from age, but it is very richly detailed:
The corner has quoins and an elaborate carved capital at the base, and above another face rounds the corner:
The south facade is also symmetrical, but its windows are short and small. It has a simple yet strong expression:
Note how the roof telescopes upward slightly above the frieze. The second floor’s terra-cotta band and the frieze emphasize the horizontality of the building.
Detail of the lintel here and surrounding clinker brick:
The use of this kind of misshapen and incorrectly fired brick is rare, but since this is not a bearing wall structure, it is possible as a veneer. It is laid in a highly irregular bond with varying widths of mortar, appearing similar to the uneven ashlar of Gothic and Romanesque designs.
Another relief of a face:
These columns are insane! The brick is at such an odd angle:
The varying size and details of the carvings add a lovely effect, too. This was a really great day lighting-wise, and it makes these details shine (pun intended).
The frieze and parapet:
The issue with this kind of architecture (along with other exotic revivals like Egyptian Revival) is that it serves as a kind of “cultural appropriation lite.” While not deliberately harmful, it’s a little disrespectful to the cultural heritage of Mesoamerica to take their important architecture used for temples and monuments and apply it to stuff like office buildings. I know it seems like a catch-22, since generally in the architectural world non-Western styles were/are either not reproduced at all or imitated in a fetishistic way.
A while back I read an essay by architect Mario Gooden for my theory class that discussed a similar phenomenon as it applies to African-American history museums in the United States--near the beginning, he writes that Black art exhibits have a tendency to be presented and viewed through either an anthropological or aesthetic lens. The former maintains the racial power imbalance through its emphasis on the “otherness” of the work (i.e. the piece is being fetishized by non-Black viewers), and the latter removes the context and focuses solely on the innovative colors or textures, among other things.
I think the Elks Lodge falls into the “anthropological” side of Gooden’s argument (though I could also see an argument for the latter). The building is surrounded by typical American designs and revivals of Western styles, and its exotic materiality and ornamentation are exactly what draw attention to it. Even if it was constructed with the intention to honor or bring awareness towards ancient Mayan architecture, I’m not sure that it quite attains this goal.
Sources:
https://web.archive.org/web/20131029203653/http://gis.hpa.state.il.us/pdfs/200441.pdf
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