Prentiss Riddle: Art

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Prentiss Riddle
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Most phallic building in Texas

Jonathan Ames is running a contest to find themost phallic building in the world and I think an honorable mention should go to a certain Waco landmark.

Waco Masonic Temple

It's hard to find a photo that does them justice but the two columns in front of the Masonic Temple in downtown Waco (aka the "Memorial Temple of The Grand Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons") must hold some sort of record outside of cultures which directly worship the male generative organ. Waco's old Greyhound station used to be right across the street from them and I'd marvel every time I made the holiday pilgrimage from Austin to Dallas. I believe it was in Texas Monthly that I read that a famous architect once said of them, "Those aren't phallic symbols, those are phalluses!"

The temple is well worth a short detour off I-35 (map) the next time you're passing through.

art 2003.07.30 link

Comments

The Fuji Latex building in Tokyo. This photo doesn't do it justice--it is intentionally quite phallic. Fuji Latex is a condom maker.

Adam Rice • 2003.07.30
In the 1990s a sculptor got a commission to build a giant Brick Man I think in Leeds, Yorkshire. Yorkshire people being what they are, there was a stream of criticism that the giant statue did NOT have a phallus. And it should have been a LARGE phallus, local people also complained.

mark [contact cxe otherlanguages punkto org] • 2003.07.30
The Wachovia building in Winston-Salem.

Camilo [camilo cxe confusedkid punkto com] • 2003.07.30
Google Images turns up this Wachovia HQ picture. But don't tell me -- send it on to Jonathan Ames.

Prentiss Riddle [riddle cxe io punkto com] • 2003.07.30
Will do so. The Wachovia building seems more penis-like from afar. Beautiful scenery.

Camilo [camilo cxe confusedkid punkto com] • 2003.07.31
Re your Masonic Lodge image: Note the rectangular vagina-like opening between two leglike columns behind the phallic symbols. I think this dubious art object should be titled,
"Woman Contemplating Sex with Two Men."

Deb Hayden [deb cxe poxhistory punkto com] • 2003.08.24
Heh! I see that this is female anatomy as it is understood in Waco -- a featureless slot with certain important details overlooked.

But it's hard to resist responding seriously now that you bring up the womb imagery. A bunch of straight guys identifying with the giant phalluses and thereby plucking up their resolve to penetrate the dark and feminine mysteries of Masonry? As armchair Freudianism goes one could do worse.

Prentiss Riddle [riddle cxe io punkto com] • 2003.08.24
The Wachovia Building in Winston-Salem is like a giant penis rising up to the sky - it's enough to scare any woman. It's soooo bad that there are no pictures available of the view we all see driving into town, heading west on I-40. Please let me know if you ever find a picture that does it justice.
Thanks in advance, Nikki B.

Nikki Barnes [eightnotramp cxe hotmail punkto com] • 2004.04.13
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