unearthing washington porter's long-forgotten "kiosk sphinx" architectural oddity through images and artifacts

washington porter jr.’s "kiosk sphinx" was a custom-designed private museum built between 1928-1933 at a cost of 350,000 dollars on the rear lot of his parent’s mansion, located at 4043 lake park avenue, chicago, ills. the unusual cast concrete structure with massive steel observation tower was designed to house his sprawling collection of antiques. both mansion and kiosk were demolished in 1957.

architectural remnants (see below) from the kiosk sphinx were unearthed in 2007 by tim samuelson during excavation of the site where both mansion and the private musuem once stood.

images courtesy of timothy j. sameulson, eric j. nordstrom, and bldg. 51 archive. all rights reserved. 2022.