Symbolic Interpretation
Architecture parlante was a style born in France in the 18th century, meant to explain a building's function through it's one-of-a-kind decorative pattern. The Level Club building's architectural style is often defined as "symbolic architecture, and is literally an encyclopedia of Masonic symbols which are open to interpretation.
King Solomon Temple:
The Level Club is considered a rendering of this mysterious medieval wonder, built in the year 1,000 B.C. in Jerusalem. The similarities are as follows:
Exterior - the two pillars placed at the main entrance, a common feature found in most churches and temples across the world;
two statues sitting beneath each pillar - one of Hiram Abiff, the architect who, by physically planning the temple, brought God's will to life, and the other of King Solomon, the creator of the Temple and enforcer of God's strength;
the two globes atop the pillars, incorporating the Masonic compass and "LC" cipher of The Level Club;
the 17 seals of Solomon, commonly known as the Star of David. One of the most studied and widely interpreted symbols spanning all cultures, the seal is considered the source of life and a synthesis of the origins of the universe and cosmic unity;
the Yod symbol, the decoration on the superstructure water tower. Yod is the symbol of deity. It is a Hebrew letter close in sound to I or Y, and the initial letter of the word Jehovah. The Yod in Jehovah is something "which the eye hath not seen, but which has been concealed from all mankind.";
Interior - the Lobby "mosaic" floor, the Lobby staircase and the mezzanine gallery, some of the Lobby decoration also repeating the Solomon seal.
Other Decorations:
The Level Club façade features other interesting decorative symbols with no tie to the King Solomon Temple concept, namely 33 symbols with clear Masonic significance (i.e., two cartouches depicting the mason's level on the 2nd & 3rd floors, just above the marquee; 8 ornamental panels on the 4th & 5th floors - a beehive, a trowel and apron, a level, a Bible, a large compass, an eye, and an hourglass; polychrome terracotta decorations in the form of a shield, a level and the sun.
A group of other symbols possess less obvious symbolic meaning: terracotta hand-painted tiles in various colors and shapes; ornamented capitals with birds and plants on the 3rd-floor arched windows; medieval-looking shields of two different types on various terraces and around the watertower superstructure, to name a few.
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