Dear Vance: Why do lion-like creatures stalk the ground floor of the Raymond James Tower downtown? They look quite old. — r.t., memphis.
The stone griffins in the lobby of the Raymond James Tower originally guarded a much older building on the site.
Dear R.T.: Those “lion-like” creatures are actually called griffins — mythological beasts with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle. But it would actually make more sense if they were elks. Let me explain.
Travelers to Memphis in the mid-1900s had their choice of grand hotels. The Peabody and Gayoso come to mind, but the building guarded by the griffins was the Elks Hotel. Built in 1926 and later named the King Cotton, the 12-story landmark offered sweeping views of Court Square and the Mississippi River. When downtown Memphis basically went to sleep in the 1960s and 1970s, the King Cotton closed. One of its last gasps of life was when it hosted a local performance of Hot L Baltimore, a perfect setting since the play involved characters living inside a decrepit hotel.
The building remained dormant until the morning of April 29, 1984, when blasts of dynamite turned the landmark into a heap of rubble. The gleaming Morgan Keegan Tower was erected on the site, the building known today as the Raymond James Tower. But relics of the old hotel survive inside the new office structure.
When it was constructed, the hotel’s owners placed these four terra-cotta griffins on high ledges jutting from each of the building’s top corners. I’m not sure why; if there was a link between the Elks and griffins, I’ve never found it. At any rate, it was a tricky operation to remove them with cranes before the hotel was demolished, but each one survived. As you’ve discovered, two are now lurking in the building lobby and the other two crouch on the second floor. Not an elk in sight.
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Mail: Vance Lauderdale, Memphis magazine, 65 Union Avenue, Suite 200, Memphis, TN 38103
