The Cave of the Golden Calf
Encyclopedia
The Cave of the Golden Calf was a night club in London
. It opened in an underground location at 9 Heddon Street, just off Regent Street, in 1912 and became a haunt for the wealthy, aristocratic and bohemian. Its creator Frieda Strindberg (Frida Uhl
) set it up as an avant-garde and artistic venture.
It introduced London to new concepts of nightlife and provided a solid model for future nightclubs. Philip Hoare
in his book, Oscar Wilde's Last Stand, provided the following description:
The club is also compared with the parties of The Coterie
, a group of young aristocrats and intellectuals in London:
The Cave went bankrupt in 1914, but its name lived on, and recently inspired a show at the Edinburgh Fringe and the 2010 Commemoration Ball
at New College, Oxford
. The building became a post office and can be seen in the background of the cover of David Bowie's album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
. The site is now occupied by a bar, The Living Room W1.
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. It opened in an underground location at 9 Heddon Street, just off Regent Street, in 1912 and became a haunt for the wealthy, aristocratic and bohemian. Its creator Frieda Strindberg (Frida Uhl
Frida Uhl
Frida Uhl was an Austrian writer and translator, who was closely associated to many important figures in 20th-century literature. She was married to August Strindberg. She was the daughter of the well-known Friedrich Uhl, editor of the Wiener Zeitung, and Maria Uhl, a devout Catholic...
) set it up as an avant-garde and artistic venture.
It introduced London to new concepts of nightlife and provided a solid model for future nightclubs. Philip Hoare
Philip Hoare
Philip Hoare is an English non-fiction writer and journalist. His 2008 book Leviathan won the 2009 Samuel Johnson Prize.-Bibliography:* Serious Pleasures: The Life of Stephen Tennant...
in his book, Oscar Wilde's Last Stand, provided the following description:
"Up in Regent Street young men wearing tight suits and nail varnish were sipping creme de menthe in the Cafe Royal, while down a dark cul-de-sac lurked a new and devilish sort of place where Futurists cavorted: a `night club' profanely named `The Cave of the Golden Calf'. Vague rumours had reached her that nowadays, the backstreets harboured all manner of such places, attended by members of the social elite. Such intimations confirmed all the suspicions of her class. At the root of these evils lay the name of Oscar Wilde, still unspoken in polite households. He may have been dead for more than a decade, but Wilde's decadence endured."
The club is also compared with the parties of The Coterie
The Coterie
The Coterie was a fashionable and famous set of English aristocrats and intellectuals of the 1910s, widely quoted and profiled in magazines and newspapers of the period. It adopted the hostile description as a "corrupt coterie"....
, a group of young aristocrats and intellectuals in London:
"Their hedonism was not confined to private parties. In 1912, Madame Strindberg [...] leased a draper's basement in Heddon Street, a cul-de-sac behind Regent Street, and created the Cave of the Golden Calf. This `low-ceilinged nightclub, appropriately sunk under the pavement', was decorated by Spencer Gore in Russian Ballet-inspired murals, with contributions by Jacob Epstein and Wyndham Lewis; Eric GillEric GillArthur Eric Rowton Gill was a British sculptor, typeface designer, stonecutter and printmaker, who was associated with the Arts and Crafts movement...
designed the club's motif, a phallic Golden Calf, symbol of biblical dissipation and idolatry. Here the cult of Wilde could continue to worship. The club's self-advertised aim was to be `a place given up to gaiety', its art-subversive interiors `brazenly expressive of the libertarian pleasure principle ...' [...]"
The Cave went bankrupt in 1914, but its name lived on, and recently inspired a show at the Edinburgh Fringe and the 2010 Commemoration Ball
Commemoration ball
A Commemoration ball is a formal ball held by one of the colleges of the University of Oxford in the 9th week of Trinity Term, the week after the end of the last Full Term of the academic year, which known as "Commemoration Week"...
at New College, Oxford
New College, Oxford
New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.- Overview :The College's official name, College of St Mary, is the same as that of the older Oriel College; hence, it has been referred to as the "New College of St Mary", and is now almost always...
. The building became a post office and can be seen in the background of the cover of David Bowie's album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars is a 1972 concept album by English musician David Bowie, which is loosely based on a story of a rock star named Ziggy Stardust. It peaked at number five in the United Kingdom and number 75 in the United States on the Billboard Music...
. The site is now occupied by a bar, The Living Room W1.