A Love of Monsters: Gargoyles & Architectural Details in NYC

March 17, 2003 10:39 AM

A Love of Monsters: Gargoyles & Architectural Details in NYC.'They crouch in the corners and lurk under windows. They curl around drainpipes and blend into doorways. They're so clever at hiding most folks won't see them at all. '
'But I know where the monsters live. I see them all the time. If your heart is understanding and your eyes remember wonder, then take a quiet stroll with me and see what you can find.'
Self-guided walks, too.
posted by plep (17 comments total)

from Old French gargole, gargouille, throat, waterspout.

Your links did not open for me, hope it's on my end, I'll come back.
posted by thomcatspike at 10:51 AM on March 17, 2003

plep - great link. Can't wait to go check out some of the monsters for myself - have bookmarked the walks page. Thx!
posted by widdershins at 11:04 AM on March 17, 2003

The site seemed to go down for a couple of minutes as soon as I posted it! :)

These walks are a fun way to spend a day in New York.
posted by plep at 11:08 AM on March 17, 2003

Damn, I've been itching to do a photo-essay on the fries's and sculptures that adorn the buildings of Manhattan for a long time. Most dedicated city-dwellers rarely look up and the tourists can't see the forest for the trees. Taking a look at the details is something we'd all like to do.

Great link plep.
posted by KnitWit at 11:09 AM on March 17, 2003

Nice concept, bad images.
posted by signal at 11:20 AM on March 17, 2003

(kaibutsu feels obligated to show his face on this thread...)

This will be a good way to spend downtime, next time I find myself stuck in New York waiting for the bus, as I sometimes do. Ususally I find myself wandering Chinatown, which, though big on "second-hand" electronics and over-priced fresh fruit, isn't the best place to look for monsters. Unless you're looking for me.
posted by kaibutsu at 11:22 AM on March 17, 2003

"What is the meaning of these unclean monkeys, strange savage lions, and monsters?" ~ St. Bernard of Chairvaux, patron saint of the Shrine of Our Lady of Europe
posted by iconomy at 11:26 AM on March 17, 2003

10 years ago I found the book "Nightmares in the Sky" with text by Stephen King and photographs by F-Stop Fitzgerald in the bargain piles at a local bookstore in Napa. It has a lot of great photographs of Gargoyles etc. I've always been fascinated by architectural details, and I am always stopping and looking up at such details as the throngs wander by blindly. "We don't see them ... but they see us."
posted by Eekacat at 11:41 AM on March 17, 2003

Like how the age, adds to the sculpture, as if this guy is now crying with his wisdom.
posted by thomcatspike at 11:54 AM on March 17, 2003

Great stuff. I can't believe how many of these, especially Central Park West, seem to derive at least somewhat from the Green Man. Just a little incongruous and ironic in such an urban environment. (A copy of Michelangelo's Florentine Library Green Man is here.)
posted by Shane at 12:05 PM on March 17, 2003

This is really nice, plep. I love how the first image on the West Side I Walk has a Medusa thing going on with the ivy growing on her hair...

GaRgOyLeS is another site with lots and lots of gargoyle images from various parts of the world, plus info on "defecating or mooning gargoyles", among other things!
posted by taz at 2:13 PM on March 17, 2003

The Gargoyles of Notre Dame is also cool. Great post plep.
posted by TedW at 3:24 PM on March 17, 2003

More gargoyles here and here.
posted by TedW at 3:38 PM on March 17, 2003

[This is Good]
posted by NsJen at 4:44 PM on March 17, 2003

Oh plep, you bring us the best stuff! Wonderful treasures - thanks!

I've decided that all the people with the snappy little one syllable names have an uncanny gift for unearthing quality sites...plep, taz, snez - three posters I just love, and altogether, you sound like a sound a jazz band might make while tuning up for a midnight jam.
posted by madamjujujive at 5:38 PM on March 17, 2003

Some of the most amazing gargoyles I've seen adorn the giant Washington National Cathedral in the capital. They run the gamut from beautiful to zany [previous mefi thread on Darth] but the most amazing thing is the sheer number of them. The cathedral is enourmous, and every nook and cranny of the exterior is brimming with the little guys. The guy in TedW's first link had a hand in Darth's creation, I hear, as well as many others from the national cathedral.
posted by spatula at 10:27 PM on March 17, 2003

[this is outstanding] (Again.)

Thanks, plep!
posted by hama7 at 6:22 AM on March 18, 2003