As I searched for a subject for this missive, the sound of rapidly melting snow streaming to the ground from our flat roof brought to mind the function of gargoyles. The stone buildings of medieval times also needed roof drainage systems, and stonemasons incorporated the function in projecting animal and fantastical forms.
Today, most houses have gutters with drainage pipes. In Santa Fe, however, houses follow the tradition of the original Spanish colonial and Pueblo adobe architecture, run off from the flat roof is provided by canales (pronounced cah-NAH-lays). These were originally wooden channels, but today sometimes made with more durable materials that project through the parapets for drainage.
Gargoyles are often confused with grotesques; the latter were merely architectural decorations that had no function. It seems appropriate to the water-spitting monsters that the term gargoyle comes from the French word "gargouille," meaning throat or gullet. Aside from being functional, they also served as symbols to ward off evil spirits and provide spiritual guardianship for churches and cathedrals. Here is an image of gargoyles, by Carol Di Rienzo Cornwel, on Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.
A recent Associated Press article by Peter Smith is devoted to the two-year restoration of the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption in Covington, Kentucky. It earned the nickname Notre Dame, for the Paris landmark that was the model for its exterior. There is one difference, however: despite the fact that locals feel their gargoyles have looked after them and kept away evil spirits, the Kentucky versions are not true gargoyles since they are purely decorative and don't drain water.
In Washington, D.C., however, the Washington National Cathedral—begun in 1907 and completed in 1990—has 112 functional gargoyles as well as over 3,000 grotesques. No wonder it took so long to build! President Theodore Roosevelt helped lay the first cornerstone, and President George H.W. Bush oversaw the laying of the final stone atop the towers.
Even without religious significance, there's something exciting about these monstrous figures, whether they are functioning gargoyles or merely decorative grotesques or chimeras. They continued to be used decoratively on buildings in the 19th century and even early 20th-century high-rises. They are very expensive to make or repair, as the continuous water flow can make them structurally unstable, and they have even been known to fall due to deterioration from weathering. Of course, they make no sense on tall glass buildings or buildings of contemporary design.
Allow me to finish with a mansion in New York where the decorative “gargoyles” failed in keeping evil away … the one that belonged to Jeffrey Epstein!
