Gargling Gargoyles (correction)

An astute reader just pointed out that the figures on the American Standard Building (see previous post) are not actually gargoyles. A gargoyle, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is "a grotesque spout, representing some animal or human figure, projecting from the gutter of a building (esp. in Gothic architecture), in order to carry the rain-water clear of the walls." I was shocked to have made such an error, although it's an extenuating circumstance that according to the OED, "gargoyle" has come by extension to mean "A projection resembling a gargoyle." However, when using the term re architecture, I think it's better to keep to the original sense. As a philologist (which is what I earned my Ph.D. in lo, these many years ago), I was fascinated to read the derivation: "OF. gargouille (also gargoule, gargole, recorded in 13th c.) = Sp. gargola; app. a special sense of gargouille throat (cf. GARGIL1, GARGLE v.), from the water passing through the mouths of the figures." So gargoyles and gargling have the same root! And now I will never forget that gargoyles spit.

Gilded Gargoyles on American Radiator Building

Above the second floor of the American Standard or American Radiator Building at 40 West 40th St. (south side of Bryant Park), designed by Raymond Hood and completed in 1924, eight gilded gargoyles glitter against the building's black brick facade. According to one website, the gargoyles symbolize the "transformation of matter into energy." Looking at them, I keep wondering just what kind of energy we are talking about. Roaring Twenties, indeed.

This one has the word "Fever" beneath. Perhaps all the others had a title as well, but in most cases they seem to have been painted over too often to be legible.

The building just to the west, completed in 1937, imitates the American Standard Building's facade but has eight more gargoyles in a noticeably different style.

Writing something, possibly drafting a design?

Something mechanical, with a hammer.

Pouring metal into a mold? Look at those abs: very similar to the ones on Lawrie's Atlas at Rockefeller Center, which (not coincidentally) was dedicated in 1937, the year this building was completed. No one says who created these gargoyles. Lawrie had been sculpting long enough that the figures might well have been the work of an eager imitator. The burly-man esthetic was related to Social Realism in the U.S.S.R., a country wholeheartedly admired by a startling number of American intellectuals and artists in the 1930s. (On why I dislike Lawrie's Atlas and which nearby Atlas I prefer, see Outdoor Monuments of Manhattan #29.)

A blow torch?

A furnace of some sort.

A plumber??? He's the only one who hasn't got a cloak flying behind him.

Don't miss the view from across Bryant Park of the top of the American Standard Building: it's gorgeous, especially when the sun's out. The building is now a boutique hotel, the Bryant Park, with a bar that gives you an excuse to sit around admiring the lobby.

I love this photo. It's not taken with a wide-angle lens - it's a curved building shot through a round arcade. (See below.) Northwest corner 57th St. and Lexington Ave.