Gargoyles

Anyone who knew Henry knew that he was into some weird shit. For example, for some reason he had this desire to place a large gargoyle on the roof of the garage. Specifically, from Design Toscano, he was particularly interested in purchasing Apex - the Winged Dragon". In fact, so enamored with Apex, he suggested he buy one for Julie and me! Needless to say, when I showed Julie the Apex - the Winged Dragon her first reaction was, "What the hell?!" Followed by something like, "Can't he just give us the money? Or maybe buy something we could actually use?" Well, sorry, but no. That wasn't his way! How many winter jackets did he buy me that I didn't need? How many winter jackets did he buy that HE didn't need?!

Well, I kindof dig the Apex gargoyle. It's kindof cool, and I wouldn't mind having one perched on the roof of my garage! (Though, Julie would probably kill me - and shoot the dragon.) And what got me to thinking about this had absolutely nothing to do with anything. I'm considering downtown office space. I like Highfalls, and I like the Highfalls building, however we never heard from them when we basically said we'd do it - so that kindof turned me off. I also REALLY like the idea of having a balcony. This is due in large part to my love of "Boston Legal". If I'm going to put in long hours, and run a business, I want a balcony I can sit on and occasionally smoke a cigar and drink a nice glass of scotch. Well, here's the problem with living in Rochester - no downtown buildings have balconies. Or, at least, I can't seem to find one. The closest thing is the Powers Builidng tower. There's balconies on a couple of the levels, and I can imagine myself sitting out there! (Oh, the other one is on top of Kodak tower, but the smoke from a burning cigar probably would interfere with the falcons flying around).

Again, this has nothing to do with gargoyles! Well, here's how we come to them. I was looking for pictures of the Powers building tower and came upon pictures of the Elwood Building. This building was torn down in 1967 in the name of progress. What drew my interest were the large gargoyles that sat atop this builidng. According to the Monroe County Library's history site, "there were originally 16 gargoyles. However, one was removed in 1962 for fear that is was going to break free and fall to the street below."

When they tore down the building, the site states that "the gargoyles, however, were taken down and put into storage." So, what happened to these lovely fellows? I'm sure there are some local historians out there that know, and I know a few of them, so next time I run into them, I'll ask. It's interesting that they saved them at all, considering how bad "urban renewal" was for downtown. So much was lost, and tossing the gargoyles wouldn't have been any less crazy than telling bird collectors (those who collect stuffed birds) that they'd better go south and shoot Ivory Billed Woodpeckers while they still can - before they go on the endanged list! (Yes, this actually did happen, albeit prior to 1967. What better way to save a species than to SHOOT it.)

So, my new mission is to find these gargoyles and put one on my roof. Maybe not the most meaningful mission in the world, but I'm SURE Julie would just LOVE one of these on our roof.