GARGOYLE (Late Latin gargula, Old French gargouille, throat), a carved or moulded ornamental figure projecting at the upper part of a building, either connected with a water spout or in general design resembling those satirical figures which originally decorated water spouts. Thus, in 'La Scultura nel Duomo di Milano' (Milan 1908) we read that, contemporaneously with the locations of the first statues on parts of the exterior of Milan Cathedral, there began also the creation_ of those bizarre figures which enlivened the ex ternal architectonic organism. The Milanese gargoyles, "originating in the simple necessity of making channels for rainwater, became one of the most vivid and characteristic orna ments? The important book devoted to this branch of art as exemplified at Rouen, Adeline's 'Sculptures Grotesques et Sytnboliques,) em ploying the word in its wider meaning, de nominates both non-spouters and spouters gar gouilles; and useful definitions are those by Canon Auber in the Bulletin Monumental: (a) Symbolic monsters, emblems of the paganism conquered by religion at Rouen, and (b) imita tions of those chimerical animals, to conduct water from roofs. The 1608 edition of Withal's Dictionary has: °Gargels of men's figures, telamones, atlantes; gargels of women's figures, cariatides.° Mr. G. L. Hunter, in his 'Notes on Gargoyles, Grotesques and Chimeras' (Archi tectural Record, New York, February 1914) writes: "Gargoyles are as fundamentally Gothic as grotesques are Renaissance and chi meras are Classic? Only by a perversion can the word grotesque be twisted from Renaissance to Gothic and substituted for gargoyle. "Even if gargoyle did mean the scouter only, the ex tension of its meaning to include all the Gothic satirical figures that throng the roofs and towers of Gothic buildings would be in line with the normal and natural development of language. All the more reason, then, for hold
ing on to a meaning that is sanctioned by an cient general usage." In the United States the day of the gargoyle and the grotesque in church decoration has gone by; secular architecture, however, retains and finds new applications for such "symbolic monsters.' Examples are seen at West Point, where one of the barracks is ornamented with quaint and humorous figures illustrating the development of war; at Prince ton University, where (on a dormitory) are numerous interesting gargoyles designed by Mr. Bcvrglum. One of the best modern ex amples of the free use of gargoyles and gro tesques is seen at the College of the City of New York, whose buildings the architect has *en riched with more than 600 figures, all different.
The highest-placed gargoyles in the world are those projecting from the 29th, 49th and 51st stories of the Woolworth Building in New York City. These, like other modern gargoyles, "do not spout even when in the horizontal posi tion of water spouts. And unlike mediaeval gargoyles, but like those of ancient Rome, they are made of terra cotta instead of stone, and consequently have the characteristics of moulded rather than of carved ornament.' Although not sufficiently numerous to be re garded as an important decorative feature of such an enormous structure, they certainly add to the attractive vitality of line, emphasize somewhat light and shade, and suggest the pos sibilities inherent in the employment of gar goyles on a larger and freer scale for the dec oration of important commercial edifices.