Return of the Stone Age
Investigating Cincinnati's best gargoyles and grotesques

By Felix Winternitz | Photos by Robert Flischel

Gargoyles at the gate: A grotesque guards against ignorance at Hughes High School.

We're talking about those exquisitely hideous stone figures which abound in Greater Cincinnati's urban core and, in fact, might be one of the ultimate distinctions between architecture in the city and architecture in the 'burbs. After all, can you imagine finding such a carved gremlin in a Springdale or a Symmes Township?

Some of the country's earliest gargoyles were included atop city of Cincinnati structures, functioning as water spouts to move the rainfall away from the building and prevent foundation decay. The architectural style dates to the Middle Ages, practically putting the "evil" in medieval.

From the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption to the former Cincinnati Enquirer building on Vine Street, from inner city public schools to the front yards of Mount Washington, the gargoyles are found everywhere (if you take enough of a hard look). Even City Hall and the original GOP headquarters on Ninth Street have 'em, the latter boasting giant elephant reliefs. Call it the ultimate trunk show.

Cincinnati photographer Robert Flischel is quick to note that what many people call a gargoyle is truly a grotesque. Grotesques are guardian figures, symbolic talismans protecting against ignorance and lack of education, while gargoyles are water movers. Whatever. You say mediEVAL, we say MEDieval.

Flischel, who just produced the coffee-table book An Expression of the Community: Cincinnati Public Schools' Legacy of Art and Architecture, helped us compile this list of great gargoyles/grotesques and kindly loaned us the accompanying visuals:

The grotesque carved reliefs at Hughes High are symbolic talismans to protect against ignorance and lack of education.

Best Gargoyle in the Park: "Nobody ever mentions the ones at the top of the water tower in Eden Park," notes Flischel. "They're great looking."

Best Weird Dwarves: At 617 Vine St. atop the eaves of the former Cincinnati Enquirer building. "They're weird looking creatures."

Best Elementary Education about Grotesques: At Rothenberg Elementary in Over-the-Rhine. "Check out the ones in the cornice. I stared at that building for years and never saw them. Weird looking, frog-like."

Best High School Education about Same: At Hughes High School in University Heights. "They're vicious looking."

Best Religious Gargoyles: At the century-old St. Mary's Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption in Covington, the region's only cathedral basilica that just re-opened after a year-long, $5 million renovation project. The cathedral is modeled after Notre Dame in Paris and features dozens of Gothic gargoyles. So what's a cathedral basilica, you ask? Basilica status can be bestowed only by the Pope, based on historical and architectural significance (just 35 Roman Catholic churches in America are so designated, and this is the only one in the Tristate). The gargoyles symbolize the sins of humanity but have a practical use as well -- to divert the rainwater.

Best Gargoyle in Someone's Front Yard: The Ugly (with a capital U) gargoyle outfitted in tropical Hawaiian shirts and special holiday-themed ensembles in front of a private home on Beechmont Avenue in Mount Washington.

Best Grotesque Art Show: Guardians Against Ignorance, currently on display at the Weston Art Gallery downtown through March 30. Artist Leslie Shiels painted the oil portraits of the grotesques that decorate the parapets of Hughes High School. (In April, some of the portraits will be displayed by Hebrew Union College in Clifton Heights for Holocaust Awareness Week.)