ABOVE- Photos of my original clay model

Measurements:

Norminal 25" long, 11-3/4" wide, and 12" high.

History of the piece in my personal collection

The head shown is one of my casts from the 1980's, the original was a full bodied gothic Griffin or Gargoyle which I salvaged from a Public School located on East 104th and 105th Street in Manhattan. The school is shown in photos from 1920 and probably dates to around 1906 when many schools were constructed in this style in NYC according to a standardized "H" shaped floor plan. Google maps show the building is still there, with a new roof- probably converted into apartments.

Information about the former school which has been renovated into apartments;

Borough: Manhattan Block: 1676 Lot: 11
Address; 317 EAST 104 STREET, 10029 Lot Area: 30275 sq. feet Lot Frontage: 150 feet Lot Depth: 201.83 feet
Year built: 1910
Number of floors: 5 Building Gross Area: 202750 sq. feet
Residential Units: 88
C B J Snyder, architect and supt of schools.

Photos of the school

Photo below of the 105th Street side taken in 1920

Photo below of the 104th Street side taken in 1940

Photo enlargement 300%, blue arrows point to the original Griffin's locations

Photo of one of the original terra cotta Griffins from the school, these were installed with the heads pointing downward- the head portion shown is available alone on another page:

The school was abandoned and sat open and vandalized in 1976 when I happened to find it.

The Griffins were installed in pairs, one pair on either side of each dormer, as the building was the then standard school "H" shape, it allowed a playground area on both sides that way and more light inside. The terra cotta surrounded dormers were extraordinarily large and can be seen even in the photos- projecting high above the gabled roof. There were about 14 of these dormers. Most were not accessable to me, but several were located next to large glass skylights which allowed me with the help of a friend to climb up to the roof next to them.

We used a couple of ropes, one for me as this WAS the 6th floor after all, and one thrown up over the top of the dormer to secure the Griffin. Surprisingly it didn't take much to remove them off their verticle blocks with a hammer and chisel. An interesting aside, apparantly the head of one had been broken off during construction of the school, someone had glued it back on with brown hot melt glue! It amazingly held all those years and could have fallen off into the playground at anytime and killed someone! but the small amount of vibration from my hammer and chisel on the base of the Griffin was enough to break the bond and the head fell off down into the courtyard, it was totally smashed.

I mostly remember it was a cold January in 1976 that we salvaged a few of these over a few days or so, and went back other times for more, but I still vividly remember the 1 degree temperature and icy cold WIND I experienced on at least one of those excursions.

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This sculpture is not ready to be produced just yet, nor is it priced, it is on hold for the time being.

You can sponsor this model into production with a minimum order of 4 casts to cover the mold making costs.

This will NOT be available in concrete.