The gargoyle was a rain spout shaped like a monster. Water collected on the roof and ran into a channel and came out through the mouth of a stone creature that hung off the side of the building. The gargoyle was plumbing disguised as art. The water came out of the monster's mouth and fell to the street and the gargoyle did its job and scared the pigeons at the same time. The gargoyle was the most efficient employee on the building.

The gargoyle watched the street. Stone eyes that never closed. The gargoyle saw every decade from the same angle. The gargoyle on the building at Astor Place watched the neighborhood turn from German to Jewish to Puerto Rican to whatever it is now and the gargoyle's expression never changed. The gargoyle was the building's opinion about the street and the opinion was always the same. The gargoyle was not impressed.

The gargoyle was carved by a man who knew nobody would see his work up close. Forty feet above the street. Nobody could see the details. The carver put the details in anyway. Scales on the dragon's neck. Teeth in the lion's mouth. Wrinkles around the eyes of the grotesque. The carver did the work because the work was worth doing. The carver understood that craft does not require an audience. The gargoyle knows who carved it. That is enough.

Kids told stories about the gargoyles. The gargoyle comes alive at night. The gargoyle protects the building from evil spirits. The gargoyle will eat you if you do not behave. The gargoyle was the building's fairy tale. Every old building on the block had a monster on the roof and the monsters were the neighborhood's mythology. The kids outgrew the stories but the gargoyles stayed on the roof telling the same story to the next batch of kids.

They do not put gargoyles on buildings anymore. The modern building has a downspout. A pipe. The water goes down the pipe and the pipe does not scare anybody and the pipe does not tell a story and the pipe does not watch the street. The gargoyle was a rain spout that also happened to be a work of art. The downspout is a rain spout that happens to be a pipe. We replaced the monster with the tube and called it efficiency.

See also: Gutter Pipe, Downspout