Rooster gargoyle on the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina. Photo by Vai Tsuji on Flick (Creative Commons).
Gargoyles on private homes are uncommon. Gargoyles on private homes in the United States are like unicorns – rare, exciting, and magical (metaphorically, of course). These gargoyles are part of the gorgeous Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina, constructed in the late nineteenth century. According to several sources, the Biltmore’s gargoyles are non-functioning – and thus technically grotesques. However, I am intrigued by the fact that some are very authentically European Gothic in their appearance, while others are unique and quirky. The gargoyle shown above is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before, while those in the image below look very similar to the gargoyles on Notre Dame in Paris.
Update 2018 – I visited Biltmore in September 2018 and saw all of its gargoyles/grotesques for myself. Enjoy my photos of them in this new post.
Alexandra Kiely, aka A Scholarly Skater, is an art historian based in the northeastern United States. She loves wandering down the dark and dusty corners of art history and wholeheartedly believes in visual art's ability to enrich every person's life.
Her favorite periods of art history are 19th-century American painting and medieval European art and architecture. When she not looking at, reading about, writing about, or teaching art, she's probably ice dancing or reading.
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A Scholarly Skater 