Gargoyles and Grotesques of Casa della Vittoria, Turin

This dragon grotesque and his twin live on the Casa della Vittoria in Turin, Italy. The building is also sometimes called Casa dei Draghi, presumably because of decorations like this one. (“Drago” is the Italian work for “dragon”.) I’m having trouble finding out more about the building, on account of the fact that my Italian is currently a bit rusty, but I do know that this private home was designed and built by Gottardo Gussoni between 1918 and 1920 in a Neo-Gothic style with copious ornamentation, including many animal decorations (1). I was interested to note that several websites identified the building as Art Nouveau, which I don’t think it technically is. However, I definitely see something of that early-twentieth century stule in the doors and windows shown below- particularly the graceful, wooden trim and the little lizard-shaped handles.

Notes: (1) “Casa della Vittoria”. Italian Wikipedia. Accessed 1/31/2016.