I was recently in downtown San Jose, California. I have been itching to photograph the gargoyles and grotesque that I have spotted in the past — and decided to not put it off any longer!
I did not have my good camera — I just had my iPhone with me. Figuring something is better than nothing — I took about a dozen photographs. Here are a select five.nI plan bringing the good camera with the long lens and getting better shots soon!
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| St. Claire Apartment Grotesque, San Jose, California |
The picture above is a small carved bas-relief that I figure is a winged lion. The entrance to the St. Claire Apartment building has a large carved arched entranced — and this grotesque, (or commonly called a gargoyle) and other figures are repeated up and down the arch.
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| St. Claire Apartment Grotesque, San Jose, California |
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The picture above is another carved bas-relief figure, this one is located just above the lions pictured above.
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| The Saint Claire Hotel Grotesque, San Jose, California |
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This picture shows a large carved lion over the entrance to The Saint Claire Hotel, a nicely restored building in downtown San Jose. I believe the hotel and the St. Clair Apartments are the same building.
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San Jose Museum of Art Grotesque, San Jose, California
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A few blocks north of The Saint Claire Hotel is the San Jose Museum of Art. This building has quite a few gargoyles and I took a few pictures. This picture is a green man, which is in a carved band that wraps around the building. The building was originally the San Jose Library. |
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| San Jose Museum of Art Grotesque, San Jose, California |
This picture is a griffin, on the San Jose Museum of Art building.
There are more on my hit list — I plan on doing a good shoot and posting them up soon.
