Monroe County Hospital
A friend of mine who has been mentioned here on my blog on several occasions (you may recall the day that she saved me from the side of the expressway) has just actually discovered this blog and started reading it. She previously wasn’t a big internet sort of lady but was cunningly coaxed in via ebay. She called me last night and asked specifically about a couple of outings that we had taken that she couldn’t locate here.
Trying to be helpful I wandered around for a bit trying to figure out what I would have named those entries. Turns out I had never posted either one. So here for you (way after the fact) is one of those outings.
This was a trip around the outside of the Monroe County Hospital. I have always loved this building. It has Rochester’s best collections of gargoyles (that I am aware of – if there is another good place somewhere – PLEASE let me know) and the architecture is distinctive and varied.
I am mostly interested in the Gargoyles, so that is what most of the photos are of.
These guys are all just hanging out and reading. Or pretending to read.
This one bears a striking resemblance to a friend. Looks to us like he is hanging out in his “office” reading the paper and talking on his cell phone. 
This temple just really doesn’t seem to fit with anything else in the place, but maybe it’s all just random. 
Again, this owl must have been there for a reason, but hard to say what that might have been. I would love to learn more about the history of this place. Maybe we should send over Chris from Exploring Upstate who actually does research on the places he visits instead of just taking pictures 🙂
These guys crack me up. A whole story could be written about what it might be that they are up to. Is that second one trying to flash us? 
Content? Melancholy? There is so much character in all of these. 
Lions? drooling werewolves? What is going on? 
How could you not feel special walking into that everyday? 
The hospital is still open and functioning and you can walk around the grounds anytime that you would like. It is better if it is nice out of course. I would suggest a camera that can zoom in as some of these gargoyles are hard to get near to. There is also what looks like a temple on the top of the building that I didn’t take photos of this day because we were too close to the building to see it.
Hope this helps correct for my oversite and I will post the other outing shortly.
For the rest of you the tattoo and painting photos will be back shortly.
Just TeeJay's Blog 
Wow awesome architecture ! Thanks for sharing.
I like it here
I did a search on Monroe Community Hospital gargoyles, and I’m so glad your blog turned up. Aren’t those gargoyles amazing? I’d LOVE to know the stories behind them. I’ve read that they were designed to look like some of the critical politicians of the time. Is this a political statement ??? Fascinating.
And yeah, I think they’re lions, but LOVE the idea
of them being drooling werewolves !
In April 1930, the 23-year-old Boyde answered a help wanted ad for an architectural designer in The New York Times. The ad had been placed by the Rochester firm of Siegmund Firestone, an architect and engineer.
Boyde was hired and began working with Firestone on the Monroe Community Hospital project. His more notable contributions include many decorative aspects of the distinctive building on East Henrietta and Westfall roads, which include clusters of gargoyles, cherubs, dragons, and other mythical creatures.
Boyde also worked for another Rochester architect, from 1940 to 1947, before establishing his own practice, initially working out of an office in his home.
Some of Boyde’s more prominent local designs include the Rundel Memorial Library Building, Harro East, The Strathallan, the Kennedy Towers apartment complex, Benjamin Franklin High School, and the cottage-style residential buildings at the Villa of Hope and Nazareth College campuses. Other designs include New York City’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel, YMCA, and Hotel Lexington.