"A City of Faces"
Photos by Adam Paul with kind assistance from Daniel Gibbs
You won't find them on your nearby Best Buy or McDonalds. In fact, you probably won't find them in virtually every building constructed within the last 50 to 60 years! They're faces: people, animals, and even the mythological, represented among the older Downtown buildings with splendor and charachter, and sound evidence that they don't "build 'em like they used to!"In olden days, things were much the opposite of today. Material was expensive, yet labor was very cheap in comparison. As a result, builders could afford to add numerous embellishments in the style of the day that today's builders could never afford, thus the reason for the many bland looking buildings constructed these days. Here then is a simple look at the many faces to be seen about Downtown. They've been in the same spot for years, and if only they could talk, one is sure that they could tell a thousand stories just of the amount of change they've witnessed within their time.
While the eyes inside the Gayety on "the Block" ogle a variety of a variety of sinous pleasure, these eyes OUTSIDE seem oblivious to the goings on within.
Most imposing are these figures that grace the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad building on the Northwest corner of Baltimore and Charles Streets.
Though not a part of a building, the Battle Monument's figure is certainly impressive nonetheless.
Even more fanciful are the griphons that flank the base of the spire!
Lions seem to be in vogue throughout the older buildings of Downtown, as seen here in this frightening example guarding the 200 Block of East Lexington Street.
Another snarling Lion stands on the North side of the 200 Block of East Redwood Street.
King of the Jungle he may be, but it seems that this Lion opposite the one shown above doesn't intimidate the pigeons.
If a lion doesn't scare away evil spirits, should one instead display the devil to try to dissuade the evil? This one is sported in the 200 Block of East Lexington, opposite the Old Post Office.
A closer look at this facade reveals not only creatures, but some lovely provocative maidens atop the Macht Building in the unit block of East Fayette Street.
Directly across from the ladies, these gentlemen have been trying in vain to meet the ladies for countess decades. Talk about frustration!!!
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