About the Gargoyle

The Gargoyle is the alumni magazine of the University of Wisconsin Law School. It is funded by private donations.

Why Gargoyle?

In 1963, when the original Law School building was demolished to make way for a new one, Dean George Young found and rescued a sandstone gargoyle from the rubble. This figure and its twin had sat on the roof of the building since it was erected in 1868. While one of the pair was believed to have perished in its fall, the second landed unscathed.

That rescued gargoyle, which is now permanently installed in the Law School’s atrium, represents the indomitable strength and spirit of our University of Wisconsin Law School and its many graduates.

In 2018, the long-presumed destroyed gargoyle made its return to the Law School. It had been wheelbarrowed away a decade before its demolition by Paul Been ’53 and a fellow law student. It followed the Been family across state lines, guarding multiple backyards for more than six decades.

Visit the Law School website for further information on the legend and lore of the Law School’s gargoyle.