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Gargoyles are the black sheep in the family tree of statuary. They usually lack the nobility - or at least the posture of their cousins - the military statues and they have absolutely none of the innocence of cherubim. They usually sneer, leer and glare - but occasionally they just blandly stare. It may be that architects placed their ugly mugs on skyscrapers to tone down the high and mighty arrogance of the buildings. It's sometimes comforting for people to look up and spot someone who resembles a family member.

In Houston's downtown Market Square, we're given an opportunity to go up and look gargoyles in the eye. Here is a whole fraternity of gargoyles - heads mounted like deer.

The plaque gives a detailed chronology of this particular city block that dates back to 1836. Houston (or Harrisburg as it was then known) was the hastily designated Capital of the Republic in March of that year. The marker is a short distance from the former Rice Hotel, the site of the first Texas capitol.

Our visit was brief, since we were double-parked; so we don't know if information was given as to what building (if any) these stone triplets came from. Maybe they aren't gargoyles at all, but those hapless men of urban legend - the ones that somehow manage to get buried in wet concrete on construction projects.

Or perhaps they are faces from Houston's steamboat era - passengers who were gazing out through portholes on the wrong side of a capsized steamboat who later had their muddy facial imprints filled like the casts from Pompeii.

There is a familial resemblance between the three of them and one looks a little like Art Carney. Their arched eyebrows are Vulcanesque while the tops of their ears are rounded. It's not known if the cracked smiles are the result of vandals, the wrecking ball, or merely a fall from high places.

Houston, Texas