The eroded inscription is clear enough to read that Mr. Tanner died in 1851, and we have seen similar exuberantly spiky Gothic monuments from about that time. Mr. Tanner married a Patterson, and Pattersons make up most of the residents in the family plot.
This Gothic shaft no longer bears any legible inscriptions except the name McKee in a shield halfway up the shaft and, added later, the name Dravo on the base. For genealogical purposes it is a disappointment, but as a picturesque accessory in the landscape it is probably even more delightful in its worn state than it was when it was new. It was probably put up in the 1870s; the plot owner was one Samuel McKee.
One is tempted to describe this peculiar construction as “Doric Romanesque.” The rusticated stone and ponderous style cry out for Romanesque details, but instead we get smooth Doric columns and a smooth arch that seems to belong to another structure altogether. In fact, Father Pitt, who seldom passes a negative judgment on anyone’s mausoleum, is compelled by sheer honesty to say that he does not regard this design as a success. It is a cacophony rather than a harmony of disparate ideas. The bronze doors, however, are splendid, and no one can take that away from them.
A scale model of the Pantheon in Rome, the Bindley mausoleum suggests that Mr. Bindley must have been somebody awfully important. Actually, he is remembered most for being entombed in this elegant mausoleum.
Alexander King was the father of Jenny King Mellon, the grandfather of Sarah Mellon Scaife, and the great-grandfather of Richard Mellon Scaife. Baywood, the spectacular Second-Empire mansion he built in Highland Park, still stands near the end of Negley Avenue. This monument was put up in 1893.
