Pittsburgh Cemeteries

Author: Father Pitt

  • Charles Brewer Mausoleum, Allegheny Cemetery

    There are two distinct periods of Egyptian architecture in our cemeteries. The first, which has left few remains, came in the early and middle nineteenth century; the second, whose remains are abundant, was mostly in the early twentieth century. Here is a rare example of the earlier period, a mausoleum dating from about 1850. It is very different from the Hollywood-set Egyptian of the later period. Like most of the earliest mausoleums in the Allegheny Cemetery, it is dug into a hillside. The tapering pilasters and flanking obelisks mark the Egyptian character. Names and death dates of various Brewer family members are engraved on the bases of the obelisks.

  • Col. Samuel W. Black Monument, Allegheny Cemetery

    A prickly Gothic monument to an officer killed in the Civil War. “Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori,” says the epitaph, although it probably didn’t feel all that good at the time.

  • Leopold Vilsack Mausoleum, St. Mary’s Cemetery

    Leopold Vilsack is described in his obituary as a “millionaire banker, brewer, and property owner.” Certainly Pittsburgh owes a lot of its self-image to him, because the brewery he founded was incorporated as the Iron City Brewing Company. His mausoleum is certainly extraordinary, perhaps the most lavish Romanesque mausoleum in Pittsburgh. It is turreted like a castle, but it reminds us that the deceased was a good Catholic with a prominent cross and alpha-omega monogram.

  • Charles Donnelly Mausoleum, St. Mary’s Cemetery

    A miniature Gothic church that strongly emphasizes the prickly pointiness of the Gothic style. No cleaning has been done in St. Mary’s, so many of the best mausoleums are still pristine Pittsburgh black.

  • Brehm Obelisk, South Side Cemetery

    This is a very good specimen of the more ornately Victorian sort of obelisk; but Father Pitt admits that he includes it here mostly because it made such a beautiful picture in the last rays of evening sunlight.