Author: Father Pitt

  • Sapsara Monument, St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Cemetery

    Sapsara monument

    The stone has eroded so much already that only the outline of the crucifix is visible in the Byzantine cross. The inscription is still very legible, however; the monument was probably put up when Mike P. Sapsara died in 1932, but old Pa Pitt suspects the inscription has been recut, replacing an illegible original. Note that the inscription is a hybrid of Croatian and English. The photograph of Mike P. Sapsara is in poor shape, but you might still recognize him if you met him on the street.

    Mike P. Sapsara
  • Statue on the Graham Monument, Allegheny Cemetery

    Statue on the Graham monument

    Father Pitt thinks this picture of mourning and consolation (no one seems to know who the sculptor was) is one of the finest things in the cemetery, and fall colors add much to the effect.

  • Armstrong and Stewart Monument, Allegheny Cemetery

    Armstrong and Stewart Monument

    A miniature Doric temple with “Christ is risen” in blackletter (with quotation marks) to Christianize it. There are inscriptions for death dates back to 1865, but from the style Father Pitt would date this monument much later—perhaps 1914, which is the earliest date after the 1860s.

  • Singer Mausoleum, Allegheny Cemetery

    Singer mausoleum

    A Victorian interpretation of Jeffersonian classicism. Domes are fairly unusual on Pittsburgh mausoleums, but this one works well with the “modern Ionic” design. The four large lamps on the corners are a bit much, in old Pa Pitt’s opinion; but the Singers didn’t ask him.

    Bronze doors on the Singer mausoleum

    Two layers of bronze and one cheap padlock keep vandals out, or perhaps the Singers in.

  • Winter Mausoleum, Allegheny Cemetery

    Winter mausoleum

    The gorgeous and absurd Winter mausoleum was designed by John Russell Pope, architect of (among other things) the National Gallery of Art and the Jefferson Memorial. Almost exactly the same mausoleum was built earlier for F. W. Woolworth, the dime-store king; Emil Winter, the Pittsburgh banker, must have told Pope he wanted what Woolworth had.

    Winter mausoleum