An Art Deco interpretation of Gothic, with a very streamlined version of the requisite pointed arch. The cemetery’s on-line records do not list a Ferree as buried in a private mausoleum; the only Ferree listed is a Dr. David Ferree buried in 1917 in a grave in a completely different part of the cemetery. Father Pitt is therefore forced to guess the date by the style, so he will guess 1930s.
An Art Deco construction that reminds Father Pitt more than a little of the style he calls “American Fascist,” which was more usually applied to federal office buildings than to private mausoleums.
The typical family plot in the Homewood Cemetery has one large family monument and individual headstones for each family member. Here is one of those plots where the family monument is rather grander than usual, making it a more suitable neighbor for the Fricks and Heinzes and so forth who rest nearby.
Dr. Clark, whose practice was clearly quite successful, took his professional credentials with him to the grave. The Doric mausoleum would be ordinary but for the arched doorway, which is unusual on classical mausoleums in Pittsburgh.
Edward Manning Bigelow (1850-1916), far-sighted city planner, gave us Schenley Park and Highland Park, great patches of green forest and field right in the middle of the city. They were on the edges of the city in Bigelow’s time, but he saw where the city was headed. For that we owe him immense gratitude; and if the expense of this elegant Doric mausoleum indicates that he managed to cash in some of the gratitude we owe him while he was still alive, we do not begrudge him his prosperity.
