Pittsburgh Cemeteries

Category: Homewood Cemetery

  • Hamilton Monument, Homewood Cemetery

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    Anyone who has seen enough science-fiction television would hesitate to step through the center of this extraordinary Egyptian construction; it seems obvious that it must be some sort of time portal leading back to the days of the pharaohs, or far across the galaxy to the planet from which Egyptian architects came. The verdigris of the bronze ornamentation fits very well with the polished granite.

    Alfred Reed Hamilton, who died in 1927, seems to be the earliest burial in this plot, and that sounds about right for the date of this monument.

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  • Theodore F. Straub Mausoleum, Homewood Cemetery

    One wonders whether the neighbors think of the Straub mausoleum as bringing down the tone of the neighborhood. Among the architect-designed classical temples of the Pitcairns and Clemsons and so forth, here is a little Romanesque mausoleum that seems to be a dealer’s stock model; the William H. McCarthy mausoleum in Calvary Cemetery is identical, with the addition of a cross to suit Catholic taste. One likes to imagine the spirits of the very rich reacting the way they would react if they were still alive and their new neighbor announced that he was going to put up a very tasteful manufactured home on his lot.

    The statue on top seems to be a version of that very popular flower-strewing mourner who appears in many of our cemeteries, usually handless if she is at ground level; compare the Aul, Potts, Alexander H. King, Baxmyer, and Nickel monuments.

  • Hipple Angel, Homewood Cemetery

    An angel in high relief stands before a rustic boulder and drops lily flowers on the Hipples’ graves. The earliest burial in this plot seems to be Marion F. Hipple, who died in 1899, and that is a good guess at the date of this angel.

  • Peacock Mausoleum, Homewood Cemetery

    Alexander Rowland (or Rolland) Peacock was a business partner of Andrew Carnegie; he built this tasteful Doric mausoleum for himself years before he died in 1928.

  • Niemann Mausoleum, Homewood Cemetery

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    A standard Ionic temple, undistinguished perhaps but very elegant.