
Tucked against the unflattering backdrop of Children’s Hospital, this is an unusual Gothic design, heavy and Pittsburghy, with an exceptionally splendid iron door that appears to have been plated originally.


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.