We frequently find whole sections of cemeteries prickly with obelisks, as here in the West View Cemetery, where they add considerably to the picturesqueness of the landscape.
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Obelisks, West View Cemetery
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Lewin Mausoleum, West View Cemetery
A monument dealer’s standard-model mausoleum with an elegant Star-of-David window inside.
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A. J. Sunstein Mausoleum, West View Cemetery
Another Egyptian mausoleum that hits all the expected marks, except that it is too small (or cheap) for lotus columns. This one, however, adds the delightful detail of pharaoh’s-head door pulls, which more than makes up for the missing columns.
Little smiley characters like the one at upper left occasionally appear on mausoleum doors in Pittsburgh cemeteries. It’s a cheerful little mystery.
A thorough history of the Sunsteins and Speyers is in the Jewish Encyclopedia of Western Pennsylvania.
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Aaron Monument, West View Cemetery
A monument in a sort of Jewish Romanesque style, with a Star of David worked into the relief. Compare it to the very similar, but explicitly Christian, Jenkins monument in the Homewood Cemetery.
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Kamin Mausoleum, West View Cemetery
The West View Cemetery is a Jewish cemetery, but negative historical associations did not prevent two of its residents from specifying the popular Egyptian style for their grand mausoleums. This is one of them, built (according to the inscription) in about 1930 by Herman Kamin. It is not as grand as the Egyptian mausoleums in the very richest cemeteries, but it does have fresh palms in the urns, and a fine view of the pyramids from inside.
