A prickly Gothic monument to an officer killed in the Civil War. “Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori,” says the epitaph, although it probably didn’t feel all that good at the time.
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Leopold Vilsack Mausoleum, St. Mary’s Cemetery
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.
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Charles Donnelly Mausoleum, St. Mary’s Cemetery
A miniature Gothic church that strongly emphasizes the prickly pointiness of the Gothic style. No cleaning has been done in St. Mary’s, so many of the best mausoleums are still pristine Pittsburgh black.
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Brehm Obelisk, South Side Cemetery
This is a very good specimen of the more ornately Victorian sort of obelisk; but Father Pitt admits that he includes it here mostly because it made such a beautiful picture in the last rays of evening sunlight.
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Koegler Mausoleum, South Side Cemetery
A standard-issue Romanesque mausoleum, though unusually deep in proportion to its width; but irresistibly picturesque in the last golden rays of evening sun.
