Pittsburgh Cemeteries – Page 72 – The Art and Architecture of Death

Stephen Foster Window, Allegheny Cemetery Mausoleum

The Allegheny Cemetery Mausoleum, or “Temple of Memories” (as the cemetery calls it now), was built in 1960. It is filled with stained glass by the Willet studio of Philadelphia and the Hunt studio of Pittsburgh. The two distinct styles are very different, but Father Pitt does not know which is which.

This Stephen Foster window is the centerpiece of the whole first floor of the mausoleum, which is appropriate. Thousands of rich and important people—politicians, robber barons, and even a few honest philanthropists—are buried in Allegheny Cemetery. But the only resident anyone really cares about is Stephen Foster, who made us dance and sing and weep, and died in poverty. (There is also a small cult of Lillian Russell, and Father Pitt would be delighted to see a Lillian Russell window in some future expansion of the mausoleum.)

This window includes something that delighted old Pa Pitt beyond all reason: the only stained-glass representation he has ever seen of a parlor organ.

Camera: Kodak EasyShare Z1485 IS.
John Nicholas Neeb Monument, Voegtly Cemetery

A broken column, representing a life cut off before its time: Mr. Neeb died at not quite 42. “He died yet lives,” says the inscription around the monogram on the column.
Rankin Obelisk, South Side Cemetery

A simple marble obelisk remembering William Rankin, who died in 1874. From the style, we would guess that the obelisk was erected about then.
Weil Mausoleum, West View Cemetery

A simple Doric design whose severity is moderated by a Greek-key decoration.
Sheraden Monument, Chartiers Cemetery

A towering monolith marks the Sheraden family plot in Chartiers Cemetery. William Sheraden was the founder of the Sheraden borough that later became the Sheraden neighborhood of Pittsburgh. Trinity Lutheran Church has a page on the history of Sheraden; it gives the date of William’s death as 1901 instead of 1900, but lists enough relatives for us to be sure this is the same William Sheraden.