Pittsburgh Cemeteries

Tag: Bronze

  • Porter Monument, Allegheny Cemetery

    Porter monument

    This striking angel is the work of Brenda Putnam, but the cemetery’s site (in an article that has since disappeared) was vague and confusing on dates. It said that the bronze angel was cast “after 1910” as a replica of an original granite sculpture. The earliest dated Putnam work listed in her sparse Wikipedia article is from 1917. Brenda Putnam would have been twenty years old in 1910; she would thus have been a teenager when the granite version was done, if the date “1910” means anything at all. Henry Kirke Porter, identified as “the best-known Porter here” by the cemetery’s site, died in 1921, and perhaps that gives us a better guess at the date of the sculpture.

    If old Pa Pitt had to guess, he would imagine that those glorious wings were too heavy for granite, and the bronze cast was made when the original sculpture proved unstable.

    Angel by Brenda Putnam
    Closer to the angel
    Face of the angel

  • Worthington Mausoleum, Homewood Cemetery

    Worthington mausoleum

    Classicism pared down to the bones, severely elegant. The bronze doors are especially fine.

    Bronze doors
    Worthington mausoleum

  • A. J. Sunstein Mausoleum, West View Cemetery

    A. J. Sunstein Mausoleum

    Considering that the Exodus is the central event in Israel’s sacred history, Egyptian Revival has always struck old Pa Pitt as an odd choice of styles for a Jewish cemetery. But with this particular mausoleum he can see the appeal. “You think you’re a god-king, Pharaoh? Well, how would you like to be a door handle for the rest of eternity? What do you think of that, Mr. Bricks-Without-Straw?”

    Bronze door handle with Pharaoh heads

    A thorough history of the Sunsteins and Speyers is in the Jewish Encyclopedia of Western Pennsylvania.

    More pictures of the Sunstein mausoleum.

  • Kelley Monument, Union Dale Cemetery

    Statue on the Kelley monument

    Flower-dropping mourners are very common in our cemeteries, but this one is made of bronze and unusually fine.

    Kelley monument

  • Flower Mausoleum, Allegheny Cemetery

    Flower mausoleum

    A tasteful mausoleum shaped like the stereotypical Egyptian temple, but without Egyptian decorative details. The nautical-themed stained glass inside is extraordinarily good, and the bronze doors are also very artistic.

    Stained glass in the Flower mausoleum
    Bronze doors on the Flower mausoleum
    Ornament on the Flower mausoleum
    Flower mausoleum

    Addendum: Assuming there are not two Flower mausoleums in Pittsburgh, the architect of this one was Albert G. Lowe. Source: Listing for Sullivan Granite Company in Sweet’s Catalog File, 1932, Vol. A. Under “References”: “Flower Mausoleum, Pittsburgh, Pa., Albert G. Lowe, Pittsburgh, Pa., Architect.”