
A fine Corinthian temple most remarkable for its bronze doors, a pair of angels bringing a message of peace.

A fine Corinthian temple most remarkable for its bronze doors, a pair of angels bringing a message of peace.
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.
General Alfred L. Pearson
Died January 6, 1903
Prominent in Civil and Military Life
Took active part in 28 great battles and many skirmishes during the War of the Rebellion, including Antietam, Fredericksburg, Peebles Farm, Gettysburg, Wilderness, and Appomattox. Brevetted a major general at 27 years of age, and awarded a medal of honor by Congress for conspicuous bravery.
A worthy friend or foe.
This striking angel is the work of Brenda Putnam, but the cemetery’s site is vague and confusing on dates. It says 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 site, died in 1921, and perhaps that gives us a better guess at the date of the sculpture.