Built in about 1860, this is one of the first wave half-underground mausoleums in the Alegheny Cemetery. It probably had bronze doors originally, but it is easier to keep a brick wall from being stolen. The angel on top is an unusual detail for this type of mausoleum.
One is tempted to describe this peculiar construction as “Doric Romanesque.” The rusticated stone and ponderous style cry out for Romanesque details, but instead we get smooth Doric columns and a smooth arch that seems to belong to another structure altogether. In fact, Father Pitt, who seldom passes a negative judgment on anyone’s mausoleum, is compelled by sheer honesty to say that he does not regard this design as a success. It is a cacophony rather than a harmony of disparate ideas. The bronze doors, however, are splendid, and no one can take that away from them.
A scale model of the Pantheon in Rome, the Bindley mausoleum suggests that Mr. Bindley must have been somebody awfully important. Actually, he is remembered most for being entombed in this elegant mausoleum.
The cemetery site dates this to about 1860; it is one of the early half-underground mausoleums in the cemetery. The simple classical lines are enlivened by just a bit of ornate scrolling on the roof. The cemetery lists the original plot owner as Oliverette Wharton, a resident of East Birmingham (now the section of the South Side between 17th and 24th Streets).
A rather Jeffersonian basilica with a dome and a porch with “modern Ionic” columns. It was built in 1903 for William Henry Singer, a steel baron, who lived six more years to enjoy looking at it from the outside.
