Tag: Classical Architecture

  • French Mausoleum, Allegheny Cemetery

    This grand Corinthian mausoleum, a sort of squashed triumphal arch, is impressive from the front. The back once held a large window, probably equally impressive; but it has now been filled in with unimpressive bricks.

  • Robert Pitcairn Mausoleum, Homewood Cemetery

    Robert Pitcairn, for whom the borough of Pitcairn is named, was head of the Pittsburgh Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad. It sounds like a mid-level management position, but in fact it was more like a viceroyalty. This elegant Corinthian temple demonstrates how wealthy such a position could make a man.

    This particular picture has been donated to Wikimedia Commons under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication, so no permission is needed to use it for any purpose whatsoever.

  • Eaton-Brown-Fleming Mausoleum, Homewood Cemetery

    A lavish Doric temple, a miniature Parthenon or (even closer) Temple of Hephaestus, this mausoleum manages to convey the two often-conflicting messages “I had good taste” and “I was rich.”

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  • William Slater Mausoleum, Mount Lebanon Cemetery

    William Slater has the most elegant, and probably most expensive, mausoleum in the Mount Lebanon Cemetery—hardly surprising, since he was a very successful funeral director. It does not compare with the great  works of architecture in the Allegheny, Homewood, or Union Dale cemeteries, but it is certainly nothing to be ashamed of.

  • G. E. Smith Mausoleum, Union Dale Cemetery

    Here lie the earthly remains of Pittsburg Phil, as George E. Smith was known when he moved to Chicago.

    The Union Dale Cemetery is full of colorful characters who grew rich in shady businesses—Allegheny was a notoriously corrupt city, and indeed one of the arguments often advanced by advocates of “Greater Pittsburgh” was that Allegheny needed a dose of good clean Pittsburgh government. We pause for the requisite howls of laughter.

    Pittsburg Phil was less shady than many: he merely bet on horses, and he made millions doing so. He was famously impassive and disdained corruption of any sort. He commissioned this mausoleum when he was still in his thirties, doubtless imagining many years of satisfaction ahead of him in knowing that his final resting place would be one of the most elegant in the Union Dale Cemetery. In fact he died in 1905 at the age of forty-three. The cemetery’s site has his whole story, which is fascinating.

    The statue on top is a portrait of the man himself, clutching a Racing Form. It was commissioned by his mother some time after his death. The fact that his urns are always filled with beautiful plantings suggests that even now, more than a century later, there are people who treasure the memory of Pittsburg Phil. Inside is a simple but elegant stained-glass window.