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.
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.
“Huge” is probably the best single word to describe this construction. The mausoleum itself is massive, and it supports a towering column with a larger-than-life statue of a recording angel by Henry Jackson Ellicott at the top. If you were considering any sort of misbehavior in this section of the Union Dale Cemetery, remember that the guardian of the Duncans is taking notes.
The structure was designed by the noted architect Theophilus P. Chandler. Chandler was the Thaw family’s favorite architect, and he designed two of Pittsburgh’s prominent churches: First Presbyterian downtown and Third Presbyterian in Shadyside.
One of the largest and most elaborate mausoleums in Pittsburgh, this pile of classical Ionic detailing is topped by a statue of Hope shaking her fist at the heavens. The Schreiners must have been a very wealthy family, but they leave very little trace on the Internet, and (rather absurdly) do not even appear in the Union Dale Cemetery’s own list of “Notables.”
The George J. Schmitt mausoleum is a tasteful Doric temple with a glorious stained-glass window. Regrettably, the Union Dale Cemetery is not well documented on line: in fact, it is hard to find anything about this mausoleum with a Google search except old Pa Pitt’s previous article on stained glass in the Union Dale Cemetery.
“Unto Thee O Lord Do I Lift Up My Soul”
