Another mausoleum in this cemetery whose style is hard to pin down. The shape is classical, but the capitals on the columns are more like a medieval interpretation of Corinthian capitals than they are like classical Corinthian capitals. Below we see this mausoleum as it stands in a row with the Redfern and Shaw mausoleums, just inside the Fifth Avenue gate.
This imposing Ionic mausoleum stands in its own circular plot with a commanding view of the valley below. It is a common sort of classical mausoleum, and yet it seems different enough from the classical constructions in the Pittsburgh cemeteries to remind us that we are in McKeesport, which is a different world. The first Painter took up residence here in 1902, so the mausoleum dates from that year or before.
This is a particularly splendid Ionic mausoleum. Its richness of texture makes most other classical mausoleums seem half-finished by comparison. It appears to be an exact duplicate of the Fownes mausoleum in the Homewood Cemetery, but with the addition of an extra set of steps in the front to take into account the hillside site.
The bronze doors are cast in an interesting pattern.
An unusual mausoleum in this unusual cemetery—unusual because its restrained modern-classical style would look at home in other Pittsburgh-area cemeteries, whereas most of the mausoleums here are noticeably different from any standard Pittsburgh style. Cemetery records list a James D. O’Neil (who must be the “J. Denny” of the inscription) as the first interment here; he died in 1915, so that is probably about the date of this mausoleum.
August Ernest Succop was interred here in 1931, but if Father Pitt had to guess, he would say that Mr. Succop had this mausoleum built for himself yeas before that. It has the correctly Doric style of the first part of the twentieth century. A good stained-glass window of the risen Christ is inside.
