Pittsburgh Cemeteries

Tag: Egyptian Architecture

  • Hamilton Monument, Homewood Cemetery

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    Anyone who has seen enough science-fiction television would hesitate to step through the center of this extraordinary Egyptian construction; it seems obvious that it must be some sort of time portal leading back to the days of the pharaohs, or far across the galaxy to the planet from which Egyptian architects came. The verdigris of the bronze ornamentation fits very well with the polished granite.

    Alfred Reed Hamilton, who died in 1927, seems to be the earliest burial in this plot, and that sounds about right for the date of this monument.

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  • Warden Monument, Allegheny Cemetery

    In some ways this is the oddest monument in the Allegheny Cemetery, though in that category it faces some very stiff competition. It is an Egyptian-style canopy of sandstone over a marble statue that has almost entirely disintegrated. In fact we know the name “Warden” only from the cemetery’s site. We can barely make out the words “Little George” under the remains of the statue.

    The Egyptian style is remarkable enough for the middle 1800s, but this monument is odder than the few other remnants of the first Egyptian revival. The pattern of holes in the sandstone seems to have been made by an amateur with too much time on his hands. The winged sun disk or scarab is the earliest occurrence of that symbol Father Pitt has found anywhere in Pittsburgh; it would later become ubiquitous on mausoleums of the second Egyptian Revival in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

  • McAlister Mausoleum, Homewood Cemetery

    A particularly splendid Egyptian temple; it would be rather ordinary but for the broad porch that wraps around three sides, making it magnificent.

  • Williams Mausoleum, Homewood Cemetery

    An Egyptian tomb extraordinary for its restraint: with none of the slightly cartoony Egyptian accoutrements that generally mark the style, it seems to return to the simplicity of the mid-nineteenth-century Egyptian Revival (compare, for example, the Walter mausoleum in the Allegheny Cemetery). The sloping sides, the projecting curves of the cornice and lintel, and the trapezoidal door frame are the elements that mark it as Egyptian.

  • Walter-Wallace Mausoleum, Allegheny Cemetery

    A rare example of mid-nineteenth-century Egyptian Revival architecture (as opposed to the very common early-twentieth-century Egyptian style). This mausoleum is not listed on the cemetery’s site, so it would be work to figure out when it was built; in general, though, half-underground mausoleums like these date from the first two or three decades of the cemetery’s existence. Father Pitt guesses this one might date from the 1850s. The name “Wallace” was clearly added later.

    These pictures have been donated to the public under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication, so no permission is needed to use them for any purpose whatsoever.