Pittsburgh Cemeteries

Tag: Hope

  • Friday Mausoleum, Calvary Cemetery

    Friday mausoleum

    Everything seems a bit louder and more obvious in a Catholic cemetery. Here the name of the family is very large; the cross decorations are big (you would not find crosses at all on a Doric mausoleum in a Protestant cemetery), and even the cornices are fat and obvious. We should also mention artificial flowers even on the most expensive mausoleums, because nothing can discourage the faithful from leaving artificial flowers.

    The shape of this particular mausoleum is interesting. The details are classical and the decorations are Christian, but the shape is much more like the shape of the Egyptian temples Masons liked to build for themselves. We almost never find the Egyptian style in a Catholic cemetery, but we find echoes of it in the forms of some mausoleums.

    Statues of Hope (with anchor) and Faith (with book) guard the entrance. Faith has grown a good crop of shield lichens.

    Hope
    Faith
    Friday mausoleum
    Friday mausoleum

    Obviously old Pa Pitt likes this mausoleum. He took quite a few more pictures, but most of them are variations on the same themes. These should be just about enough to convey a good impression of the style and decorations.

  • Schreiner Mausoleum, Union Dale Cemetery

    Schreiner mausoleum

    A large and luxurious classical structure with a prominent cupola topped by a statue of Hope shaking her fist at heaven. At least that is how old Pa Pitt always reads the statue: it is certainly Hope (the anchor is her ID card), and Father Pitt doesn’t know what else to make of the raised-fist salute.

    Statue of Hope
    Monogram

    Ornate monograms flank the entrance arch.

  • Rook Column, Allegheny Cemetery

    An elaborate Corinthian column erected in 1881 for Alexander Rook, an editor of the late lamented Dispatch. The recording angel is a particularly good one, and figures of hope and faith flank the column.

  • Johnston Monument, Homewood Cemetery

    Hope, carrying her little anchor, gazes out into the distance. Her classical drapery is unusually splendid, and the decades of industrial grime give it added depth.

  • Blendinger Monument, Spring Hill Cemetery

    Hope holds her ever-present anchor and points upward. The statue is only fairly good, but the Gothic base is really splendid, wealthy in well-harmonized detail.

    The Blendingers had five children who died before their parents, the oldest one at ten or eleven.