Pittsburgh Cemeteries

Tag: Mausoleums

  • Hartje Mausoleum Homewood Cemetery

    This little Egyptian mausoleum is noticeably different from others of its style. The lotus columns and winged sun disk are there, but the rusticated stone is not usual on Egyptian monuments, and the sides of the mausoleum do not slope in the approved Egyptian manner. In fact this seems to be a standard rustic mausoleum with an Egyptian porch and door. But the door is something to see. In addition to its lotus-pattern grille, it has what appears to be a large knocker, which one might think superfluous in a house of the dead, but then one never knows.

  • Stimmel Mausoleum, Homewood Cemetery

    Yet another silent-movie-set Egyptian temple, but this one unexpectedly delights us with a stained-glass window that looks like a poster for the movie.

  • Charles Brewer Mausoleum, Allegheny Cemetery

    There are two distinct periods of Egyptian architecture in our cemeteries. The first, which has left few remains, came in the early and middle nineteenth century; the second, whose remains are abundant, was mostly in the early twentieth century. Here is a rare example of the earlier period, a mausoleum dating from about 1850. It is very different from the Hollywood-set Egyptian of the later period. Like most of the earliest mausoleums in the Allegheny Cemetery, it is dug into a hillside. The tapering pilasters and flanking obelisks mark the Egyptian character. Names and death dates of various Brewer family members are engraved on the bases of the obelisks.

  • Leopold Vilsack Mausoleum, St. Mary’s Cemetery

    Leopold Vilsack is described in his obituary as a “millionaire banker, brewer, and property owner.” Certainly Pittsburgh owes a lot of its self-image to him, because the brewery he founded was incorporated as the Iron City Brewing Company. His mausoleum is certainly extraordinary, perhaps the most lavish Romanesque mausoleum in Pittsburgh. It is turreted like a castle, but it reminds us that the deceased was a good Catholic with a prominent cross and alpha-omega monogram.

  • Charles Donnelly Mausoleum, St. Mary’s Cemetery

    A miniature Gothic church that strongly emphasizes the prickly pointiness of the Gothic style. No cleaning has been done in St. Mary’s, so many of the best mausoleums are still pristine Pittsburgh black.