Tag: Mausoleums

  • Hill Mausoleum, Homewood Cemetery

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    Another fine Egyptian temple, with all the requisite signifiers—lotus columns, sloping sides, winged scarab over the entrance.

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  • Elliott Mausoleum, Homewood Cemetery

    The exquisite polished granite sets this mausoleum apart even from all the tasteful and expensive mausoleums that surround it.

  • Brown Pyramid, Homewood Cemetery

    Like the Huhn pyramid in the Allegheny Cemetery (but on a much larger scale), this is a classical interpretation of the Egyptian pyramid, with proportions more like those of the Pyramid of Cestius along the Appian Way than like those of a true Egyptian pyramid. It is striking enough that it appears in much of the Homewood Cemetery’s publicity. It was designed by Alden & Harlow and built for William Harry Brown, banker and heir to a shipping empire, in 1898. Mr. Brown’s firm was the largest shipper of coal on the rivers, which obviously made him quite a pile of money.

  • George Mesta Mausoleum, Homewood Cemetery

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    A fine example of the Egyptian style that was very popular among Masons in the early twentieth century. George Mesta owned a machine shop in Homestead. It was (and this is not an exaggeration) a mile long. His wife Perle (also buried here) ultimately made more of a mark on the world after George died in 1925: she moved to Washington and became the city’s top hostess. President Truman made her ambassador to Luxembourg, where she navigated the minefield of American-Luxembourgeois relations with aplomb.

    The picture above was from 2014. Below, three pictures from 2022.

    George Mesta mausoleum
    George Mesta mausoleum
    George Mesta mausoleum
  • Albert C. Opperman Mausoleum, Homewood Cemetery

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    The mausoleum itself is tasteful, but not particularly distinguished. The stained glass inside, however, is signed by F. X. (Franz Xavier) Zettler of the Royal Bavarian Stained-Glass Manufactory, Munich, and it is an extraordinary piece of art.