Pittsburgh Cemeteries

Tag: Mausoleums

  • 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.

  • Fine Mausoleum, West View Cemetery

    Once in a while we see an unusually tasteful modernist mausoleum. This is a good example. The form is simple, but everything is in exactly the right proportions. The retaining wall behind the mausoleum embraces it, adding to the composition; even the little square urns, each with a perfectly trimmed ball of boxwood, are in exactly the right proportions.

  • Kamin Family Mausoleum, West View Cemetery

    Kamin family mausoleum

    A splendid Egyptian mausoleum with a fine view of the Pyramids out the back window.

    Stained glass in the Kamin mausoleum

  • Paul Mausoleum, West View Cemetery

    Paul mausoleum

    The West View Cemetery is notable for a number of tasteful modernist mausoleums. On this one, note how the etched decoration is repeated in the bronze doors. The landscaping in front is very unusual, and in fact almost unique in Pittsburgh, where cemetery groundskeepers usually expect to be able to mow right up to the steps of a mausoleum.

  • Weil Mausoleum, West View Cemetery

    Stained-glass menorah in the Weil mausoleum

    A simplified Doric mausoleum in the style of the early to middle twentieth century. The stained-glass menorah is doubtless a standard catalogue item, but it is well executed.

    Weil mausoleum