Obelisks
Much of Laurel Hill Cemetery is a veritable pincushion of obelisks. To break up the monotony, some of the obelisks are draped while others have been cut off and sprout urns and statues. Further adding to the vertical competition at Laurel Hill is a host of columns with a variety of objects perched on their lofty spires.
Obelisks, which are representative of a ray of sunlight, were first seen in Egypt during the time of the Old Kingdom. The earliest excavation of an obelisk, dated at the 25th century BC is at Abu Ghurob. It was a massive, fairly squat, pyramidal structure set upon a high plinth and was the focal point of the sun temple. During the time of the Middle Kingdom, obelisks made of single slabs of Aswan granite became much taller and slimmer. They were typically erected in pairs in front of selected temples as part of a celebration of a Royal Jubilee. The sides of the obelisk were often inscribed and the pyramidal top was sheathed in gold to radiate the light of the sun.
Text and photo © Douglas Keister Visit Doug’s Author Page
[address cemetery=”Laurel Hill Cemetery” street=”3822 Ridge Avenue” city=”Philadelphia” state=”Pennsylvania” zip=”19132″]
Canda Mausoleum
Charlotte Canda
1828-February 3, 1845
If this monument looks like it’s not well thought out and a bit unprofessional, it’s because its basic form was designed by a teenage girl and not a trained architect or designer. When she was sixteen years old, Charlotte Canda, whose French parents ran a finishing school in New York City, sketched a design for a memorial for her deceased aunt. Little did young Charlotte know that she was actually sketching a draft of a monument for herself.
February 3rd, 1845 was a dark and stormy night, but the weather scarcely put a damper on Charlotte Canda, who was all aglow from her combination seventeenth birthday and coming out party. Charlotte and her father, Charles Canda gave one of her friends a carriage ride to her Waverly Place home in Manhattan, but as Charlotte’s father was escorting her friend to the door, the horses, perhaps afraid in the raging storm, bolted and ran. The carriage careened through the streets of Manhattan with Charlotte still inside. Alas, the carriage door had been left ajar and a short time later young Charlotte Canda tumbled out of the carriage and violently hit her head on the curb. Unaware of what had happened, Charles Canda searched for Charlotte then found his way home. Shortly after he arrived home he and his wife were summoned to the place where Charlotte was ejected from the carriage. The couple arrived and Charlotte succumbed in her father’s arms soon thereafter.
Charlotte Canda was interred at the Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Prince and Mott street in Manhattan. But soon thereafter her father took Charlotte’s sketch for her aunt’s grave, added a few flowery embellishments and turned it over to sculptor Robert Launitz to finish the design and craft a suitable monument. Most of the monument was executed by Launitz and fellow sculptor John Franzee. The result of the Canda/Launitz collaboration has the look of a Gothic Revival wedding cake. Over a century of exposure to the elements makes the ornaments on the marble monument appear to be melting. In the center of the monument and housed in a structure reminiscent of a grotto (a cave-like structure often seen in Catholic cemeteries), Launitz carved a statue of Charlotte in the party dress she wore that fateful night. The Canda monument is awash with symbolism. There are books (Charlotte was fluent in five languages), musical instruments she played, drawing tools she used for her sketches, down-turned torches signifying a life extinguished but one that still burns in the hereafter, parrots that were her pets and seventeen roses circling her head. Further symbolizing her age is the dimensions of the monument: it is seventeen feet high and seventeen feet long.
To add a touch of Romeo and Juliet to the Canda saga, her despondent fiancé, French nobleman Charles Albert Jarrett de la Marie (1819-1847) took his own life two years later. Charlotte had been buried on consecrated ground, but because Charles had committed suicide, he could not be buried with his bride-to-be. Charles lies in unconsecrated ground just off to the right under a small upright tombstone with his family’s coat of arms.
The entire ensemble cost upwards of $45,000 (over one-million dollars today). From the time of the monument’s erection in 1847 all the way through the 1850’s it was the most popular monument in Green-Wood (indeed, some accounts say it was the most popular monument in all America). For years crowds gathered around the monument on Sundays paying their respects to a life cut tragically short.
In 1899, Daniel Pelton published a collection of poems he had penned over the years. Page 48 of Greenwood: An Elegy Meditations Among The Tombs reads:
CHARLOTTE CANDA.
Turn’d to the left, I seek the intricate round,
Where Charlotte Canda decorates the ground,
Like Sirius, fairest of the starry line.
Yet death seems setting on that heavenly shrine;
All tombs around are in its splendor lost,
And all must bow before its mighty cost.
Yet who would envy, who would take her place,
Though not possessed of any wealth or grace.
The dread of pain, tenacity of life,
Increase with woe, and feed on mortal strife;
In vain the roses round her bloom,
Vain may the polished marble shine,
In vain the sculptured image show
Charlotte in life almost divine.
Still all is night beneath the gorgeous tomb,
And the black grave wears the same dismal gloom.
Thou lovely flower, too delicate for earth,
‘Tis only strange such beauty here had birth;
Supine it fell before the autumnal blast
To rise to Heaven when wintry storms have passed
Photo and text © Douglas Keister Visit Doug’s Author Page
[address cemetery=”Green-Wood Cemetery” street=”Willow Avenue” city=”Brooklyn” state=”New York” zip=”11218″]
Foster Tomb
William F. Foster
1841–1895
William F. Foster made his rather large fortune manufactured a rather small product: fasteners. He also made kid gloves. His final resting place was the subject of a lot of media attention when it was constructed in 1895. The canopied granite structure, which has a cruciform footprint, was designed by architect John Wooley, who had offices at 111 Fifth Avenue. Wooley’s design broke the mausoleum mold since it did not have walls and a door. Despite using massive blocks of granite, the tomb has a much lighter feel, thanks to its open-air construction. The base of the tomb is a single 42 x 24-foot 40-ton slab of granite, which was one of the largest ever quarried in Westerly, Rhode Island (Westerly was an early center for granite quarrying in the United States). Under the slab are catacombs, which have space for eight permanent residents. Centermost on the massive slab is a double sarcophagus, which contains the mortal remains of William F. Foster. Sixteen Tuscan columns frame the stone ensemble. In all, over 1,100 tons of granite were used in the construction of the 52-foot-high tomb.
The structure takes the form of a canopy tomb rather than a mausoleum, although its sheer size puts it in a classification usually reserved for mausoleums. In the simplest sense, canopy tombs are tent-like structures that shelter a sarcophagus. These structures, usually composed of columns or pillars supporting a dome, are open-air affairs, and unlike mausoleums, they have no doors restricting entry. Canopies may be seen in a variety of ancient architecture. They didn’t become part of the European and American architectural repertory until the eighteenth century, when architects began using them for garden pavilions. The decorative potential of these canopied pavilions and kiosks were soon exploited by designers of funerary monuments. They are often seen hovering over a grave or small monument or sheltering a sarcophagus. The Foster Tomb is among the largest canopy tombs in the world.
Text and Photos © Douglas Keister Visit Doug’s Author Page
[address cemetery=”The Woodlawn Cemetery” street=”East 233rd Street” city=”Bronx” state=”New York” zip=”10470″]
Bindley Mausoleum
The Bindley mausoleum, built in 1907, is a replica interpretation of the Pantheon. The original Pantheon, built in Rome c. 118-128 AD during the reign of the Emperor Hadrian heralded a new era in Western architecture where spatial volumes became more important than physical structure. The Pantheon and the Bindley mausoleum are a domed round drum fronted by traditional temple portico and pediment.
The proportions of the Pantheon (the one in Rome, not the Bindley) were carefully calculated so that if the curve of the inside of the dome were extended downward, it would “kiss” the floor, creating a perfect sphere within the volume of the building. This was a symbolic reference to the temple’s dedication to all (“pan”) the gods (“theos”).
The Bindley’s Pantheon, with its softly rusticated granite block walls, Corinthian columns and sky-lighted dome is a study in subtle elegance. The Bindleys were financiers and owned a number of businesses. John Bindley was one of the original corporators of Allegheny Cemetery.
Text and Photos © Douglas Keister Visit Doug’s Author Page
[address cemetery=”Allegheny Cemetery” street=”4715 Penn Avenue” city=”Pittsburgh” state=”Pennsylvania” zip=”15224″]
Manger Mausoleum
Julius Manger
1868–March 28th, 1937
Julius Manger was born in Boonville, Missouri. He and his brother William became involved with building construction in Galveston and later located the hub of their activities in New York City. Their entry into the New York real estate market was the construction of more than 500 homes in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn. Expanding their business to larger-scale buildings, they erected the Builders Exchange Building on West 33rd Street in Manhattan. In 1907, the Mangers traded the Builders Exchange for the Plaza Hotel in Chicago, which was the beginning of their extremely successful chain of hotels. When William died in 1928, the Manger hotel properties were valued at $22,000,000, a tidy sum for the time.
Julius Manger continued buying hotels, and at the time of his death, the list included the Plaza in Chicago; the Manger Hotel in Boston; the Endicott, Martha Washington, Grand, Windsor, and Imperial Hotels in New York City; and the Annapolis Hotel, Hamilton Hotel, and Hay-Adams House in Washington, D.C.
Architect/designer Franklin Naylor built the mausoleum in 1927 for Dominico Dumbra, but it was purchased by Julius Manger in 1935. The Manger Mausoleum was one of the last hurrahs of the Golden Age of the Mausoleum, which ran from around the end of the Civil War to the Great Depression. Fittingly, it is one of the most elegantly crafted mausoleums in the United States.
Naylor was so proud of his creation that he published a pamphlet detailing its construction. The Manger Mausoleum was Naylor’s largest and most complex design in his 35 years as a memorial architect, and he called the finished mausoleum “one of the largest private mausoleums in the world and the largest in America.” His design goes under the broad heading of Beaux-Arts architecture with a nod to Renaissance Revival forms.
The design of the base of the mausoleum is a double equilateral triangle, the intersection of the two triangles forming a hexagon. These two triangles form the Star of David, also known as the Seal of Solomon, and contained within its boundaries are representations of the four elements: fire, air, water, and earth. The hexagonal base is ringed with six sets of paired Corinthian columns.
Text and photo © Douglas Keister Visit Doug’s Author Page
[address cemetery=”The Woodlawn Cemetery” street=”East 233rd Street” city=”Bronx” state=”New York” zip=”10470″]
Mason Mausoleum
Thomas F. Mason
1815–1899
Thomas F. Mason’s tidy little Classical Revival mausoleum is a showcase for bas-relief panels. There is a cartouche in the gable above the door. Smooth masonry on the front of the mausoleum is contrasted by rusticated masonry on the sides. Two bas-relief bronze panels, sculpted by Oscar Lenz in 1899, flank the entrance. The panels are surrounded by egg-and-dart molding. The double doors are embellished with Victorian-era geometric floral designs. The panel on the left shows an angel taking the inventory of Thomas Mason’s life (which appears to have been in the insurance business) and is inscribed with the Latin words Ab Initio, Ad Finem (“from beginning to end”). The panel on the right depicts an angel with a horn, presumably Gabriel, awaiting the results of the inventory. The panel is inscribed with the Latin phrase Sic Transit Gloria Mundi (“thus passes away the glory of the world”). The phrase is from the “Service of the Pope’s Enthronement.” At the moment it is uttered, a handful of flax is burned to indicate the transient nature of earthly grandeur. A similar rite is said to have been used in the triumphal processions of the Roman Republic. In other words, “you can’t take it with you.”
Text and photo © Douglas Keister Visit Doug’s Author Page
[address cemetery=”The Woodlawn Cemetery” street=”East 233rd Street” city=”Bronx” state=”New York” zip=”10470″]
Lorillard Mausoleum
The twin ionic columned Lorillard mausoleum, built circa 1887, is comfortably nestled in a deeply shaded glen at Woodlawn cemetery. Its heavily rusticated stone walls provide a ready surface for vines and other foliage attach themselves.
Read More»Bastian Mausoleum
It is quite unusual to see a woman’s name prominently carved on a mausoleum. After all, during the age of robber barons and millionaires, when most of the grand mausolea were constructed, a woman’s place was in the home, certainly not making a name for herself, unless, of course it was with her husband’s approval. So, who was Elisabeth Bastian? Little is known about her except she died on February the 11th, 1909 and her mausoleum was built in 1915. Elisabeth’s final resting place, which is a blend of revival styles, has polished Corinthian columns and displays an interesting interplay between smooth and rusticated stone.
Text and photo © Douglas Keister Visit Doug’s Author Page
[address cemetery=”The Woodlawn Cemetery” street=”East 233rd Street” city=”Bronx” state=”New York” zip=”10470″]
Porter Mausoleum
William H. Porter
January 8, 1861–November 30, 1926
William Henry Porter’s life seems like a classic Horatio Alger story. He was born in Middlebury, Vermont, to parents who were struggling farmers. In 1876, when he was 15, the family faced financial ruin and was forced to sell their bucolic farm in Middlebury. The family then moved to Saratoga Springs, New York, where William attended high school. Unfortunately, his parents’ financial woes meant that he would need to drop out of high school and find a job. He found work at a local inn. Then, while waiting tables in 1878, a wealthy banker who was staying there noticed his work ethic and admired his intelligence. The banker offered him a job at his bank in New York City.
Young William Henry Porter quickly rose through the ranks and proved to be a banking “systematizing genius.” In 1903, he became the President of the Chemical National Bank and, in the same year, became one of the founders and directors of the Bankers Trust Company of New York. In 1911, he became a partner of J. P. Morgan and Company. William H. Porter used part of his fortune to found the Porter Medical Center in Middlebury, Vermont.
The Porter Mausoleum is sited on a circular lot. It was designed in 1927 by architects Trowbridge & Livingston and was fabricated of white Vermont marble in the same year by Marc Edlitz & Son. The circular mausoleum features a series of engaged fluted Tuscan columns that ring the perimeter. The columns support an entablature with toothsome dentil molding and an elaborate cornice. The cornice includes a series of acroterium connected with intricately carved, fence-like, arabesque-patterned marble panels. The stepped stone roof features an urn-like finial. The Porter Mausoleum was featured in an August 1928 advertisement for the Vermont Marble Company in Park and Cemetery magazine. Also reposing inside the mausoleum is William H. Porter ‘s wife, Esther J. Porter.
Text and photo © Douglas Keister Visit Doug’s Author Page
[address cemetery=”The Woodlawn Cemetery” street=”East 233rd Street” city=”Bronx” state=”New York” zip=”10470″]
