Gould Mausoleum
Architect H.Q. French of New York designed this Ionic peripteral temple mausoleum, reminiscent of the Parthenon, for Jason “Jay” Gould the man who defined the term, “Robber Baron”. French was the designer of a number of elegant tombs, most of them in the Classical Revival style. Unfortunately little is known about French’s life, but he has left behind a legacy of beautiful architecture. To add to the beauty of the Gould mausoleum is a huge weeping birch tree, which was designated one of the “113 Great Trees in New York City” in 1985.
A number of members of the Gould family are entombed in the mausoleum including Gould’s wife, Helen, who died in 1889, and a number of their children. All of the caskets are in wall crypts. Interestingly, Jay Gould’s crypt is soldered closed. Apparently the Gould family didn’t want a repeat of an incident that occurred in 1876 where the body of another millionaire, A.J. Stewart, was stolen from St. Mark’s Cemetery in Manhattan, and his remains were held for ransom. An undisclosed amount of money was paid by Mrs. Stewart for the return of what was presumed to be her husband, (embalming wasn’t an exact science in the 1870’s). Accounts of the day suggest that some of Gould’s enemies on Wall Street had the casket sealed so there was no way he could ever show up to wreak havoc again. The London Times obit summed up Gould’s life best when it declared, “All honor to the greatest money maker of any age or clime. He was less a man than a machine for churning wealth. Napoleon’s combinations were never vaster…. It will be impossible to explain one phase of civilization without a frequent mention of his name.”
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″]
Stewart Mausoleum
Noted architect, Stanford White, designed this mausoleum for the Stewart family. Although records do not indicate how many monuments and mausoleums White personally designed, his firm, McKim, Mead and White, designed 40 funerary monuments between 1879 and 1919. Most of the firm’s designs are classical in origin and the firm often collaborated with other designers and sculptors to achieve the final product.
White’s rather plain design for the Stewart mausoleum is enhanced by bronze reliefs sculpted by Augustus Saint-Gaudens in 1883. Saint-Gaudens often collaborated with Stanford White. Saint-Gaudens achieved fame as the designer of the United States’ twenty dollar gold piece, often known referred to simply as the “Saint-Gaudens”. The bronze panels Saint-Gaudens crafted for the Stewart mausoleum are very low relief and look as if they have been scratched into the surface. One panel depicts an angel holding a banner or scroll, symbolizing the taking of the inventory of one’s life. The other panel presents an angel holding a long horn, symbolizing the Archangel Gabriel, who signals the heavens of the impending arrival of another soul. The angel is seated on a bench which is inscribed with a biblical verse.
The Stewart family mausoleum contains, among others, David Stewart (1810-1891), who made his fortune in coal and iron mining, and as owner of the Stewart Iron Works in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. In 1830 he married Adelia Smith. They had four children; the oldest, Isabella, later became famous as "Mrs. Jack" Gardner of Boston, founder of the Gardner museum. She opened her “house museum” to the public, but ruled over it like a mother hen. Even in her later years, when she was bedridden, she would call out to imaginary visitors not to touch her treasured works of art.
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″]
White Mausoleum
Ralph H. White’s last resting place, designed by architect Willard Sears, looks for all the world like the town hall of a thriving metropolis. The massive cupola, that looks like a bell tower without the bell, is supported by 12 Ionic columns. Circling the top of the dome is a ring of garlands. Punctuating Ralph White’s statement in Classical Revival architecture is an eternal flame, frozen in granite, complete with lightening rod.
R.H. White owned a large Department store that was a Boston area landmark.
Photos and text © Douglas Keister Visit Doug’s Author Page
[address cemetery=”Mount Auburn Cemetery” street=”580 Mount Auburn Street” city=”Cambridge” state=”Massachusetts” zip=”2138″]
Fleischman Mausoleum
William Salway, the superintendent of Spring Grove Cemetery, designed this miniaturized, peristyled Doric Temple, reminiscent of the Parthenon, for the Fleischman family in 1913. Salway, who was trained as an engineer and landscape gardener in England, had taken the job of superintendent in 1883 following the death of former superintendent, Adolph Strauch. Strauch came to Spring Grove in 1854 and established the “Landscape Lawn Plan” of cemetery design, and established Spring Grove as one of the most attractively landscaped cemeteries in the country, a distinction that remains to this day.
In designing the Fleischman mausoleum, Salway combined neoclassical architecture with naturalism to to create a rustic, but ordered effect. The combination of the white temple (inspired by the 1893 World’s Columbian Exhibition in Chicago) the plantings and the lake creates a picture much like the famous English garden at Sourhead.
W.H. Harrison, president of the Harrison Granite Company in New York, erected the mausoleum using 5000 cubic feet of Barre, Vermont granite. The walls are 18 inches thick. Recessed into one of them is a well secured stained glass window depicting the Three Fates.
Photos and text © Douglas Keister Visit Doug’s Author Page
[address cemetery=”Spring Grove Cemetery” street=”Spring Grove Ave” city=”Cincinnati” state=”Ohio” zip=”45232″]
Byers Mausoleum
The multi-columned Byers mausoleum, built in 1902, is a perfect small scale Grecian Doric temple. The only break in the symmetry of the columns is the gap in front of the doorway. The gap is just wide enough to allow for the passage of a funeral procession carrying a casket into the mausoleum.
Alexander McBurney Byers (1827-1900) was in iron making for his whole adult life. He became a blast furnace superintendent at age 16, and in 1864 was a founder of the iron and pipe-making firm Graff, Byers & Co., which became A.M. Byers & Co. in 1886. His firm was noted for the Aston-Byers process that used Bessemer converters to make wrought iron pipe.
Photos and text © Douglas Keister Visit Doug’s Author Page
[address cemetery=”Allegheny Cemetery” street=”4715 Penn Avenue” city=”Pittsburgh” state=”Pennsylvania” zip=”15224″]
Vaccaro Mausoleum
Three Vaccaro’s (Joseph, Felix and Luca) have mausoleums on Metairie Avenue, but the Luca Vaccaro mausoleum, built in 1925, is the most interesting. It is a personal interpretation of the Tower of the Winds in Athens. The Tower of the Winds c. 40 BC., an octagonal building designed by Andronicus Cyrrus, served as a weather guide and water clock. On each of the 8 frieze panels were carvings of personified winds. The structure in Athens had three porticos (one round and two square) attached to its sides. For the Vaccaro mausoleum, sculptor Theodore Bottinelli, carved some frieze panels as they appear in the Athenian temple, but for other panels he chose more funerary themes, such as a young man holding a torch and an hourglass and a young woman playing a harp.
Photos and text © Douglas Keister Visit Doug’s Author Page
[address cemetery=”Metairie Cemetery” street=”5101 Pontchartrain Boulevard” city=”New Orleans” state=”Louisiana” zip=”70124″]
Berwind Mausoleum
The Berwind mausoleum is a remarkably authentic adaptation of the Tower of the Winds in Athens. The only difference is the Berwind mausoleum is minus the porticos found on the original. The mausoleum sports eight frieze panels, each carved to represent one of the personified winds. In the center of the photograph, above the entry is Kaikias, the Northeast Wind; on the right, holding a oil lamp is Boreas, the North Wind and on the left holding a splay of flowers is Apeliotes, the East Wind.
The Tower of the Winds in Athens was designed to measure time by means of a water clock inside the structure and a sun dial mounted on the outside. The Berwind mausoleum, by contrast, houses only Berwinds.
The Berwind mausoleum was designed by architect Horace Trumbauer, who also designed the Berwind family’s estate, The Elms, in Newport, Rhode Island. Horace Trumbauer (1876-1938), is buried in a sarcophagus in another section of West Laurel Hill. Trumbauer was a noted architect of the early twentieth century. His buildings in Philadelphia, New York, Newport, Washington D.C. and Grosse Point, Michigan, were frequently modeled after European structures and designs.
Edward J. Berwind (1848-1936) is best described as a capitalist whose fortune was made in the coal business. As with most Capitalists, he had a number of diversified businesses. When he died in 1936, his estate was valued at 31 million dollars.
Photos and text © Douglas Keister Visit Doug’s Author Page
[address cemetery=”West Laurel Hill Cemetery” street=”Lower Merion” city=”Bala Cynwyd” state=”Pennsylvania” zip=”19004″]
Lacosst Monument
Eugene Lacosst (1854 – 1915) was one of the very colorful individuals that gave personality to the city of New Orleans. Early in his career, Lacosst was a local hairdresser frequented by many women from the top families in New Orleans. These social connections were a boon in an age of parlor parties. At these occasions, Lacosst, known for his unmatched talent of whistling, was often called upon to regale those in attendance with his warbling.
- The Surprise of Wealth
- The Lacosst Legacy: A Stunningly Styled Monument
- Metairie Cemetery: Jewel of the Crescent City
- A New Orleanian for Eternity
The Surprise of Wealth
While successful in his business, both socially and professionally, Lacosst amassed a fantastic wealth thanks to his wise stock market speculation in the late 1800’s. It was this new wealth that permitted Lacosst to earmark $60,000 for the construction of a stunning mausoleum that is perhaps only rivaled by earlier constructions in Europe.
One of the defining characteristics of New Orleans is its elevation below water level. The need to protect the deceased from flooding has led to the creation of elaborate mausoleums in many signature cemeteries and memorial parks. The Lacosst Mausoleum is a testament to the design and craftsmanship available to those of means.
The Lacosst Legacy: A Stunningly Styled Monument
Located in the Metairie Cemetery near New Orleans’ famed Garden District, the Lacosst Mausoleum is an homage to a memorial for a prominent Cardinal at the Church of Santa Croce in Florence, Italy. New Orleans-based architects Burton & Bendernagel created a perfect Renaissance Revival-style monument in the Lacosst Mausoleum.
At the center of the structure is a pedestal holding the sarcophagus. This design element is known, according to Douglas Keister, as an exedra. An exedra is a rectangular or semi-circular recess with raised seating. The entire structure is crafted from cream-colored Alabama marble, which was excavated and transported to the workshops of Albert Weiblen, the manufacturer of Burton & Bendernagel’s vision.
Construction of the Lacosst Mausoleum was performed and completed in the midst of World War I. The wartime effort resulted in severe shortages of both labor and material. The fact the mausoleum was able to be created was, as Keister notes, “as much a testament to Lacosst’s wealth as it is to the craft of the stone carvers.”
Artisans were brought in from Italy to gently and expertly mold the raw Alabama marble into the stunning structure it is today. The architects were so committed to the design that they insisted only the finest pieces of excavated marble be used in the final construction. After a process of constant quality assurance, the production team discarded enough marble that over two dozen other mausoleums could have been constructed just from the rejected material.
Metairie Cemetery: Jewel of the Crescent City
The Metairie Cemetery is named for the road on which it is located and the Bayou Metairie. Visitors might think the cemetery is located in the nearby suburb of the same name, but it is actually located within New Orleans city limits. The city’s elevation just below sea level has required above-ground interment of deceased residents for generations. Throngs of visitors to New Orleans tour the city’s cemeteries and mausoleums because they are so unique.
Metairie Cemetery is widely regarded as having the largest collection of elaborate marble tombs and funeral statuary in the city. Several notable New Orleanians are interred at Metairie Cemetery. Among them are:
- Ruth Fertel, the founder of Ruth’s Chris Steak House
- Jim Garrison, former D.A. of New Orleans and subject of the Oliver Stone film JFK
- Mel Ott, Hall of Fame major league baseball player
- Louis Prima, legendary band leader
A New Orleanian for Eternity
Eugene Lacosst represented that distinctly idiosyncratic combination of complexity and curiosity for which New Orleans is known. Born a servant and died a sire, Lacosst specified in his will that his monument should be designed only to accommodate two caskets: his own and his mother’s.
Photos and text © Douglas Keister Visit Doug’s Author Page
[address cemetery=”Metairie Cemetery” street=”5101 Pontchartrain Boulevard” city=”New Orleans” state=”Louisiana” zip=”70124″]
Cristoforo Colombo Society Tomb
Perched atop the Societa Cristoforo Colombo tomb, a life size statue of the great Italian navigator, Christopher Columbus, points toward the New World. In the centuries to come, many Italians followed him to America, but not all achieved his station in life. Many of these Italians, and other nationalities as well, formed fraternal or benevolent societies that were patterned after American organizations such as the Elks and the Masons. These societies, besides being a place to gather and talk, contracted with doctors and hospitals to provide access to basic medical care. The majority of the societies also provided a place of burial at a modest cost. By their nature, the society tombs had a finite amount of space, so one’s stay in a crypt was a temporary affair. After an appropriate duration the deceased’s bones were scooped up and placed in a separate chamber. Sometimes these bone warehouses, known as ossuaries, were part of the tomb and other times they were off site.
There are only a few active society tombs in New Orleans today. The Cristoforo Colombo Society is no longer active and this tomb has been refurbished and converted to a community mausoleum where occupants are now guaranteed a permanent residence.
Photos and text © Douglas Keister Visit Doug’s Author Page
[address cemetery=”Metairie Cemetery” street=”5101 Pontchartrain Boulevard” city=”New Orleans” state=”Louisiana” zip=”70124″]
Lefebvre Mausoleum
Most brick mausoleums are rather plain affairs where utility and economy-of-construction are of prime importance. Often, they are covered with stucco or similar materials to provide some character. The Lefebvre mausoleum is an exception to the rule and is truly a tribute to the bricklayer’s art. All of the architectural ornament in this Classical Revival mausoleum is expressed with bricks. Pediments, column capitals, dentils, engaged columns and embossed panels are all brick.
The only non-brick forms are the marble tablets calling the roll of departed family members. The Lefebvre family have actively used the mausoleum since its construction, over 100 years ago. Although cemetery records do not indicate the designer or builder of the mausoleum, its inspiration appears to have been the tomb of Cyrus the Great in ancient Persia.
Photos and text © Douglas Keister Visit Doug’s Author Page
[address cemetery=”Metairie Cemetery” street=”5101 Pontchartrain Boulevard” city=”New Orleans” state=”Louisiana” zip=”70124″]