Bergh Mausoleum
Henry Bergh Vault Style Mausoleum
August 29, 1811 – March 12, 1888
Green-Wood Cemetery
Brooklyn, New York
Henry Bergh was born into a wealthy family. After Henry graduated from college he worked in a shipyard owned by his father. His father sold the shipyard a few years later, and gave Henry a substantial inheritance, some of which he used to tour Europe with his new bride Catherine. While in Europe he observed that animals, and in particular work animals, were often treated better than they were in the United States. Bergh found his calling, and in April 1866 he founded the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). In 1874 he was instrumental in establishment of the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, and in 1878 of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.
When Bergh died on March 12th 1888, his body needed to be put in the receiving vault in St. Marks Church in Manhattan until the roads could be cleared of snow. Three days later, the funeral procession, with Mayor Abram Hewitt as a pallbearer, and other luminaries including circus entrepreneur P.T. Barnum in attendance, made its way to Green-Wood. In 2006 a large bas-relief was installed at the base of Bergh’s pyramidal mausoleum. For the first time in over 100 years, the public was invited to bring their pets into Green-Wood.
Text and copy © Douglas Keister Visit Doug’s Author Page
[address cemetery=”Green-Wood Cemetery” street=”Willow Avenue” city=”New York” state=”New York” zip=”11218″]
Vanderhorst Mausoleum
Circa 1864
Magnolia Cemetery
Charleston, South Carolina
The Vanderhorst Mausoleum is built in the Egyptian Revival style. Since Egyptian architecture doesn’t use arches for strength, walls need to be battered at an angle of approximately 70 degrees to make the building structurally sound. A Christian cross, designed to soften the pagan overtones of the mausoleum, is set into the door. The cross is flanked with twin lotus columns.
Text and copy © Douglas Keister Visit Doug’s Author Page
[address cemetery=”Magnolia Cemetery” street=”70 Cunnington Avenue” city=”Charleston” state=”South Carolina” zip=”29405″]
Smith / Whaley Mausoleum
Magnolia Cemetery
Charleston, South Carolina
This magnificent pyramid mausoleum houses a number of members of the Smith and Whaley families. Egyptian architecture is the most funerary-appropriate architecture, since almost all architecture in ancient Egypt had something to do with death and the afterlife. However the pagan aspects of Egyptian architecture didn’t always sit well with cemetery superintendents and tomb designers usually added a Christian accessory such as a cross or statues of Biblical figures to soften the pagan overtones.
Text and photo © Douglas Keister Visit Doug’s Author Page
[address cemetery=”Magnolia Cemetery” street=”70 Cunningham Ave.” city=”Charleston” state=”South Carolina” zip=”29405″]
Grant Mausoleum
The Grant mausoleum has elements of classical revival (the basic form, proportions, and column capitals), Richardsonian Romanesque (the rusticated stone), and even Egyptian (the pyramid-like roof). Architects saw mausoleums as an opportunity to be more creative and playful than their other work since they didn’t have to be concerned with things like electrical outlets, plumbing, views, and traffic flow from one room to another. Mausoleums are truly a testament to function following form since they had but one simple function: to house bodies. The mausoleum houses a number of bodies, including contractor John T. Grant, who died in 1887; William D. Grant, who built the Grant Building in downtown Atlanta; John W. Grant, a real estate tycoon who died in 1938; and Georgia Governor John Marshall Slaton, who died in 1955.
Text and photo © Douglas Keister Visit Doug’s Author Page
[address cemetery=”Oakland Cemetery” street=”248 Oakland Avenue Southeast” city=”Atlanta” state=”Georgia” zip=”30312″]
Gwin Mausoleum
The Gwin Mausoleum is one of two pyramid mausolea at Mountain View Cemetery. Egyptian Style architecture is pure funerary, since much of the architecture of ancient Egypt was somehow connected with death and the afterlife. The obvious pagan references of the Egyptian style were bothersome to Christians, so tomb builders frequently added Christian symbols to the mausoleum. Sometimes a Christian angel replaced a pagan sphinx or a crucifix or other Christian symbol was incorporated in the design.
The Gwin pyramid uses rusticated stone in contrast to the smooth forms of the gateway entry and base. The gateway includes pylon-like battered forms and a cavetto cornice (flared with curve). The only deviation from the Egyptian style is the Greco-Roman pediment on top of the entry.
William McKendree Gwin (1805-1885), a native of Tennessee, held a number of minor federal offices during the presidencies of Jackson and Polk. In 1849, along with many other Americans, he ventured to California via the Isthmus of Panama. Within three months of his arrival, this persuasive and ambitious man became a delegate to the state constitutional convention held in Monterey, California in September, 1849. At the convention Gwin argued successfully that California ought to be a state rather than a territory. To complete his meteoric political rise he was elected, along with John C. Fremont, to the post of United States senator in December, 1849, 10 months before California formally became a state.
Text and photo © Douglas Keister Visit Doug’s Author Page
[address cemetery=”Mountain View Cemetery” street=”” city=”Oakland” state=”California” zip=”94611″]
Bradbury Mausoleum
The Bradbury mausoleum on Mountain View Cemetery’s Millionaires Row is composed of various Egyptian forms, (the pyramidal roof and battered entry) and Classical Revival forms, (the corner pilasters) assembled in a creative manner. Angels are often used in mausoleum architecture. At the Bradbury mausoleum the angel is right at the door. Closer inspection reveals that the angel is able to slide out of the way to allow access to visitors, both permanent and temporary. But to prevent her from moving too far, she is secured with a chain and lock. Stand on the steps of the Bradbury mausoleum and you’ll see that the views of San Francisco from this lofty perch are just heavenly.
The mausoleum is the final resting place of Lewis L. Bradbury (1822-1892), a native of Bangor, Maine, his wife Simona and their daughter, Rosario Bradbury Winston.
Text and photo © Douglas Keister Visit Doug’s Author Page
[address cemetery=”Mountain View Cemetery” street=”” city=”Oakland” state=”California” zip=”94611″]
Rodgers Mausoleum
Built in 1929, the Egyptian Revival Rodgers mausoleum is a result of the “Tut Mania” that swept across the United States in the 1920’s. Almost all Egyptian architecture is funerary in nature and despite its pagan origins became quite popular in non-sectarian cemeteries of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.
Above the entrance of the tomb are vulture’s wings, a symbol of protection and maternal care. Between the wings is a circular disk representing the sun and twin cobras denoting death. Two lily-styled columns flank the battered entry and an eternal flame crowns the tomb. A pair of marble sphinxes guard the Rogers’ remains.
Arthur Rodgers (1848-1929) was a prominent attorney and a regent of the University of California.
Text and photo © Douglas Keister Visit Doug’s Author Page
[address cemetery=”Cypress Lawn Memorial Park” street=”1370 El Camino Real” city=”Colma” state=”California” zip=”94014″]
Drake Mausoleum
Flying sphinxes stand ready to swoop down on unwelcome visitors at the Drake family mausoleum. As with most Egyptian Revival architecture, a little Greek and perhaps a little Classical architecture is thrown in for good measure. In Egyptian mythology, these stone guardians or Shesep-ankth (living statues), were always male, usually a lion’s body and a man’s head. In Greek mythology however, sphinx were female. Most Egyptian Revival mausolea sport the Greek variety because of their association with maternal care.
Further relieving the cold, hard granite are the vulture wing and sun design carved above the entry (more maternal care symbolism), rounded corners of the mausoleum and lotus blossoms on the door and etched into the pilasters.
A number of Drakes and members of their extended family are entombed inside, including Thomas Drake Martinez Cardeza and his mother Mrs. Charlotte Drake Martinez Cardeza. Thomas and Charlotte were survivors of an “unsinkable” ship that ran into an iceberg in April of 1912. Mrs. Cardeza’s brush with death as a passenger on the Titanic was just another adventure for her. Her big game adventures in Asia and Africa were frequently described by newspapers of the day.
The Drake mausoleum was originally at Laurel Hill Cemetery, but both bodies and mausoleum were moved to West Laurel Hill.
Text and photo © Douglas Keister Visit Doug’s Author Page
[address cemetery=”West Laurel Hill Cemetery” street=”Lower Merion” city=”Bala Cynwyd” state=”Pennsylvania” zip=”19004″]
Longstreet Mausoleum
This towering pyramid, now sealed for all time, holds the remains of members of the Longstreet family. Cornelius Tyler Longstreet, (1814-1881), who built the mausoleum, was a successful merchant in the wholesale clothing trade. He also served on the board of directors of two Syracuse banks.
Initially, Longstreet built a different mausoleum on this site. However, it did not fare well in the harsh, upstate New York winters. So, he went back to the drawing board and he replaced it with this pyramid. The interior of the tomb once contained elegantly carved tablets, sculpture, furniture and a Persian rug. Unfortunately, the tomb has now been sealed due to repeated vandalism.
Text and photo © Douglas Keister Visit Doug’s Author Page
[address cemetery=”Oakwood Cemetery” street=”940 Comstock Avenue” city=”Syracuse” state=”New York” zip=”13210″]
Ghirardelli Mausoleum
If you wanted a final statement about how wealthy you were in the San Francisco Bay Area, you chose a site Millionaires Row in Oakland’s Mountain View Cemetery. Domingo Ghirardelli, whose name has become synonymous with fine chocolates, made such a choice. On the right is the Ghirardelli family mausoleum.
The Ghirardelli family plot was originally at St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery, adjacent to Mountain View. According to local legend, Domingo Ghirardelli’s young granddaughter, Aurelia, became gravely ill in 1879 and a priest refused to give her last rites (the speculation was that the Ghirardelli family was behind in their tithe payments). Thus, young Aurelia died without receiving the sacraments. This so irritated Ghirardelli that he forbade any members of his family to enter a Catholic church again.
In 1890, Domingo Ghirardelli had the mausoleum in the photograph constructed at Mountain View. Then, one night, he and his sons took a wagon to St. Mary’s Cemetery, removed the four bodies from the Ghirardelli tomb, transported and reinterred them at Mountain View. As a further slap in the face of the Catholic Church, Ghirardelli had a most un-Catholic Masonic emblem carved above the mausoleum’s entrance.
Note the hourglass with wings emblem beneath the mourning woman sculpture. This graphically symbolizes that time flies, so live life to the fullest, while you have it. The severe lines of the structure are essentially Egyptian Revival, especially the battered shape of the entry. The Ghirardelli mausoleum is essentially a pedestal for the weeping woman sculpture rather than a fully realized building.
Text and photo © Douglas Keister Visit Doug’s Author Page
[address cemetery=”Mountain View Cemetery” street=”” city=”Oakland” state=”California” zip=”94611″]
