Pittsburgh Cemeteries

The last gasp of the Egyptian style, much simplified but unmistakable in its shape and of course in its winged sun disk. The concrete panel in front is well made, and its inscription nicely matched to the Egyptian style, but we can tell that it is later and replaced original bronze doors. In fact we can know exactly what those doors looked like, because this is a duplicate of the Oliver Mausoleum in the Highwood Cemetery, where the doors are still intact (or were when we took the picture). This one, however, includes a pair of appropriate lotus vases, which may never have been installed at the Oliver mausoleum.

A fairly modest but ornate zinc monument for a mother who died in her thirties.

Both the mausoleum and the statue on top are identical to the Braun mausoleum in the South Side Cemetery, suggesting that the mausoleum and statue came as a set. This one is missing its bronze doors.

Not many families chose modern architecture for their private mausoleums, but for their clients with modern tastes, a few companies did make up-to-date modernistic mausoleums like this one, a plain cube with an off-center door. The cartoon outline of a stained-glass window on the left is an odd concession to the popular notion that a funerary monument ought to have some sort of decoration. (There is also real stained glass inside, and a rusting iron bench to sit on and contemplate mortality.)

Silhouetted against a morning sky, this obelisk marks the Blum family plot in the oldest part of the cemetery.

Should we call this a fat obelisk or a thin stele? Either way, it serves its function of making the graves of Mr. and Mrs. Haas easy to find. The foliage decoration is notable.

In a different lighting from the previous pictures.

Joseph and Mary Hughey’s descendants must have no trouble at all finding their graves. This immense stone has the most extravagant foliage decoration in the cemetery.