Pittsburgh Cemeteries

The Art and Architecture of Death

Chartiers Cemetery

Founded in 1861, this cemetery includes a towering Civil War memorial, some interesting monuments, and a fine Baroque burial vault from 1874.


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A very respectable between-the-wars mausoleum, with the flatter top that had become fashionable on classical mausoleums in the early twentieth century. This one is made of expensive polished granite.

A massive chunk of Ionic classicism that certainly does its job of making the Henry family plot easy to find. The large volutes on top cleverly echo the Ionic volutes of the capitals of the columns. The monument probably dates from 1902, when John Henry was buried here. The individual tombstones look like children’s toy models of the main monument.

Topped with an unusually abstract urn, this monument is very eclectic in its influence, with a sharp Gothic point and Greek-key ornaments. The abstract foliage tracery is a pleasing touch.

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.

A young and slightly bored-looking angel holds a banner with the words “In Memoriam.” It is an unusually good piece of sculpture. The monument may have been put up in 1911, when Ida May Haudenshield died.

These particularly fine monuments are very unusual: conscious imitations of the tombstones of a century or more before, but in a very 1930s style. The craftsman is too skillful to imitate the natural irregularity of our early stonecutters’ work; he has to resort to deliberate irregularities, such as occasional capital letters stuck in among the minuscules.

Edward Rynearson was principal of Fifth Avenue High School, Uptown. In 1921, he founded the National Honor Society, which he obviously regarded as his crowning achievement as an educator.

A towering monolith marks the Sheraden family plot in Chartiers Cemetery. William Sheraden was the founder of the Sheraden borough that later became the Sheraden neighborhood of Pittsburgh.