Pittsburgh Cemeteries

The polished Doric columns seem almost out of place on this otherwise rustic mausoleum. The effect is like the effect of a mixed metaphor: it draws attention to itself, though you understand what it means.

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.

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.)

In a different lighting from the previous pictures.

An almost cartoonishly bulky and substantial rustic mausoleum, missing its bronze doors, which have been replaced by ugly concrete blocks. We can imagine that it must have looked much more inviting with artistic bronze doors and flower arrangements dripping over the edges of the urns.

The mausoleum and statue are both stock items, but good ones, although the mausoleum does give the impression of having been assembled from a kit of mass-produced parts.

This mausoleum and its stone mourner are doubtless both standard catalogue items. But they are picturesque, and much more so because of the deep blackness of the stone. Most stone buildings in Pittsburgh used to look like this, but few of them have escaped cleaning.

The other thing that makes the mausoleum stand out, of course, is the delightful name “Sunshine” over the door.