Pittsburgh Cemeteries

The Art and Architecture of Death

Lina B. Nickel mourner

A family plot of matching graves that is missing one important tenant, or at least the inscription for him.

Nickel family plot

Lina B. Nickel

Lina B. Nickel, who died in 1916 at the age of 29 or 30, is buried here under an inscription identifying her as “MY WIFE.” But the matching headstone is blank, suggesting that Mr. Nickel (whose name was almost certainly William; see below) is not buried here. A husband in mourning might think that of course he would never marry again and would be buried next to his late wife when he died, but a year or two or five go by, and he begins to take a more realistic view of the rest of his life. Or it is quite possible that the whole matching set was ordered when the two sons died in 1912.

Mourner

A standard flower-dropping mourner. The wrists are always a weak point in this design.

William and John Nickel

Two young sons, William Jr. and John, died in 1912, very probably of the same childhood disease. From the name William Jr. we can deduce the father’s name.

Angel

This angel might also have been dropping flowers, as we can guess from its downward gaze and the eroded bouquet.

Face and wings

Shanor column

An odd mixture of styles: the base is a sort of medieval-classical fantasy, from which sprouts a column with an Egyptian-style lotus capital, and on that stands an allegorical figure of Hope.

Hope

Sutmeyer mausoleum

A small stock mausoleum with indeterminate medievalish details. The cross-bearing angel on top has weathered into picturesque abstraction, looking far more otherworldly now than it did when it was new.

Angel on the Sutmeyer mausoleum

Statue on the Kelley monument

Flower-dropping mourners are very common in our cemeteries, but this one is made of bronze and unusually fine.

Kelley monument

Schreiner mausoleum

A large and luxurious classical structure with a prominent cupola topped by a statue of Hope shaking her fist at heaven. At least that is how old Pa Pitt always reads the statue: it is certainly Hope (the anchor is her ID card), and Father Pitt doesn’t know what else to make of the raised-fist salute.

Statue of Hope

Monogram

Ornate monograms flank the entrance arch.

Statue on the Graham monument

Father Pitt thinks this picture of mourning and consolation (no one seems to know who the sculptor was) is one of the finest things in the cemetery, and fall colors add much to the effect.

Henry mausoleum

Doubtless a memorial company’s stock model, this small mausoleum is encrusted with floridly Victorian Romanesque details in a rather weighty German style. A good architect would have displayed more taste, but would a real architect have been able to provide so many details for the money?

Henry mausoleum

Katherine Litwin

A monument for a girl who died at the age of fourteen. The weathered and damaged angel is probably much more picturesque in this condition than it was when it was new.

Katherine Litwin

The base includes a photograph that is badly faded, but with the help of modern image-editing software we can restore a recognizable image.

Photograph of Katherine Litwin

Face on the Potts monument

The weathered face of this mourner looks all the more contemplative for the eroded vagueness of her features. The names of the various Pottses are inscribed on a broken column, a common metaphor for death in cemeteries. The various parts of the monument seem to have been ordered separately and with little regard for consistent style; we know from seeing her in other cemeteries that the flower-strewing mourner (whose hands always break off) was a standard catalogue item, and the classical column seems an odd match for the rustic base.

We have featured this mausoleum before, but surrounded by the splendor of fresh June greenery it makes a very attractive picture.