By Nathalie Belkin, Lead Processor; Gabriella Carl-Johnson, Kay Menick, Sara Fetherolf, Erin Allsop, Jessica Mack, and Katie Alleman, Interns
Title: Architectural Drawings and Blueprints, c. 1880s-1990s
Predominant Dates:1910-1930s
Extent: 0.0
Subjects: A. Faranda and Son, Acea family, Agoglia family, Altar to Liberty: Minerva, Architectural Drawings, Architecture, Arnold, K.F., Arnold, N.B., Arnold family, Art nouveau (Architecture), Bahrenburg, John H., Bahrenburg family, Barclay family, Barrow, ME James T., Barrow family, Barthman family, Beaux-Arts architecture, Benisch Bros. Monumental Works, Blueprints, Bourne family, Bromell family, Brown, John W., Brown family, Buildings--Design and construction, C.E. Tayntor & Co., Cemeteries--New York (State)--New York--History, Cinerary urns, Colyer family, Cushman, Eugene, Cutting, James D.W., Cutting family, Daly, Margaret, Daly family, Davis Granite Co, Architects and Contractors, de Aldama family, DeLaCour and Ferrara, Delafield, Major Rich D., Delafield family, Dewey family, Doerschuck family, Dunne family, Egyptian revival (Architecture), Euler family, Farrington, Gould and Hoagland, Feitner, John, Felzmann family, Flagg, Ernest, Gilbert family, Goodnough family, Gothic revival (Architecture), Gould, J. R, Gould, James S., Gould family, Green-Wood Cemetery--New York, N.Y., Greve family, Griswold family, Hapgood family, Harder family, Harrison Granite Co., Havemeyer family, Heins and La Farge Architects, Higgins, Charles, Higgins family, Hillside architecture, Hoffman & Prochazka, Designers, Sculptors, and Builders, Horn, Alfred E., Horn family, Howland family, John Thatcher & Son, Kampfe family, Kenneth, W.D., Lawrence family, Lingard family, Ludlum, Emma R., Ludlum family, Martin, Robert, Martin family, Mausoleums, McAlpin family, Murdock family, Obelisks, Parish family, Parsons family, Penn Brass and Bronze Works, Pitbladdo Monumental Works, Polak family, Presbrey-Coykendall Company, Presbrey-Leland Monument Company, Renwick, Aspinwall, and Tucker, Reynolds family, Riley family, Ritzheimer family, Robinson, F. Delancey, Romanesque architecture, Rosanelli family, Ruckstull, F. W. (Fred Wellington), 1853-1942, Sands family, Sarcophagi, Sculpture and architecture, Sepulchral chapels, Sepulchral monuments, Victorian, Sepulchral monuments--New York (State)--New York, Sepulchral monuments--United States, Sepulchral monuments industry, Smallman, Thomas F., Smallman family, Somers family, Stephens, Annie W., Stephens, Benjamin F., Stephens family, Stevenson family, Stone, Gould, & Co, Designers and Builders, Sullivan, John W., Sullivan family, Texter family, Tiefel family, Tombs & sepulchral monuments, Torrio, Johnny, Torrio Family, Umberto Innocenti and Richard K. Webel, Landscape Architects, Underground architecture, Upjohn, Hobart, VanRensselaer family, Vaults (Sepulchral), W.F. Benedict & Son, W.W. Leland Co. Inc., Walsh, James F., Warren & Wetmore, Wesselman family, Wood family, Woolley family
Languages: English
The Architectural Drawings and Blueprints collection contains over 150 separate series of designs, each of which has one to around 20 individual drawings. Each series represents designs for a mausoleum or other architectural feature at Green-Wood Cemetery.
Most of the designs are for private family mausoleums, although the collection also includes blueprint materials for the historic Green-Wood chapel designed by Warren & Wetmore, alterations made to the Fifth Avenue gate, and plans for the mid-twentieth-century Columbarium. Other notable features in the collection include the Higgins mausoleum series, which contains photographs and early designs of the famous Battle Hill monument Altar to Liberty: Minerva by sculptor F. Wellington Ruxell. Many additional series may include more famous names in New York City history, such as those for the Cooper-Hewitt family and the Torrio family.
The majority of these drawings are printed on large blueprint paper, although there are a significant number of series that contain original drawings on tracing paper or drafting linen, as well as prints on Mylar, photocopy paper, or other reproduction materials. Many series also contain specifications documents—legal agreements between the architectural firm and the cemetery, which outline the plans, materials, and workman regulations for construction. In some cases, there is additional material, such as correspondence with lot owners and alternate mausoleum designs.
The collection’s dates range from the 1880s to the 1990s; the majority of the mausoleum designs were created between 1910 and 1930, at a time when it was widely popular among upper-class families to have a mausoleum or vault in which to inter their deceased relatives. Many architects of the time specialized in mausoleum design. Architectural firms that produced a large number of mausoleum designs in this collection include the Presbrey-Leland Monument Company, John Feitner Architects, and the Harrison Granite Company.
Researchers may wish to consult a specific series, which can give an interesting insight into the family in question, or they may wish to look at multiple series in the collection, in order to gain an example of the way construction and design aesthetics changed over time. The collection is a particularly valuable example of the way cemetery architecture developed in its golden years, particularly because many of the wealthiest and most prestigious New York families chose to be interred at Green-Wood.
The collection is currently stored in two locations—some material is in the Green-Wood archives, while many other blueprints are kept in the surveyor’s office of the administrative building. The container list has additional information on each item in this significant and highly variable collection, including notes on the date of designs, the architectural firm that created the drawings, and information on the size, condition, markings, and design features of each piece. All blueprint materials have been scanned and are digitally available; a preview of the image file is attached to each item. High-resolution images of each scan are available upon request.
The material is in varying condition, and embrittled drawings have been encapsulated in Mylar to ensure preservation.
The Green-Wood archives hold additional records acquired from the Presbrey-Leland Monument Company relating to Green-Wood Cemetery, and researchers may find it useful to consult this collection in conjunction with the Architectural Drawings and Blueprints.
A. Faranda and Son
Acea family
Agoglia family
Altar to Liberty: Minerva
Architectural Drawings
Architecture
Arnold, K.F.
Arnold, N.B.
Arnold family
Art nouveau (Architecture)
Bahrenburg, John H.
Bahrenburg family
Barclay family
Barrow, ME James T.
Barrow family
Barthman family
Beaux-Arts architecture
Benisch Bros. Monumental Works
Blueprints
Bourne family
Bromell family
Brown, John W.
Brown family
Buildings--Design and construction
C.E. Tayntor & Co.
Cemeteries--New York (State)--New York--History
Cinerary urns
Colyer family
Cushman, Eugene
Cutting, James D.W.
Cutting family
Daly, Margaret
Daly family
Davis Granite Co, Architects and Contractors
de Aldama family
DeLaCour and Ferrara
Delafield, Major Rich D.
Delafield family
Dewey family
Doerschuck family
Dunne family
Egyptian revival (Architecture)
Euler family
Farrington, Gould and Hoagland
Feitner, John
Felzmann family
Flagg, Ernest
Gilbert family
Goodnough family
Gothic revival (Architecture)
Gould, J. R
Gould, James S.
Gould family
Green-Wood Cemetery--New York, N.Y.
Greve family
Griswold family
Hapgood family
Harder family
Harrison Granite Co.
Havemeyer family
Heins and La Farge Architects
Higgins, Charles
Higgins family
Hillside architecture
Hoffman & Prochazka, Designers, Sculptors, and Builders
Horn, Alfred E.
Horn family
Howland family
John Thatcher & Son
Kampfe family
Kenneth, W.D.
Lawrence family
Lingard family
Ludlum, Emma R.
Ludlum family
Martin, Robert
Martin family
Mausoleums
McAlpin family
Murdock family
Obelisks
Parish family
Parsons family
Penn Brass and Bronze Works
Pitbladdo Monumental Works
Polak family
Presbrey-Coykendall Company
Presbrey-Leland Monument Company
Renwick, Aspinwall, and Tucker
Reynolds family
Riley family
Ritzheimer family
Robinson, F. Delancey
Romanesque architecture
Rosanelli family
Ruckstull, F. W. (Fred Wellington), 1853-1942
Sands family
Sarcophagi
Sculpture and architecture
Sepulchral chapels
Sepulchral monuments, Victorian
Sepulchral monuments--New York (State)--New York
Sepulchral monuments--United States
Sepulchral monuments industry
Smallman, Thomas F.
Smallman family
Somers family
Stephens, Annie W.
Stephens, Benjamin F.
Stephens family
Stevenson family
Stone, Gould, & Co, Designers and Builders
Sullivan, John W.
Sullivan family
Texter family
Tiefel family
Tombs & sepulchral monuments
Torrio, Johnny
Torrio Family
Umberto Innocenti and Richard K. Webel, Landscape Architects
Underground architecture
Upjohn, Hobart
VanRensselaer family
Vaults (Sepulchral)
W.F. Benedict & Son
W.W. Leland Co. Inc.
Walsh, James F.
Warren & Wetmore
Wesselman family
Wood family
Woolley family
Details: Documents contain all the owner and architect responsibilities and liabilities. The document also includes all the materials to be used in detail and where they are to be used in the mausoleum itself.
Drawing Material: Thick blue paper with white typewritten letters.
Materials Noted: Granite, marble, cement, sand, stone, and bronze (made up of 90% copper and 10% tin)
Notes/Markings: Pages 6, 7, 8, 9, 11 and 13 have crossed out sentences. Some have corrected words or have been omitted altogether. Each page is signed and approved in orange pencil.
Condition: The document was once stapled together. There are two holes on the top of each page indicating this. Page 12 has a tear at the bottom left of it.
Details: “1913” is engraved on the top step leading to the double doors. The doors each have an ornamental rectangle inset in them with a circular design below. On either side of the doors are pillars from the top step to the top of the door frame. The mausoleum family name, “Ahlstrom” is engraved into the top of the front of the mausoleum with decorative vertical lines on either side. The roof is in three separate pieces. Foundation is 5’8” from bottom to steps. Grade line is marked.
Size: 20.7” x 24.4”
Drawing Material: Blueprint
Condition: Bottom of plan is frayed with rips in it. Top right-hand corner is missing. There are holes along the top of the plan, equally spaced.
Details: This aerial view outlines the foundation layout. The bottom half of the foundation measures 5’4” in depth; the middle square depth is 7’; and the top reads 1’9.”
Size: 21.4” x 24”
Drawing Material: Blueprint
Notes/Markings: In orange pencil are new measurements and notes. The top of the elevation has measurements reading 11’9½ ’’; down the righthand side is the new measurement 4’8”. The bottom left side of the plan reads in orange ink, ‘Keep this corner 2” below the grade.’ Within the plan are also pencil lines and measurements. One measurement on the left-hand side of the plan is circled and reads, ‘2” higher.’
Condition: There is a lot of fraying around the edges; a large tear is visible along the bottom, with some small tears along the left, right, and top sides of the plan.
Details: This transverse section details the back of the mausoleum with all materials and measurements. The stained glass window is shown in the upper middle of the plan. Removable shelves are noted on both the bottom left and right side of the plan. There are two vents flanking both the top sides near the roof and two vents flanking the bottom sides of the walls. There is a small, decorative hanger supporting the top of the inner mausoleum and the roof.
Size: 20.5”x 24”
Drawing Material: Blueprint
Materials Noted: Bronze, glass (stained), marble, slate, granite.
Notes/Markings: Orange pencil overlays the plan lines on the left and right sides of the bottom of the plan. Orange pencil markings are also visible on the top right side of the roof, with the measurements, 1”-0’ written.
Condition: Very good. A few minor holes and staple markings along the top of the plan, with minimal fraying along the bottom edge. Top left-side corner is slightly curled.
Scale: 1” = 1’
Details: Aerial view of floor, stained glass window, and the entrance to the inner part of the mausoleum. The door width is measured at 3’6” and the circumference at which the door opens is shown.
Size: 21.7” x 23.5”
Drawing Material: Blueprint
Materials Noted: Granite, marble, slate, glass, and bronze
Notes/Markings: The granite floor is to have a rubbed finish, the marble notes is said to be Grey Tennessee and the frame of the stained glass window is to be bronze. By the door outline is written “Bronze Doors & Sadd.” (Presumably this is short for Saddle Threshold for an irregular floor)
Condition: Excellent. Some staple holes along the top of the blueprint.
Details: The side wall of the mausoleum is clearly marked out with separate cement slabs delineated. There are four bronze vents at each corner of the mausoleum. The grade line is also shown on the bottom right-hand side of the plan.
Size: 21.2” x 23.5”
Drawing Material: Blueprint
Materials Noted: Bronze
Notes/Markings: On the bottom right side under the grade line is an orange pencil line. There is also a small orange line on the right side above the foundation.
Condition: Excellent. There are staple holes along the top of the blueprint and one minor tear along the bottom of the blueprint.
Details: Layout of cement slabs, foundation, and stained glass window in the middle center of the blueprint. There are four bronze vents noted and the grade line.
Size: 20.5” x 24”
Drawing Material: Blueprint
Materials Noted: Bronze and stained glass
Condition: Very good. There is a small tear with some minor fraying along the bottom-center of the blueprint. Three hole punch markings along the top of the blueprint.
Details: The side view of the mausoleum is outlined with the foundation plan along the bottom and four separate blocks with circular rosettes on each side of the blocks in the center of the plan. The roof section shows the decorative bronze hanger. Vents are marked out along the right-side of the plan. The roof shows a slight peak. Various areas of the plan are shaded.
Size: 21.2”x 24”
Drawing Material: Blueprint
Materials Noted: Marble and bronze
Notes/Markings: There are orange pencil marking along the bottom half of the plan – the foundation. The word “Floor” is written out with an arrow pointing down to a shaded area. The orange marks in the foundation just make clearer the lines already delineated with measurements written out. On the back of the blueprint the name of the family is misspelled “Ahlstom” instead of “Ahlstrom.”
Condition: Very good. Some fraying around the edges of the blueprint.
