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
Scale: Not applicable
Date: July 11, 1910
Details: Document specifies the work to be done by the contractor, their liabilities and all materials they will supply as well as their responsibilities. The document notes the scale of the mausoleum being built as well as the depth of the foundation. All materials to be used are noted.
Size: 8” x 14”
Drawing Material: Typewritten document on legal paper.
Materials Noted: Granite, stone, marble, slate and bronze.
Notes/Markings: Each page is signed, dated and approved.
Condition: Very good. The last page has some folds in it. The document is held together by a flat-backed push pin.
Scale: N/A
Date: July 11, 1910
Details: Written by the architectural firm, this letter is advising the cemetery of changes made by Mr. Barrow to the “Barrow Mausoleum.” The letter indicates that the blueprints note the changes and have been sent to the cemetery under separate cover.
Size: 8 ½” x 11”
Drawing Material: Green ink typewritten on the company letterhead.
Materials Noted: None.
Notes/Markings: Pencil signature by a B. Fuller. Letter has two folds in it and a small hole on the upper left-hand corner. The back of the letter is stamped “received” by the cemetery.
Condition: Very good.
Scale: N/A
Date: July 14, 1910
Details: Written by the architectural firm, this letter notes a conversation with Mr. Johnson, from the cemetery, and a conversation with Mr. Barrow regarding the figures for the front line and back of front edge of the lot.
Size: 8 ½” x 11”
Drawing Material: Green ink typewritten on the company letterhead and signed in pencil by G.H. Barrone.
Materials Noted: None.
Notes/Markings: The back of the letter is stamped received by Green-Wood Cemetery.
Condition: Very good. There are some creases and fold lines in the letter.
Scale: ¾” = 1’
Date: July 11, 1910
Details: The plan states on the bottom left, “General Sizes 12’-0” x12-8” x 13:8””
Size: 16” x 25”
Drawing Material: Blueprint
Materials Noted: None.
Notes/Markings: None supplemental.
Condition: Good. Some staple holes along the top of the plan.
Design/Style: The front of the mausoleum is depicted with two doors which each have two rectangular panels inset in them. The top two panels have roman style wreaths in the center. The two below panels have decorative poles in each. Above the doors and below the roof is the family name, “Barrow” with the measurements “6” sq raised 5/8 letter” written next to it. The front brick work has a flower pattern, with the ground beneath the step filled with stones. The peaked roof also has the same design in it has the rest of the brick work.
Scale: ¾” = 1’
Date: July 11, 1910
Details: The top of the plan says “Barrow 1313” in white type.
Size: 16” x 17”
Drawing Material: Blueprint
Materials Noted: None.
Notes/Markings: None supplemental.
Condition: Good. There are some staple holes along the top of the blueprint.
Design/Style: This plan shows the side walls with the flower design on each slab used to build the wall. On the second layer of the wall rectangle are two smaller rectangles with a different patter on the inside of them. The top part of the side view has no pattern in the wall.
Scale: ¾” = 1’
Date: July 11, 1910
Details: The top of the plan says “Barrow 1313” in white type.
Size: 16” x 16.7”
Drawing Material: Blueprint
Materials Noted: None.
Notes/Markings: None supplemental.
Condition: Good. A few staple holes along the top of the plan. The back of the plan has some red ink smudges.
Design/Style: The walls are all patterned with stones under the foundation. In the center of the plan, below the beginning of the peaked roof is a square with decorative rods and rosettes at the top and bottom.
Scale: ¾” = 1’
Date: July 11, 1910
Details: See item D.
Size: 16” x 25”
Drawing Material: Blueprint
Materials Noted: None.
Notes/Markings: None supplemental.
Condition: Very good. Some staple holes along the top of the plan. A slight crease along the middle of the plan.
Design/Style: See item D.
Scale: ¾” = 1’
Date: July 11, 1910
Details: See item E.
Size: 16” x 25”
Drawing Material: Blueprint
Materials Noted: None.
Notes/Markings: None supplemental.
Condition: Some staple holes along the top of the plan. A slight crease along the middle of the plan. A small piece of tape is over the back of the top staple hole.
Design/Style: See item E.
Scale: ¾” = 1’
Date: July 11, 1910
Details: See item F.
Size: 16” x 25”
Drawing Material: Blueprint
Materials Noted: None.
Notes/Markings: None supplemental.
Condition: Three holes along the top of the plan. There is a slight crease along the middle of the plan.
Design/Style: See item F.
Scale: ¾” = 1’
Date: July 11, 1910
Details: None.
Size: 16” x 17”
Drawing Material: Blueprint
Materials Noted: None.
Notes/Markings: None supplemental.
Condition: Very good. Small holes along the top of the blueprint along with staple holes.
Design/Style: The inner part of the plan shows three large rectangles of space with the outer walls marked. The doorways and steps up to the doors are also shown. The largest of the rectangle measurements is the center one, measuring 3’-6” across (this shrinks by .5 near the front door) and 8:5” width.
Scale: ¾” = 1’
Date: July 11, 1910
Details: None.
Size: 16” x 16 ½”
Drawing Material: Blueprint
Materials Noted: None.
Notes/Markings: On each side of the slanted roof, in red ink measurements are written (1’-0”) and signed for by the architect. This is also written in the same hand on the bottom center of the plan. (1’-6”)
Condition: Very good. Some hole marks and staple holes visible along the top of the plan.
Design/Style: This section view of the plan shows the view of “looking toward the window” (lower left-handside) and “looking toward the door” (lower right-handside). The horizontal line divides each side of the plan. Each part of the plan is broken down into squares and rectangles. Foundation stone can also be made out.
Scale: ¾” = 1’
Date: July 11, 1910
Details: None
Size: approx. 16” x 16”
Drawing Material: Blueprint
Materials Noted: Concrete
Notes/Markings: None supplemental.
Condition: Very good. Some hole marks and staple holes visible across the top of the plan.
Design/Style: This sectional view breaks down into four rectangles in the center of the plan; each rectangle has a decorative circle on each end. The base and foundation are also shown. The rectangles measure 7’-6” across with the wall they sit in measuring 8’-5¾”.
Scale: ¾” = 1’
Date: July 11, 1910
Details: None
Size: approx. 16” x 16”
Drawing Material: Blueprint
Materials Noted: Concrete.
Notes/Markings: None supplemental
Condition: Good.
Design/Style: See item L.
Scale: ¾” = 1’
Date: July 11, 1910
Details: See item K.
Size: 16” x 16 ½”
Drawing Material: Blueprint
Materials Noted: None.
Notes/Markings: None supplemental.
Condition: Good.
Design/Style: See item K.
Scale: ¾” = 1’
Date: July 11, 1910
Details: See item J.
Size: 16” x 17”
Drawing Material: Blueprint
Materials Noted: None.
Notes/Markings: None supplemental.
Condition: Very good. Some small holes along the top of the plan.
Design/Style: See item J.
Scale: ¾” = 1’
Date: July 11, 1910
Details: The bottom of the mausoleum is laid out (very faintly), with measurements from the entrance into the main crypt where three rectangles are delineated. Along the bottom of the main plan are four squares of different sizes with the note underneath them saying “Section of A B.” The right-hand side of the plan has “Section at C-D” noted.
Size: 15 ½” x 16 ½”
Drawing Material: Blueprint
Materials Noted: None.
Notes/Markings: The back of the plan has handwritten, in pencil, measurements and a circle drawn with a square inside of it. A note reads, “start foundation level at this point,” with an arrow pointing toward the corner marked “320.”
Condition: Very faint, hard to make out, but otherwise in good condition. Fold marks are clearly visible on the back of the plan–folded into halves, then quarters and then refolded into a small rectangle. Top left of plan has some small tears and fraying.
Scale: ¾” = 1’
Date: July 11, 1910
Details: See item P.
Size: 15 ½” x 16 ½”
Drawing Material: Blueprint
Materials Noted: None.
Notes/Markings: None supplemental.
Condition: Slightly better than item P, as it is a little less faint. There are some small holes along the top of the plan. Fold lines are clear – into halves, then quarters, then folded down again.
