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: ½” = 1ft.
Details: This view shows the stairway and entrance to the mausoleum. There are two greek doric-style columns on each side of the doorway. The entranceway is a large arch with a decorative wreath -like pattern around the top of it, leading up to a hemispherical domed roof. The family name is written in block letters on the lintel above the doorway. Smaller columns line the area between the base of the roof and lintel.
Size: 26” x 21.7”
Condition: Very good. The plan itself is clear, but the writing below it is hard to read and rather faint. There is wear and tear around the edges.
Scale: ½” = 1ft.
Details: This plan lays out the entire foundation of the mausoleum plot. The inside of the plan notes two equal sized areas that are “not to be excavated.” Between these two areas is a space noted as the “cross wall” with a depth of 4’-0”.
Size: 21.5” x 23”
Drawing Material: Blueprint
Condition: Very good. The blueprint is slightly faded, but still legible. There is minor wear and tear around the edges. On the lower right side of the plan there is a triangular shaped tear, but this does not change the ability to read the plan. Again, as in the above print, the text is very faded and written in a font that is hard to read.
Scale: ½” = 1ft.
Details: The section shown here outlines the side view of the mausoleum. Six steps are shown leading up to the entranceway of the mausoleum. One column is shown. The inner view shows the outline of six catacombs with handles along each end. The lower left side shows what looks like a decorative base of a column. Above the catacombs are three equal sized squares below the lintel leading to the roof.
Size: 26.2” x 21.5”
Drawing Material: Blueprint
Notes/Markings: The center of plan, highlighted by a gold pencil box and initialed, is a note that reads: “THIS DRAWING APPLIES TO GRANITE WORK ONLY. SEE REVISED SECTION DATED AUG. 26 1919 FOR MARBLE INTERIOR.” In the center of the roof there is a note that reads, “ALL INTERIOR WALLS IN DOME TO BE PAINTED WITH r.i.w. DAMP RESISTANT PAINT.”
Condition: Very good. Minor wear and tear around the edges with staple holes along the left side of the plan.
Date (cont'd): July 10, 1919 (marked and initialed on the left side of the plan and on the inner part of the blueprint).
Scale: ½” = 1ft
Details: This outline highlights the arched entrance way, the brick wall around it and the hemispherical domed roof. Vents are also noted along the bottom of the plan and “weep” holes at the base of the roof dome.
Size: 26” x 21.4”
Drawing Material: Blueprint
Notes/Markings: The same two notes are written on this blueprint as in drawing “C” above. Along the left side of this plan is a note that states, “ SEE SIDE ELEVATION FOR HEIGHT OF BASE.”
Condition: Very good. Minor wear and tear along the edges of the plan. Staple holes line the left side of the plan.
Details: SEE “B” IN THIS SERIES
Size: 22” x 23”
Drawing Material: Blueprint
Condition: Good. The blueprint is faded making it harder to read.
Date (cont'd): July 10, 1919 (handwritten and initialed).
Details: This view shows the mausoleum from the steps through the entrance into the inner part of the mausoleum. The top of two entrance way columns are visible, as are the outer walls of the mausoleum. The inside of the mausoleum shows the granite floor and a back window.
Size: 26” x 21.5”
Drawing Material: Blueprint
Materials Noted: Brick, granite
Notes/Markings: Inside the mausoleum on the floor area it reads, “GRANITE FLOOR POLISHED SURFACE.” There is a handwritten word next to it which is hard to make out. The right side of the plan by the step has a note that reads, “STEPS HOUSED 2” INTO BUTTRESSES.”
Condition: Very good. There are staple holes along the left side of the plan and minor wear and tear along the bottom edge of the plan.
Scale: ½” = 1ft.
Details: The difference between this plan and “D” in this series is that this transverse section does not include the outline of the roof, this plan shows only the arch.
Size: 21” x 18.5”
Drawing Material: Blueprint
Materials Noted: Brick
Notes/Markings: The right side of the plan notes, “BRICK PIERS. SEE PLAN.” On the inside of the plan on the top left is a note that reads, “BRICK PIERS TO SUPPORT CROSS BEAMS.”
Condition: Very good. Staple holes along the bottom left side of the plan.
Scale: ½” = 1ft.
Details: This plan is exactly the same as “C”, except it shows just the inner section of the mausoleum with 8 catacombs visible instead of the entire mausoleum, including the roof.
Size: 21.2” x 18.5”
Drawing Material: Blueprint
Materials Noted: Brick
Condition: Very good. Staple holes along the left side of the plan.
Scale: ½” = 1ft.
Details: This plan shows the outside view of the mausoleum in its base form -- the outline of the base, entrance way, brickwork and domed roof.
Size: 26” x 22”
Drawing Material: Blueprint
Condition: Very good. Staple holes along the left side of the plan. Some minor wear and tear along the top of the plan.
Date (cont'd): July 10, 1919 (handwritten on the left side of the plan).
Scale: ½” = 1ft
Details: This plan shows the outer side view of the mausoleum. Visible is the base at the top of the stairs with a doric-style column leading to the entrance of the mausoleum. The side brick wall is shown and above that is the domed roof with smaller columns leading from the mausoleum ceiling to the base of the roof.
Size: 26.4” x 22”
Drawing Material: Blueprint
Condition: Very good. There is wear and tear around the edges of the plan but does not affect the plan itself.
