Schoenhofen Pyramid Mausoleum | |
Location | Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, United States |
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Built | 1893 |
Architect | Richard E. Schmidt |
Architectural style | Egyptian Revival |
Part of | Graceland Cemetery (ID00001628) |
Added to NRHP | January 18, 2001 |
The Schoenhofen Pyramid Mausoleum is a tomb in Graceland Cemetery, Chicago. It was designed by Chicago School architect Richard E. Schmidt in the requested Egyptian Revival style as a family mausoleum for the Chicago brewer Peter Schoenhofen.
Well-known Chicago brewer Peter Schoenhofen (born in Dörbach, then Prussia, in 1827; died in 1893) his Schoenhofen Brewing Company was among the largest in Chicago in 1880.[1] Schoenhofen's family mausoleum was designed by Richard E. Schmidt, a Chicago School architect, in 1893, with construction beginning on July 1 of that year.[2][3] The mausoleum is internationally famous and is one of the most photographed mausoleums at Graceland Cemetery.
The Schoenhofen Pyramid Mausoleum is a steep sided tomb designed, like many of the monuments at Chicago's Graceland Cemetery, in the Egyptian Revival style.[1] The tomb is a family mausoleum constructed from gray granite. The pyramid structure is set upon a square base.[1] To the left of the entryway, is an angel, on the right of the entry stands a sphinx.[1] The pyramid's design combines both Egyptian (the sphinx) and Christian (the angel) symbols.[4] Regardless, the American Institute of Architects' Chicago guide book called the angel "rather out-of-place".[5] The door to the pyramid is styled after the gateways at Karnak, in Egypt, and is 40 inches wide by 84 inches high. A bronze molding of bundled reeds surrounds the door and the door's themselves feature cast lotus designs with coiled asps around the handles.[1]
While the Schoenhofen Mausoleum is a pyramid, and referred to as such, its design is only Egyptian-inspired. The angel on the tomb base is clearly not Egyptian and even the sphinx merely takes its inspiration from Egyptian architecture.[2] There are several historical works that are considered related to the Schoenhofen Mausoleum. The Roman funerary pyramid of Caius Cestius is considered a historical predecessor to the Schoenhofen Mausoleum.[2] Perhaps more closely related are the pyramid by Louis Carrogis Carmontelle at Parc Monceau in Paris and a cenotaph by Antonio Canova that was erected as the tomb of Maria Christina in Vienna at the Augustinian Church.[2]