Architecture
The architecture at Mount Auburn Cemetery is uniquely placed within an intact 19th century landscape. Buildings from the 1830s-1890s are sited in relationship to monuments and structures of numerous architectural styles. The earliest structure, the Egyptian Revival Gateway (1832, rebuilt 1842-43) was designed by Dr. Jacob Bigelow, and stands as the ceremonial entrance to Mount Auburn. Originally constructed of wood dusted with sand, it was rebuilt in 1842 of Quincy granite. Bigelow Chapel (1840s, rebuilt 1850s) was designed in the Gothic Revival style by Dr. Jacob Bigelow working with architect Gridley J. F. Bryant. The Chapel, in its architecture and siting, is an original Gothic structure from the picturesque movement. The Chapel's original stained glass windows were created in Edinburgh, Scotland. Washington Tower, (1852-54), honoring the nation's first president, was also designed by Dr. Bigelow working with Gridley J. F. Bryant. The Tower provides a panoramic view and serves as a focal point within the Cemetery. Story Chapel and the adjoining Administration Building (1896-98) were designed by the architect Willard Sears in the "English Perpendicular Style." Balanced by the natural surroundings and horticultural landscaping, the architecture of Mount Auburn serves as an important landmark within the Cemetery.
Sculpture
Mount Auburn Cemetery contains an exceptional and diverse collection of 19th, 20th and 21st-century monuments. Over 30,000 monuments and associated structures provide a unique overlay to the Cemetery's horticultural landscape. The Cemetery includes important examples of works by the first generation of American sculptors. Before public art museums, visitors came to the Mount Auburn to view the art of the sculptor and monument carver. Popular monument styles include Neoclassical, Gothic and Egyptian forms and motifs. Marble, granite and brownstone monuments and gravestones are balanced by their natural settings and contribute to the site as a whole, establishing its historical significance. The cultural landscape also contains a rich variety of vernacular memorial art, including iron fences, granite curbing and mausolea of a wide range of styles, with particular strength in the mid-19th century.
Original Landscape Design
Mount Auburn has been recognized as one of the most significant designed
landscapes in the United States. The original landscape was a beautiful
mature woodland. General Henry A. S. Dearborn, President of the Massachusetts
Horticultural Society, took primary responsibility for laying out
the new cemetery in 1831 and 1832. With the assistance of a young
civil engineer and surveyor, Alexander Wadsworth, and a committee
of well-educated Bostonians, Dearborn laid out Mount Auburn's grounds
following the natural features of the land. Inspired by Pere LaChaise
Cemetery, founded in 1804 outside Paris, and design ideas from English
picturesque gardens, this group of knowledgeable and gifted amateurs
(working 25 years before the famous Frederick Law Olmsted began his
landscape design career) created a new American landscape, the "rural
cemetery."
