How a private walk-in style granite mausoleum is built with a vestibule, bronze door, 3 stained glass windows and 3 indoor family burial crypts for caskets.
See How A Private 3 Crypt Walk In Mausoleum Is Constructed + Interior Design & Cemetery Landscaping
This article and accompanying video show you how a 3-crypt walk-in mausoleum with stained glass windows and a bronze door is constructed, installed, landscaped and designed. The mausoleum, built by Rome Monument Company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, also features fluted half-columns, carvings with religious symbols, granite steps, a stone pathway, and a spacious interior with room for prayer and reflection by multiple family members. Rome builds private mausoleums for families throughout the United States.
See How a 3-Crypt Family Walk-In Mausoleum Is Built
The private family walk-in mausoleum was installed at historic Evergreen Hill Cemetery in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, in May 2023. This size and style of mausoleum typically holds six crypts. However, the family chose to remove three crypts from the design in order to provide a more spacious interior area for prayer and reflection. Rome Monument’s Bill Hapach, Jr. was the on-site project manager for the installation. Mausoleums like this one are typically preassembled at Rome’s mausoleum production facility in Monaca, Pennsylvania.
See Inside a Mausoleum With Stained Glass Windows
Three modern stained glass windows depict religious themes. They add color, beauty, and symbolic meaning to both the inside and outside of the mausoleum. The sun filtering through the colored glass provides an ethereal glow to the mausoleum interior.
Extraordinary stained glass window designs like the ones in this mausoleum can be seen at Woodlawn Cemetery in New York City, Allegheny Cemetery in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and in mausoleums throughout the United States.
See the Decorative Bronze Private Mausoleum Door
The bronze door is an elegant and distinctive feature often found in walk-in mausoleums. The three types of wrought bronze doors are cast doors, double sheet doors and tubing doors. Bronze is a preferred material because it is durable, strong, and can have a wide variety of designs. The cost for mausoleums with bronze doors varies widely. The bronze door for this mausoleum is adorned with a decorative bronze wreath and a curved handle with a keyhole for a private family key.
Watch How a 26-ton Mausoleum Is Put In a Cemetery
This mausoleum was preassembled in the factory and delivered to the cemetery by lowboy truck. It weighed over 51,000 pounds! Why so heavy? The mausoleum is constructed of solid, high-grade granite, a heavy, highly durable building material with the outer surfaces at least four inches thick for maximum strength. A 75-ton crane was required to hoist the mausoleum onto its foundation. Even the smaller ground level mausoleums require a large crane truck and crew to hoist and lower a ground level 2-crypt mausoleum onto its plot.
How the Mausoleum Plot Is Landscaped In the Cemetery
The landscaper decided “the simpler the better” when it came to adding natural elements to the plot. This would allow for easy and inexpensive maintenance, including trimming plants and cutting the grass. The landscaper leveled the terrain around the walk-in mausoleum, added trees, plants, grass, decorative rock mulch and garden borders, a path, as well as a granite memorial bench and other details. Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn is experimenting with sustainable landscaping – letting plots go unattended to grow into meadows.
See the Carved Religious Symbols On the Mausoleum
The walls, entablature and pediment of walk-in mausoleums provide an opportunity for families to add artwork in the form of etchings, engravings and carvings. Engraving is the process of cutting lettering, symbols, images, and artwork into the granite to create deep impressions.
This mausoleum is designed with Christian and Jewish religious symbols carved into the outer entrance wall as a way of expressing the family's faiths.
See Fluted Half-Columns On the Walk-In Mausoleum
Square, granite, fluted half-columns decorate the front of the mausoleum. The half-columns attach directly to the granite facade and help support the pediment. They enhance the Classical style of the mausoleum design. Classical style mausoleums have been a popular choice of mausoleum design for centuries. In fact, in a Harris Poll conducted in 2020, Classical style buildings beat modern style buildings for preference.
Quality Granite and Granite Color For the Mausoleum
The family chose non-polished white granite with a matte finish for a softer more natural look, ideal for mausoleums with a Classical style. Granite can come in virtually any color with a polished or honed surface. The granite for this mausoleum was excavated from a quarry known for its high-quality granite slabs right here in the U.S. Granite was used to make an incredible giant granite wonder in Everett, Washington - a pyramid-shaped monument built in 1907 that is 35-feet high!
How a Walk-In Mausoleum is Constructed At the Plant
Rome Monument created detailed architectural drawings to start the construction process. Each part of the mausoleum was built as a separate module – the side walls, base course, roof, door, windows, entablature, pediment, columns, etc. Then the modules were put together in Rome Monument’s mausoleum manufacturing facility for delivery to the cemetery. Modules can be built with different materials, including granite, marble and bronze.
How Granite Steps Are Installed at the Mausoleum
The granite steps were added after the mausoleum was set and sealed in the cemetery. Two high quality granite slabs from a quarry in the United States were placed in front of the bronze door for safe and easy access by any visitors. Then the steps were sealed to prevent movement and water damage. Three steps were originally planned for the mausoleum entrance, but the mausoleum landscaper chose to raise the ground around the entrance, thus making it necessary for only two steps to be installed.
Meet the Mausoleum Delivery and Installation Team
Installing a mausoleum is a complicated task, requiring heavy construction equipment, large vehicles and professional drivers, a trained, experienced crew, and the right supplies. Five members of the Rome Monument design and construction team along with a crane operator and a lowboy truck driver and assistant coordinated the day’s strategies prior to the actual installation. They started early in the morning before the sun rose and solidified the best strategies for moving the mausoleum from the service building where the teams gathered to the mausoleum plot, about a half mile away.
Watch a Mausoleum Crane Truck Ride to the Cemetery
A 75-ton crane truck took the narrow, winding cemetery service road to the mausoleum plot. The truck was assigned to hoist the mausoleum from the lowboy truck onto the mausoleum plot. A crane truck is needed to install a mausoleum due to the size, weight, and complexity of the structure. The crane truck’s purpose is to safely lift, hoist, and position these large pieces into place with precision. This process ensures the integrity and longevity of the mausoleum, as well as the safety of the installation crew and visitors to the site.
See a Lowboy Truck Carry the Mausoleum to the Plot
The delivery and installation plan included driving the truck along the same cemetery service road that the crane truck had successfully taken. However, the lowboy was unable to navigate the unpaved cemetery service road due to the low-hanging branches and uneven terrain. The larger lowboy truck carrying the precious mausoleum cargo drove through the village of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, to the Evergreen Hill Cemetery main entrance and took the winding, treelined Cemetery Road to meet the crane truck at the mausoleum plot.
See a Crane Truck Hoist the Mausoleum Onto Its Pad
Using an industrial lifting sling, the 75-ton crane truck lifted the 26-ton mausoleum off the lowboy truck and slowly swung it over to mausoleum foundation on the cemetery plot. The driver maneuvered the mausoleum around a large tree that overlooked the mausoleum plot. It also raised the structure high enough to avoid any contact with a ground level mausoleum and bushes that were in its path. The installation crew carefully aligned the mausoleum with the concrete foundation pad before it was lowered into place.
How Dry Ice Is Used to Cushion Mausoleum Placement
Before the prebuilt mausoleum touched down on its pad, the installation crew placed dry ice under it to control and cushion its placement and to prevent breakage. This allows any mausoleum to be lowered gradually and precisely onto the concrete pad. As the dry ice melts, the mausoleum slowly lowers onto the concrete foundation that was set several weeks in advance of the installation. When the mausoleum is in place, the joints between the mausoleum and foundation are sealed to prevent any water from damaging the structure.
The Protective Tarp Is Removed From The Mausoleum
During delivery and installation, the preassembled mausoleum is covered with heavy-duty protective materials to prevent scratches and damage. This includes a protective tarp as well as a protective plastic cover. The tarp was removed earlier in the day. Now the plastic cover is removed to reveal this beautiful 3-crypt mausoleum in all its splendor!
Watch a Granite Crypt Door Placed In The Mausoleum
The mausoleum contains 3 crypts with room for 3 caskets. Each crypt has a removable door so that the casket can be placed inside when it’s time. It is designed to protect and respectfully enclose the space where the deceased is laid to rest.
The crypt door is an important feature as it provides both security and dignity, ensuring the crypt is a peaceful and undisturbed final resting place. Here you see a heavy granite crypt door being carried into the mausoleum for attachment onto the crypt.
How a Private Door To a Walk-in Mausoleum Is Locked
It is important to have systems in place for maximum mausoleum security – to keep any unwanted visitors outside and keep the crypts and items inside safe from vandalism. This bronze mausoleum door contains a security lock which can only be opened with the owner's private key.
The design of the mausoleum includes other security features such as stained glass windows and solid doors that can be locked to prevent unauthorized access.
Look Inside a Multi-Crypt Family Walk-In Mausoleum
Ever wonder what the inside of walk-in mausoleum looks like? This 3-crypt mausoleum is typical of a well-designed interior. It has a vertical bank of three crypts, a spacious interior vestibule for visitors to reflect and pray, and three religious-themed stained glass windows. Prices for mausoleums with stained glass windows vary widely.
The family eventually added a comfortable chair for prolonged visits to the mausoleum and a small table to hold precious family memorabilia such as photographs and sentimental trinkets.
Attaching Bronze Handles to Mausoleum Crypt Doors
Each crypt has a front, or door, which can be detached and reattached. Here we see the Rome crew installing the hardware, including the bronze handles, required to attach the heavy granite crypt doors to the crypt frame and allow for future opening of the crypt for the insertion of the casket.
In certain designs, the doors might be sealed permanently after a burial, with no handles or locks, merging with the walls to make the entrances discreet.
See How Trees Are Planted On The Mausoleum Plot
Once the mausoleum is set, the landscaping for the cemetery plot begins. The landscaper decided on hardy small plants and trees and a shady grass lawn to adorn the plot surrounding the mausoleum. The vegetation allowed for easy maintenance by the cemetery staff and owners.
Boxwood trees, with their pyramidal shape and easy maintenance, were planted in front of the mausoleum. Hydrangea bobo plants, great for surviving cold, snowy winters in Ohio, were added in back.
How a Mausoleum Bench Provides Beauty and Comfort
For easier access to the mausoleum interior, the landscaper removed one of the steps to the bronze door and raised the ground level in front of the mausoleum. He then used the extra granite slab to create a memorial bench behind the mausoleum. It provides a nice little private sitting area for the family. Benches are just one of the accessories or decorations that can be incorporated into the design of a mausoleum. Flagholders, bronze plaques, and wind chimes are among the others.
View the Finished 3-Crypt Mausoleum In the Cemetery
The mausoleum was completed in late spring 2023 and the grass filled in by mid-summer. In this chapter, you can look at the beautiful space, peaceful setting, and stunning classical-style mausoleum from all angles – inside and out! Among the hundreds of cemetery headstones that surround it, the 3-crypt mausoleum stands above all the others, its white granite façade gleaming in the sun. Look at more custom private family mausoleums here. Get unique mausoleum design ideas here.
Get a Price Quote For a Family Walk-In Mausoleum
If you'd like more information on walk-in mausoleums, would like a quote for a custom mausoleum, or wish to order a walk-in Mausoleum, call a Rome Monument mausoleum professional at 724-770-0100, fill out a Request For Services form, or email info@romemonuments.com. Vince Dioguardi is the primary designer, architect, engineer, and project coordinator at Rome Monument, a nationwide leader in cemetery monuments and mausoleums since 1934. With headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Rome Monument designs, builds and installs mausoleums in cemeteries throughout U.S.