Carrie Eliza Getty Mausoleum, 1890
Louis H. Sullivan
Graceland Cemetery
Near
northwest corner of lake
4001 North Clark Street
Considered to be an early and entirely successful example
of “modern architecture,” this monument stands apart, both literally and
figuratively. Located on a small triangle of land on the north side of the
cemetery, it belongs in a league of its own in terms of historical and
architectural significance. In addition to being designated as a city landmark
in 1971 and being placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974,
Frank Lloyd Wright described it as “a piece of sculpture, a statue, a great
poem.” In his quest to establish an “Architecture natural, truthful and
wholesome, such as should characterize a truly democratic people,” Architect
Louis H. Sullivan (1856-1924) rejected the Beaux-Arts approach taken by Daniel
Burnham at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition and the historical revivals
that relied upon classical or medieval motifs in favor of his own imagination,
sense of proportion and interest in organic decorative forms.
The perfectly proportioned limestone cube is divided
visually into a smooth bottom half and a top half adorned with shallow octagons
containing eight-pointed star designs. The arch above the elaborate bronze
doors, containing the name “Getty,” features smooth bands alternating with ones
featuring leaf or floral forms. The top of the cornice, on the front and back,
is straight, while the sides feature a repeated curving line. The bronze gates
include the eight-pointed stars
interwoven with floral and geometric forms, while the medallion on the side
window includes Getty’s initials. The design of the bronze door behind the
gates, when shown as a plaster cast in 1900 at the Paris Exposition, won Sullivan
an award.
Henry Harrison Getty (1838-1920), a lumber merchant and
partner of Martin Ryerson, commissioned this tomb for his wife, Carrie. He was
later buried here, along with their only daughter Alice, who died in 1946.
