Another tomb with a touch of exoticism. The name on it is “Landon” and so far I haven’t been able to discover any additional information about it’s inhabitant.

Doublas Keister’s Stories in Stone. New York. A Field Guide to New York City Area Cemeteries and their residents identifies this architectural style as ‘Egyptian Revival’ and goes on to describe it as follows:

… another tomb style of antiquity, Egyptian, is perhaps the most funerary of all architecture. After all, almost all architecture in ancient Egypt had something to do with death and the afterlife.

American cemeteries have often had a schizophrenic attitude toward Egyptian Revival architecture because of its pagan roots. However, in the New York City area with its diverse population, there doesn’t seem to be any particular aversion to the Egyptian Revival Style.

Almost every Egyptian Revival tomb is adorned with a pair of vulture wings sprouting from a circle (symbolizing the sun) and flanked by twin cobras (symbolizing death). Often a pair of male sphinxes (female sphinxes are Greek) guards the entry to the tomb. Above the entry to the tomb, and usually circling the entire tomb, is an architectural element called a ‘cavetto cornice’ (flared with curve). Other hallmarks of Egyptian Revival architecture are the tapered (battered) entry and hieroglyphics. Since Egyptian architecture doesn’t make use of the strength of arches or tapering columns, its dimensions are quite massive and provide strength, the walls of the Egyptian temple-style mausoleums taper in about 70 degrees.

To soften the pagan demeanor, designers of Egyptian Revival tombs often add selected Christian symbols and statues in front of or on the tomb as ell as religious-themed stained glass windows.

The Landon tomb has many of the elements mentioned above: vulture wings, sun disk and cobras; pair of male sphinxes; massive construction; tapered walls. (Note: some of these are not visible in the above picture.).

The cemetery has lots of other Egyptian-style architecture including pyramids and obelisks.

Taken with a Sony NEX 5N and Sigma 30mm f2.8

The most prominent grave markers (i.e. the two directly in front of the cross) are for James Irving Raymond and his wife Grace Clark Adams.

According to America’s Successful Men of Affairs: The city of New York, edited by Henry Hall, page 533.

James Irving Raymond, head of the importing house of A.A. Vantine & Co., was born in Bedford, Westchester county, N.Y. August 23, 1843. His father was Edward Raymond, a prosperous farmer. The boy attended the public schools and academy of his native town and spent his time, not needed for study, in the work of the farm. In 1864, he came to New York city to enter commercial life, equipped with a good education and a determination to merit success. His first and only engagement was with the house of A.A. Vantine & Co. Here, he applied himself earnestly, studying the details of the extended business of the firm and evincing a rectitude and capability, which soon brought promotion. In a 1875 he became a partner. After the death of Mr. Vantine, founder of the business, Mr. Raymond purchased the entire interest. He is now the sole owner of an unequaled establishment. The house has been and is today the greatest of the kind in the United States, making a specialty of the finest rugs and other goods of China, Japan, Turkey, India and other Oriental countries. A retail and wholesale business is done, extending to every section of the country and requiring representatives in nearly all the markets of Europe and Asia. While Mr. Raymond is personally of modest and retiring temperament, the fame of his business is world wide and the reputation of the house for solidity and exact business methods is enviable. In 1875, Mr. Raymond married Grace, daughter of Col. John Quincy Adams of Brooklyn, the union resulting in one son, Irving Edward Raymond, now eighteen years of age and preparing for a collegiate course. Mr. Raymond is a member of the Presbyterian church and lives in Stamford, Conn., in a home which exemplifies all which is artistic and tasteful. He is a member of the Union League club and the Stock Exchange, and a director of the New York Real Estate Trust Co.

Curiously, Vantines was acquired in the 1920s by Arnold Rothstein, a gangster, as a front for his drug dealings.

In the mid-1920s, Arnold Rothstein saw illegal drugs as an untapped field, one that could be developed and profited from. The drug traffic was unorganized and there was little competition on the level Rothstein chose to enter. In fact, the only competition at that time was provided by unethical doctors. Rothstein’s plan was to purchase and sell in quantities so large that no one could compete with him. He could regulate supply and demand on an international basis. In 1923, a kilo of heroin, 2.2 pounds, could be purchased for $2,000. It could then be cut and resold for $300,000.

Rothstein’s interest in narcotics was strictly for wholesaling. He would need a network to sell the drugs and the rum running and bootlegging market already in existence would serve as his pipeline. Lucky Luciano and Waxey Gordon were in place in New York City and New Jersey. The Torrio – Capone Empire was interested in Chicago. Charles “King” Soloman was ready in Boston, as well as Harry “Nig Rosen” Stromberg in Philadelphia. In addition, mobsters in Detroit, Kansas City and St. Louis showed an interest.

Among the buyers Rothstein decided to do business with was Jacob Katzenberg, who was already serving the New York mob as a liquor buyer in Europe.

When Katzenberg teamed up with Rothstein in 1926, they began purchasing from European sources. Rothstein purchased “Vantines,” a well-established importing house in New York City. The importing house had an excellent reputation and was known as a legitimate enterprise. When shipments arrived for them, customs officials gave their merchandise only a cursory search. Vantine’s would become a perfect front for the smuggling operation. Rothstein also owned several art galleries and antique shops that would also serve as fronts.

Source: Later in Vantine’s History.

James Irving Raymond must have been turning in his grave!

The cross itself bears an attractive floral decoration of passionflowers (symbolizing Christ’s Passion, Redemption and Crucifixion).

According to Doug Keister:

…the corona ends in thorns reminiscent of Christ’s crown of thorns, the white color of the flower reflects his innocence, the stamen and stigma represent the nails that were driven through his hands and feet, and the tendrils represent the whips.

Taken with a Sony NEX 5N and Sigma 30mm f2.8

A rather “exotic” tomb!

“This one-of-a-kind mausoleum is the resting place of prolific silent film director J.Gordon Edwards. Canadian-born Edwards was one of the most prominent movie directors in the silent film era. He began his career as a stage actor and director and then in 1914, he made his film debut as director of St. Elmo. Not long after his debut, he became a director at Fox Film Corporation (Fox merged with Twentieth-Century Pictures in 1935 to become Twentieth-Century Fox). From St. Elmo in 1914 until his last film, It is the Law, in 1924, Edwards directed over 50 films. He is best known for directing the original Cleopatra in 1917, The Queen of Sheba in 1921, which contained an enormous chariot race and for all of Theda Bara‘s films from 1916 to 1919 (including her most noted role in Cleopatra). Theda Bara said that Edwards was the kindest director she had ever worked with.

Edward’s wife, Angela, commissioned the mausoleum some years after Edwards death, and it is an homage to the exotic high-production period films Edwards directed. The twin minarets were originally wired for electricity. Inside the mausoleum are a number of movie props, including chairs and a tiger-skin rug. Often Angela would visit the mausoleum and read while seated in one of the chairs. When she died in 1965, she directed that she be cremated and her ashes be mingled with her husband’s. Their ashes are sealed in one of the crypts, which is inscribed with the last line (Canto XXXIII, line 145) of The Divine Comedy Part III Paradiso by Dante Alighieri: “L’amor che move il sole e l’altre stele” (“The Love which moves the sun and the other stars”). Gordon Edwards was the step grandfather of director Blake Edwards (July 26, 1922 – December 15, 2010). Stories in Stone. New York. A Field Guide in New York City Area Cemeteries and their residents. By Douglas Keister.”

Taken with a Sony NEX 5N and Sigma 30mm f2.8

Again according to Douglas Keister:

William Van Duzer Lawrence was born on a farm outside Elmira, New York. His parents, Robert D. Lawrence and Catherine Van Duzer Lawrence, both came from prominent Dutch-American families. At age 19, William went to work in the family’s pharmaceutical business and quickly rose through the ranks. He amassed a considerable fortune in both the pharmaceutical and real estate business. At the turn of the nineteenth century, he built a suburban housing development called Lawrence Park in Bronxville, New York. The development catered to the upper middle class, and because of its semirural setting, it was attractive to established painters, sculptors, and literary types. The artistic aura of the place must have rubbed off on Lawrence. In later life, he started making contributions to a variety of institutions. His most well known outpouring of wealth was in 1926 when he founded Sarah Lawrence College after the death of his wife, Sarah Lawrence (1846-1925). The centerpiece of his large plot at Kensico is a semicircular low neo-Gothic wall with a throne-like arch. The plot is peppered with the graves of members of the extended Lawrence family.

Taken with a Sony NEX 5N and Sigma 30mm f2.8

The Community Mausoleum was built in 1924 to offer above-ground burials – presumably for those who didn’t want or couldn’t afford their own above-ground mausoleums.

According to Rootsweb

This mausoleum was erected in 1924 to replace the original Receiving Tomb. Architect Sidney Lovell styled the building after twelfth-century gothic churches of northern Europe. At the time of its dedication in 1925, the building design was described as Tudor Gothic. The mausoleum was erected with permanence, as well as grandeur, in mind. The exterior is pink Etouah marble from Georgia. The interior is white marble from Alabama. Massive cast bronze doors mark the entrance to the mausoleum and private chapel area. In fact, all the doors, windows and gates in the mausoleum are made of or framed in bronze. The community mausoleum houses a small chapel, 292 crypts, 68 niches and two private rooms.

Taken with a Fujifilm X-E3 and Sigma 18-50 f2.8