Green-Wood Cemetery-Greenwood, Brooklyn New York
Greenwood Cemetery was one of the first rural cemeteries in America and is the finest American landscape in the English picturesque garden tradition designed prior to the urban parks of Frederick Law Olmsted. With its great variety of landscape features and treasure of architectural and sculptural monuments, Greenwood was a popular site for weekend outings in the 19th century and its popularity as a rural retreat was used by Andrew Jackson-Downing as an argument for the formation of public parks and gardens in American cities.
The early years of the 19th century saw a great increase in the population of American cities, but there was not a corresponding increase in services to care for the health and welfare of the urban populace. In the past, church burial grounds had been adequate to care for the dead, but these churchyards were now taxed beyond their capacities and the dead were often piled into charnel houses and into older graves which were often unceremoniously dug up to receive newer interments. This shortage of space was aggravated by the fact that churchyards were often sold as development pressures forced many congregations to move to newer residential neighborhoods. These factors led to the development of cemeteries in rural areas surrounding the big cities.
France and Great Britain pioneered in the founding of large rural cemeteries. Pere la Chaise in Paris was the model that was drawn upon when the British began designing rural cemeteries such as Liverpool Cemetery, founded in 1825, and Kensal Green Cemetery, London, of 1830. The design for Kensal Green, called a "Proposed Picturesque Arrangement of Cemetery Ground," included circular and winding avenues, water gates, a Gothic chapel, clumps of trees, and other picturesque devices.
The first rural cemetery in America was Mt. Auburn in Cambridge, Massachusettes, consecrated in 1831. This was followed within the decade by Laurel Hill in Philadelphia and Greenwood in Brooklyn. These are the three prototypic rural cemeteries in America, and the ideas established at these cemeteries were copied throughout the country. Greenwood was the largest of the rural cemeteries in America, and was generally regarded as having the most beautiful and sophisticated siting and landscaping, the other cemeteries being less varied in their use of landscape forms.
David Bates Douglass (1790-1849) was responsible for the general layout of Greenwood. Douglass was typical of many nineteenth-century men who were talented in many fields of endeavor. Most of his earlier work dealt with engineering and surveying. He taught at West Point and was part of a team that determined the United States/Canadian boundary. He did engineering work for railroads and canals and taught architecture and engineering at New York University, where he aided in the design of the school's early Washington Square campus. Most important was his engineering work on the Croton water system and his design for the High Bridge over the Harlem River. Douglass seems to have had little landscape experience prior to his work at Greenwood and was hired because of his familiarity with the terrain around New York City, but the results of his work are exceptional.
Greenwood was laid out according to the precepts of the English picturesque garden, tradition making use of natural terrain, but altering it when necessary to provide for a desired effect. Greenwood was designed with a variety of planned features including serpentine paths, lawns, forests, hills, valleys, and lakes. Scenic views from the cemetery took full advantage of nearby New York City and its harbor. When the natural forms were inadequate for the effect desired, alterations were made, and where areas were too wild because of their natural growth, they were trimmed and tamed so as to add to the general picturesque plan.
The landscape effects were extremely successful and are particularly evident today since the trees have grown to maturity. The cemetery was not immediately successful, since rural burial was an idea that was foreign to urban residents who were used to local church graveyards. By the mid-1840s, however, Greenwood had become popular not only for burial, but for family outings as well. As cities and suburbs expanded into once rural areas, urban dwellers became divorced from nature and the cemeteries were seen as an appropriate place to regain a connection with the outdoors. This was particularly appropriate for a religious age since a walk through a cemetery could be directly linked to a communion with God. Tens of thousands of people visited Greenwood each year and special ferries and carriages brought visitors to the cemetery gates.
The popularity of cemeteries for recreation is directly linked to the development of urban parks in this country. Andrew Jackson Downing, one of the greatest advocates of city parks, wrote in his magazine Horticulturist that:
Thus cemeteries were America's first parks and Greenwood, as the finest of these cemeteries, was an important influence on Downing, Olmsted, and others who were instrumental in the design of America's nineteenth-century urban parks.
The landscape was not the only important element of Greenwood. Richard Upjohn and his son, Richard M. Upjohn, planned the earliest buildings for the cemetery. R.M. Upjohn designed the finest building at Greenwood, the main gates, in an exuberant Gothic Revival style. Also noted are the tomb and sculptural monuments erected in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries for New York and Brooklyn's wealthiest citizens. Greenwood is the final resting place of many of the nineteenth century's most illustrious persons. The list of those buried here includes Samuel F. B. Morse, DeWitt Clinton, Richard Upjohn, James Renwick, Asher B. Durand, Eastman Johnson, George Catlin, Louis Comfort Tiffany, Nathaniel Currier, James Ives, Peter Cooper, Lola Montez, "Boss" Tweed, Henry Ward Beecher, Seth Low, and Pierre Lorillard.
The cemetery retains the form of its nineteenth-century landscaping and it is a monument to the development of the picturesque in America. It contains a wealth of architecture, sculpture, and stained glass designed by prominent as well as anonymous artisans. It remains as one of the most beautiful urban open spaces in America.
Site Description
Greenwood Cemetery is a 478-acre landscaped site located in the heart of Brooklyn. Planned in the 1830s as a rural retreat, the cemetery consists of a great variety of landscape features arranged in a picturesque manner. In addition to the splendid planned landscaping, the cemetery contains some of the finest mortuary sculptures and architecture in America, with monuments designed by major figures of the period.
The most notable structure at Greenwood is the extraordinary Gothic Revival gate designed by Richard Upjohn & Son and built between 1861 and 1865.
The original 178 acres of Greenwood were laid out and designed by landscape architect David Bates Douglass (1790-1849) in keeping with the picturesque landscape theory that called for variety in the use of natural features. Great contrast is found in the landscape forms: used within the limited space of the cemetery. These include forests, open green lawns, lakes, hills, valleys, dells, etc. A 19th-century guide to Greenwood described the variety of landscape effects seen by the visitor:
Accentuating the picturesque effects of the landscaping are the names given to these areas. These names add to the naturalistic feel of the cemetery and are not reminiscent of death and mourning. Typical names for landscaped elements are Vista Hill, Halcyon Lake, Camellia Path, Sylvan Cliff, And Oaken Bluff. Most of Douglass's layout is intact and much of the original planting has reached its maturity and gives added grandeur to the cemetery. The original circulation system with its curving roads still exists, although the main roads have been paved. Many of the ornate cast-iron signs denoting the street and path names also remain in Place, as does the large cast-iron fence that surrounds the entire cemetery. The original land purchase was supplemented soon after the initial purchase and about 300 acres were added between c. 1840 and the turn of the century. The largest additions were to the south of the original plot, but smaller areas were added in other directions as well. As new plots were purchased they were laid out and landscaped in a manner compatible with the original. The area to the north, near Fort Hamilton Avenue, which was the last major area to be landscaped, is flatter and less varied in its features.
The tombs, monuments, and mausoleums of Greenwood were designed in many forms and styles. Classical, Egyptian, Gothic, and Romanesque mausoleums are freely juxtaposed and these varied structures relate: to their sites in much the same way that garden pavilions and follies related to 18th-century English picturesque gardens. Some of the mausoleums can be attributed to prominent architects including Richard Upjohn, James Renwick, Minard Lafever, Griffith Thomas, William Potter, and Warren & Wetmore. The last firm designed the large mortuary chapel near the main entrance gates in 1911. Besides the mausoleums, the cemetery has many tombs adorned with sculptures, some designed by notable contemporary artists such as Henry Kirke Brown, who designed the DeWitt Clinton tomb.
The important tombs and monuments at Greenwood are divided into four categories:
1. General monuments that commemorate a specific event or profession.
2. Monuments of architectural importance. Many monuments and mausoleums were probably designed by architects, but few have been identified.
3. Monuments marking the graves of people of importance. These vary from extremely simple stones like that marking the grave of Samuel Morse, to much grander tombs like that for the Steinway's.
4. Monuments of sculptural interest.
Firemen's Monument--a tall pier topped by a sculpture of a fireman.
Soldier's Monument--located atop Battle Hill with a spectacular view of the harbor. This is a column with four bronze figures at the base.
Pierrepont Monument--Gothic Revival brownstone monument designed by Richard Upjohn.
Potter Monument--High Victorian pier designed by William or Edward Potter for their family.
DeWitt Clinton Monument--stone base with famous statue of Clinton done by Henry Kirke Brown.
Charlotte Canda Monument--Gothic memorial supposedly designed by Charlotte for an aunt or grandmother who died just before her tragic death at age 17. The poor child's tomb was a major pilgrimage spot for the Victorians.
Steinway Mausoleum--very grand Classical structure.
Samuel F.B. Morse--extremely simple slab.
Horace Greelt Tomb--sculpted bust.
Abiel Low Tomb--monument to important and very wealthy Brooklyn businessman and philanthropist.
Matthews Monument--Fine Gothic Revival tomb with Matthews laid out like a medieval king.
Boss Tweed Tomb.
Lola Montez Tomb--very simple.
Henry Ward Beecher Monument--simple stone slab.
Currier and Ives--buried separately with simple stone slabs.
William Niblo Mausoleum--Grand Gothic mausoleum for owner of Niblo's Garden Tomb guarded by lions.
Lispenard Mausoleum--Norman structure designed in 1889 by Renwick, Aspinwall & Russell.
When the cemetery was laid out, architect Richard Upjohn was commissioned to design related buildings such as gates, cottages, and shelters. Most of these were wooden buildings designed in a number of picturesque styles including the Gothic Revival, Italian Villa, and Swiss Chalet modes. All of these wooden buildings, with the exception of an octagonal ladies' rain shelter, are gone, but the finest architectural ornament of Greenwood, the 1861 main gates and office, are extant. Richard Upjohn's son, R.M. Upjohn, is credited with the design of this extraordinary Gothic Revival monument which reflects the transition between the earlier Gothic Revival and the more angular and eccentric Victorian Gothic of the 1860s and 1870s.
The gates represent an ingenious linking together and piling up of architectural elements to create an impressive entrance to the cemetery. Here are combined two principal gates flanking a central Gothic clock tower. On either side of this central feature, and connected directly to it, are the cemetery offices on one side and a chapel and reception room for visitors on the other. The low slate roofs of the flanking buildings provide a picturesque profile leading up to the towering central motif, the gates.
Immediately above the gate portals, in the deeply recessed tympanum of the pointed arches, are handsome bas reliefs. Open-work gables surmount the arches, while the central clock and bell tower rises 106 feet to a pinnacle. The tower is flanked by shorter, pinnacled towers that are connected to the central form by flying buttresses. These gates retain all of their original splendor and are a fitting entrance to the cemetery, one of the greatest picturesque landscapes in America.
Main Gate (1980)
Chapel (1980)
General View (1980)
General View Looking Towards Manhattan Skyline (1980)
General View (1980)
Dale Water, view north (1980)
Gates, view from west 1982 (1980)
Twilight Dell 1982 (1980)
Street Sign, Leafy Path 1982 (1980)
Lawn Girt Hill 1982 (1980)
Battle Hill 1982 (1980)
Chestnut Hill 1982 (1980)
DeWitt Clinton Monument 1982 (1980)
Potter Tomb 1982 (1980)
