Van Ness - Parsons Egyptian Revival Tomb

Egyptian Revival architecture was a popular style of memorialization during the mid 19th Century. This fashionable trend made a resurgence in the 1920’s presumably because of the 1922 discovery of King Tutankhamen's tomb.

Albert Ross Parsons (1847-1933), a composer, musician, author and pyramid expert published The New Light from the Pyramids in 1893. Fittingly, this Egyptologist is entombed along with a number of family members in this pyramid-shaped mausoleum which combines Christian religious statuary and Egyptian symbolism,

An archival shot of this Egyptian Revival mausoleum appears in my book Green-Wood Cemetery by Alexandra Kathryn Mosca. Published in 2008, by Arcadia Publishing as part of its Images of America Series, the book chronicles many of Green-Wood's notables through words and photos.

Mystery Solved...

The other day I did a post on pyramids and realized that I was missing some information as well as a decent picture of one of them. So it bothered me until today when I could get to Oakland for more information. Basically all I needed was a name. It turned out there were 2 names that I needed. Lewis Leonard Bradbury November 1823 - July 1892 and Simona Martinez Bradbury September 1845 - December 1902. Since UC Davis has an entire web exhibit (Click Here) dedicated to the Bradbury family I won't be doing a full bio on this family. Instead I'd like to talk a little about the Bradbury Building in Los Angeles which is named for Lewis Bradbury. (Photo Credit About.com)
Bradbury had a grand vision for this building and actually fired the first architect (Sumner Hunt) that he hired because he didn't see Bradbury's vision. He then proceeded to hire a man by the name of George Wyman who at first declined to do the work. It wasn't until Wyman had a talk with his dead brother Mark through the use of an Ouija board that he finally agreed. The original estimate for the building at the time was $175,000 and by the time it was finished Bradbury spent more than $500,000. Bradbury spared no expense during construction and in 1977 the city of Los Angeles deemed the Bradbury Building a historic landmark. Many movies and tv shows have been filmed in the Bradbury Building as well. It was prominently featured in the movie Blade Runner. Today the building is home to the Los Angeles Police Departments Internal Affairs among others. Tourists can visit but are limited to the first landing and not beyond. Sadly Lewis Bradbury died in 1892 before seeing the official opening of this building which was completed in 1893. (Credit photo of interior to Wiki)

Pyramids In Oakland?

When I first began my cemetery adventures I did a search of all the cemeteries in my area and decided to pick them off one by one little by little. I was immediately intrigued with Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, CA because I found that it had 3 families buried in pyramid type mausoleums. Well 2 of them are actual pyramids and one just sort of rests on top of the mausoleum itself.

William McKendree Gwin (October 9, 1805 – September 3, 1885)

Gwin was a doctor and one of California's first U.S. Senators. He moved to California in 1849 where he bought some land in Paloma, CA. Once there he established a gold mine which yielded millions of dollars. Gwin was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate serving from September 9, 1850, to March 3, 1855. I found a story that says Gwin had a duel with a Congressman named Joseph McCorkle over his mismanagement of federal patronage. Apparently neither was a good shot because although they both fired, only a donkey some distance away was shot dead.

Christian Otto Gerberding Miller (1865-1952) aka C.O.G. Miller

Originally built for his wife Einnim who died at the age of just 30 it now contains the remains of C.O.G Miller, his wife Einnim, his mother and father and a few other relatives. Einnim and C.O.G. were married for seven years and she bore him two daughters. A short two years later he married Janet McAlpine Watt who bore him two sons. Miller made his fortune in the Pacific Lighting Corporation which was cofounded by Walter B. Cline.

Bradbury Mausoleum

Sadly I can find no information on who is exactly buried here nor did I get a good picture of the top which actually has the pyramid. I even went as far as to call the cemetery to see if they could provide me information but since everything is stored in books and not on computer I'll have to make a trip down there soon to see what I can dig up. I did however get a picture of the angel which stands guard at the door. Maybe somebody reading this knows some more about the person or people buried within and can provide me a clue to go on. If you would like to see a better picture you can do so by clicking here.

As I seem to be uncovering more and more interesting things about these people in pyramids, I will be doing a more in depth biography in the near future. I can only speculate as to why they chose to be buried in pyramids. When I see them I immediately think Freemasons. But who knows? I could be way off. The Gwin pyramid is magnificent. I estimate it to be about 25 feet high by about 25 feet wide. Maybe more though, I didn't have a tape measure with me at the time. Each pyramid has 13 tiers which could represent any number of things. I think I could go on all day with speculation. Hopefully I can finds some actual facts pretty soon.