Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-04-04
TIE STANFORD HAUSOLEUM.
The Magnificent Tomb to be Built al
Palo Alto.
TSt Iouis Penuh1ioa,,

Isl. Louis Republican,
WASHINGTON, March 17th.-The architect
who planned the magnificent mausoleum
of Senator Stanford at San Francisco was
in Washington last week. He says that it
will be the most elaborate repository for
the dead ever built in this country. The
beautiful mausoleum of Jay Gould at
Woodlawn, and the magnificent tomb of
the Vanderbilts at Huguenots, Staten
Island, will be eclipsed by this work of
monumental art
In style of architecture the simple but
effective methods of the ancient Egyptians
will be followed. Massive, imperishable
granite of light shade of gray, with an in
terror lining of the finest Italian marble.
will be employed. The item of expense
has not been considered, the designers be-
| ing given carte blanche as to cost, and di-
rected to secure the hest OF material and
workmanship to be had. The total outlay
necessary to complete the tomb and pre-
pare the surroundings with reach $1OO. 600,
and may considerably exceed that amount.
The item of transportation alone will be a
large one, as the granite will be shipped
from Vermont and the marble from Italy.
The site selected is a beautiful four-acre
plot in the Senator's grounds Just outside
of San Francisco. 1t already contains hand
some shrubbery, and occupies an altitude
commanding magnificent view of the bay
A driveway sixty feet wide will be made,
circling around slight elevation, on the
brow on which will be the tomb. The art
of the landscape gardener will be EMPLOYED
to beautify the approaches and render even
more effective the vistas of the park.
The structure will be in the form of
temple and will be twenty-five feet square,
There will be double row of massive
granite columns supporting the roof of the
pcrtico at the front. On each side of the
entrance will be majestic sphinx carved
from single block of granite Heavy
bronze gates close the entrance, and within
are solid doors of polished granite. The
roof and sides are also of granite and are
to be built in the most substantial man.
ner. The stone employed is the Barre
granite, from Barre, Vermont. 1t has a
slight, bluish-gray tint, which shows deli
cate carving to advantage and retains Its
color without change. Each block was
cut the requisite shape at the quarry and
marked to designate its position. They
were then boxed, to prevent injury,
and shipped to San Francisco. Ali the
main portions of the structure have been
sent on, and work on excavations for the
tomb has been commenced.
The carving of sphinxes and the more
been done in this city under the direction
of Caterson & Clark, the designers of the
tomb. The two majestic sphinxes are ad-
mirably done, and as worthy guardians of
the ashes of an American money king as
their prototypes were of the remains of the
ancient Ptolemies.
The interior of the mausoleum will be
done in white marble. The ceiling will be
single arch of marble with span of
twenty-five feet. There will be no crypts
or vaults, and provisions will be made for
the remains of only three persons-those
OF the Senator and Mrs. Stanford and the
son. These will occupy sarcophagi placed
on the three sides of the chamber. The
body of her son, over which DIR. Talmage
preached the funeral Grafton nearly two
years ago, is now in a receiving vault in
San Francisco awaiting tie completion of
the tomb. The sarcophagi are being made
in Italy; each one will be hewn from a
single block of the purest white marble.
The lid will be made of a separate piece.
and the exterior ornamented with the most
exquisite carving. The casket containing
the bodies will be inclosed in leaden cas-
ing before being placed in the sarcophagus.
Each receptacle will contain an appropriate
inscription, and the name Stanford will
appear over the entrance.
Inc mausoleum VIII be completed dur
ing the coming summer, and, when COM
pleted, will be fitting abode for the re-
mains of one of the most successful men of
the day; railroad magnate, millionaire
and a philanthropist, who is building
university that will cost between SIS, ,00O,-
oOO and S20,0O0,O 600; a man who lives mag
ni1cently, with wealth and friends and
everything that makes life worth living.
yet who has had the great sorrow of losing
his son, his only child, and when he and
his wife are called to another world and
their remains occupy their stately tomb the
family history will end