Community Mausoleum

Over several decades, Crown Hill’s grounds expanded to include acreage north of 38th Street. In 1911, the acquisition of 40 acres completed the 555-acre grounds we know today. As the north side grounds were developed, it was decided that a community mausoleum would be built. Since the 1910s, when the patent was filed for the system which allowed for the interment of a large number of individuals into one structure, cemeteries across the country were building community mausoleums to entomb individuals.

Community mausoleums are an ideal space for families for whom the expense of a private facility would be prohibitive, but did not want in-ground interment. In the late 1940s, Crown Hill Corporators went back to the architectural firm of D.A. Bolen and Son, which had been involved in many buildings on the property like the Waiting Station and Service Yard, to design a community-wide resource. Built on the cemetery’s North Grounds and dedicated in 1951, the Crown Hill Mausoleum took two-and-a-half years to complete. Made of Bedford limestone on the exterior and a marble-lined interior, it was constructed of various types of domestic and imported stone. It’s an Art Deco design, with doors, handrails, and decor emblematic of this architectural style.

The mausoleum was constructed in two phases. Today we call them the Main Building and the North Building. The North Building, featured on the original 1948 plan, was built 10 years after the Main Building. The Community Mausoleum includes crypts from side-by-side or end-to-end interment of caskets, as well as columbarium niches to enshrine cremation urns. The Peace Chapel, which hosts funeral and memorial services, features the stained glass artistry of the Eli Lilly Family Memorial Window, while stained glass panels on the upper floor of the North Building were memorial gifts to Crown Hill Cemetery.