PARK AND CEMETERY. 
58 
CALVARY CEMETERY, BROOKLYN, and its NEW CHAPEL 
The largest of the many cemeteries 
of Brooklyn,’ N. Y., in point of area is 
Greenwood, as was noted in our last 
issue, but Calvary, the leading Cath- 
olic Cemetery of Greater New York, 
has the largest number of interments. 
It was opened in 1848, belongs to the 
Diocese of New York, and is man- 
aged by the Calvary Cemetery Asso- 
ciation, with offices at 24 E. 52d St., 
Manhattan. 
Calvary is nearly two miles from 
New York City, and contains 300 
acres. The grounds are systemati- 
cally laid out in plots, with numbered 
sections. One division of it is known 
as the “Old Calvary,” and the other 
as “New Calvary.” This cemetery 
contains about 760,000 bodies, and the 
interments average about 18,000 a 
year. Within its limits there is a 
space laid off and called “Free 
Ground,” in which the deserving poor 
of the diocese are buried, upon the 
recommendation of the Catholic 
clergymen. According to the rules 
governing this cemetery the use of 
wire or wood for the inclosure of 
plots is prohibited. For the founda- 
tions of monuments it is required 
that solid masonry be laid, sixteen 
inches thick and sunk to a depth of 
nine feet. 
The handsome new mortuary chap- 
el recently dedicated in Cavalry cost 
$180,000, and is said to be the only 
one of the kind in the United States. 
It has many novel features of con- 
struction and architecture, one of the 
most interesting, perhaps, being the 
design of the crypts along the lines 
of the catacombs of Rome. Here will 
rest the priests of the archdiocese of 
New York, under the charge of which 
the cemetery is maintained. 
It was in 1905 that the construction 
of the chapel began, and in 1908 it 
was completed. 
The design was the work of Ray- 
mond F. Almirall of Brooklyn, and 
the contract was given to the P. J. 
Carlin Construction Company of 
Brooklyn. Approximately, the build- 
ing cost $130,000, and the sculpture 
and furnishings another $50,000. 
In preparing the design of the 
chapel. Architect Almirall made a 
careful study of the Italian churches 
and the mortuary chapels in connec- 
tion therewith. The architecture is 
Romanesque, but modernized by the 
use of reinforced concrete. The cata- 
combs are directly inspired by the 
famous catacombs of Rome from 
which they were studied. 
The exterior is of rubble masonry 
walls with Indiana limestone facing. 
From the ground to the base of the 
statue that surmounts the dome is 
about 80 feet. The statue, that of 
“Christ Blessing the World,” is 10 
feet high, weighs three and one-half 
tons, and is carved from a single 
block of limestone, in strong rugged 
lines suitable to good effects from 
the distant view from below. 
From Architect Almirall’s point of 
view the unusual feature of the chap- 
el is not the catacombs, but the 
method of construction of the dome. 
The dome is 40 feet across and the 
height from the floor to the lantern 
is 38 feet. Above that point the 
dome stretches 50 feet, and its weight 
is 360 tons. The dome and the 
groined vault it rests upon are of re- 
inforced concrete construction. The 
vault has eight penetrations, four 
large and four small, and the lining 
of golden yellow brick, as well as the 
pink Minnesota sandstone trimmings, 
is held in place simply by adhesion to 
the concrete. In order to build this 
dome it was necessary to build a 
falsework with all the accuracy of a 
mold, so that the brick could be laid 
against the forms and the concrete 
with its steel reinforcement poured 
into the molds. When the concrete 
had set the falsework was removed. 
Besides being an interesting feat in 
construction this great dome makes 
an imposing architectural crown to 
the structure. 
The building is fireproof, the roof 
of tiling, the floors of cement. At 
present but one section of the cata- 
combs has been completed with ac- 
commodations for twenty-four bodies 
in the concrete niches. But the crypt 
can be extended under ground in four 
directions, and at any time an addi- 
tion can be made for seventy-two 
more bodies. For a cryptal burial 
there is a lift set in the floor of the 
chapel so that a body can be placed 
thereon and lowered, as in an eleva- 
tor, to the crypt floor. 
The record of burials at Calvary in- 
dicates that the mortuary chapel will 
he in almost constant use, at least in 
the afternoons, for that is when most 
of the funeral corteges reach the 
cemetery. There is an average of 
seventy burials a day, and on some 
days the number reaches above 100 
and even as high as 120. Conse- 
quently the edifice is so designed that 
the mourners can depart with the re- 
mains to the burial plot without in- 
terfering with the next cortege wait- 
ing in front of the chapel. Miles 
Tierney, President of the Hudson 
Trust Co., was chairman of the com- 
mittee in charge of the construction. 
The superintendent at the city offices 
of the cemetery is Thomas Mc- 
Mahon, and James J. Cunningham is 
superintendent at the cemetery. 
NEW CHAPEL OP CALVARY CEMETERY. LONG ISLAND CITY. N. Y. 
