86 
PARK AND CEMETERY 
TC.MBS ABOVE UNDERGROUND VAULTS IN WEST LAUREL HILL CEMETERY, PHILADELPHIA. 
Underground Vaults 
Economy of space in connection with cemetery in- 
terments is not usually suggested by cemetery corpora- 
tions to lot owners or purchasers, but in Philadelphia 
especially, and perhaps in some other eastern cities, 
burials are encouraged in brick graves, grave vaults 
and in larger underground vaults. The importance of 
economizing space is being realized in the cemeteries 
adjacent to or within the boundaries of the larger east- 
ern cities, and the system of burial in underground 
vaults tends to secure this economy, because more 
bodies can be provided for on a given superficial area 
of lot than where the ordinary practice prevails. 
West Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, now makes 
quite a specialty of vault burial, and we are indebted to 
that corporation for the use of the illustrations here- 
with given. Single graves may be built of common or 
enameled brick, with floor of brick or stone, and cov- 
ered with either one slab or several, as may be desired. 
Such graves, in double form, may be constructed sep- 
arated by a partition wall or left open. Another form 
is that of the grave vault, which may be used in any 
lot instead of the ordinary grave. Here the walls of the 
HILLSIDE VAULT IN WEST LAUREL HILL 
CEMETERY. 
single grave are built up to the required height for 
the desired number of crypts, and provision made in 
the construction to support floor stones to separate the 
crypts. By continuing the walls up to the surface of 
the ground, a foundation is secured for a tomb or mon- 
ument. 
This method of grave vaults may be modified so as 
to accommodate itself to any suitable size of lot, and is 
well explained by reference to the diagram illustrating 
a group of grave vaults. Here it will be observed that 
variations either in width or depth are admissible. 
Within reason, of course, the dimensions of the lot 
alone govern the number of crypts on the horizontal 
plane. 
Underground vaults, commonly speaking, may also 
be built in any lot of sufficient dimensions, and are sub- 
jects of special design according to the number of crypt? 
desired or the shape of the lot in which it is to be con- 
structed. The illustration gives a good understanding 
as to form and arrangement. The shaft of the vault 
may be carried up to the surface of the ground and 
constructed so as to form a base for a monument, or its 
walls may be stopped below the ground level, and cov- 
ered by a stone, set sufficiently deep to be free from in- 
jury by frost, as well as to allow a sufficient depth of 
earth to properly support a healthy lawn. 
DIAGRAM OF UNDERGROUND VAULT WITH 
SIX CRYPTS AND TOMB 
