Burnes Mausoleum - Mount Mora Cemetery - St. Joseph, Mo. - Mausoleums on Waymarking.com

From the National Register application:
(visit link)

"1889; Architect/Builder: firm of Eckel & Mann (architects were Harvey Ellis and George Mann); 1 contributing building

The Burnes mausoleum is built in the Romanesque Revival style of high quality, light-colored limestone. The rectangular crypt is constructed of large rock-faced stone laid in regular courses. Three slabs of limestone form a gabled roof; the two long side slabs are slightly projected beyond the wall plane and are topped with a single slab cut in a triangular shape to complete the roof triangle. What differentiates the Burnes mausoleum from its neighbors is the unusual facade, rising above and beyond the mausoleum crypt masked behind it. The structure sweeps from the base to a parapet gable with a simple cavetto cornice of dressed limestone. At each end of the gable, a floreate bud projects from the cornice end. Wings flare sharply outward and downward, forming an extension of the parapet with large blocks of smooth finished limestone extending to the base course. At each side of the entry, the base is composed of two courses of bevel-faced dressed gray granite with a narrow band of rock-faced dressing. Except for these end blocks, the facade is constructed of the same rock-faced coursed limestone blocks used throughout the construction of the crypt.

Centered above the entry and within the triangular gable is a recessed, dressed rectangular stone on which "BURNES" is carved in raised florid letters. The entry below the name has the most prominent feature of the mausoleum - the Romanesque half-round archivolt with remarkably detailed carved voissours. The intrados, or inner edge, of the arch is smooth dressed with a rounded shape followed by a deeply incised band - all joined and following the curved shape of the arch. The stone is rock-faced with extrados of smooth dressed stone and a pronounced cavetto or round concave cornice. The arch base blocks are carved from a single massive stone and terminate the cavetto cornice with a flourished boss shape. Below the base block are narrow jamb blocks of smooth dressed stone.

Two low-rising blocks of stone form a stoop leading to the double-leafed bronze entry gate. The grillwork of the gate is relatively simple, with curving tendrils of bronze filling the curved shape of the arch - an almost Art Nouveau inspiration. Behind the grillwork are two massive doors of smooth and polished granite with interior balanced pintles on which the doors swing. The large bronze pulls are decoratively shaped with acanthus leaf patterns.

On the interior, there are crypts on three walls. The sidewalls are built to the inside of the structure and thus, the short ends of the crypts terminate within the interior leaving only enough room for the doors to swing inward. This shallow area is covered with white glazed brick masonry. The floor is composed of slabs of dressed limestone. Lying on the floor within the mausoleum is the Celtic cross that once adorned the apex of the parapet gable. The faces of the crypts and the coffered ceiling are made of beautifully veined marble."

History: see long description above... Visiting Hours/Restrictions: daylight hours Address: 824 Mt. Mora Rd. St. Joseph, Mo. USA 64501 Website: [Web Link]

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