Townsend Mausoleum - Mount Mora Cemetery - St. Joseph, Mo.
Posted by: 
iconions
N 39° 46.516 W 094° 50.558
15S E 342193 N 4404438
This mausoleum is at the top of Mausoleum Row in the historic Mount Mora Cemetery - 824 Mt. Mora Rd.
Waymark Code: WMJVBG
Location: Missouri, United States
Date Posted: 01/02/2014
Views: 2
From the National Register application:
(
visit link)
"1933-34; Architect/Builder: Eckel & Aldrich; 1 contributing building
The Townsend mausoleum makes an extraordinary appearance at the head of Mausoleum Row. The mausoleum is in Egyptian Revival style, but with the obvious influence of the modern Art Deco period (during which it was built) and lacking the heavy-handed ostentatious decoration found on the earlier Victorian mausoleums.
The designer made full use of the advantages of the site, slightly raised from the street and sandwiched between two roadways: to the left, winding through the cemetery and to the right, leading shortly to what was once the opening of the cooling chamber for the cemetery. Even the stone curbing of smooth dressed gray granite sweeping to either side of the site was made a part of the carefully planned approach to the structure. A broad set of shallow stone steps leads up to the entry of the mausoleum and is flanked, at the curb, with stone pedestals. Large stone urns, each with a stylized palm-leaf pattern carved on the curving outer surface, rest on the pedestals. On flanking pedestals at the steps leading to the entry, finely carved sphinxes face inward, protecting the inhabitants within the tomb.
The structure is rectangular, with the battered or outward flaring shape (common to the style) that was meant to suggest the pylons flanking the prominent temple at Karnak, Egypt. The massive facing stones are smooth dressed with a narrow base set on a double-plinth, rising to a cavetto cornice decorated with a raised palmetto motif. A stylized molding, Egyptian with Art Deco simplicity, articulates each corner of the structure vertically, then becomes continuous as a horizontal band beneath the cornice on all faces. Centered in the cavetto cornice at the front facade is a solar disc, flanked by serpents and spread wings - the symbol of eternal life in ancient Egypt.
The entry is recessed with the entablature supported by two free standing columns, each with simple lotiform carving at the base and flaring capitals with a stylized lotus bud pattern in raised carving. The face of the doorjamb is highly decorative with raised carving of tall lotus stalks and stylized flower buds. The architrave is incised with a stylized rectangular panel in which is found the large but simply carved name "TOWNSEND". Paired bronze entry doors have simple Art Deco molding detail with Egyptian overtones.
The interior is not accessible at the present time."