County of tomb: St. Louis Independent City
Location of tomb: Birch & Prospect; Inside Bellefontaine Cemetery, W. Florissant Rd., St. Louis
Erected: 1892
Architect: Louis Sullivan
Architectural Style: Chicago School
"The Wainwright Memorial in Bellefontaine Cemetery, St. Louis,
Missouri, was constructed in 1892. The Memorial is essentially a
cubic structure with a hemispherical dome. The design was produced
by Louis Sullivan of the Chicago architectural firm, Adler and
Sullivan. The basic construction material consists of concrete,
covered on the exterior with limestone slabs and on the interior
with marble and mosaic.
"The upright walls of the cubic main block are stepped in from the
foundation with a course of convex molded stone forming the transition between the outer dimension of the foundation and the plane
of the upright wall. A water table surrounds the southeast and
northwest sidewalls, and the southwest rear wall of the structure.
"The main facade (northeast) of the tomb has two lateral rectangular
extensions, at its north and east corners, which form seats facing
each other. There are three steps leading up to the entrance platform and a centrally located double-leafed bronze grill door. The
upper half of the facade and door are bordered with Louis Sullivan's
rich and inventive carved ornamentation. The two sides of the tomb,
(northwest and southeast) have centrally located windows covered
with ornate bronze grills. Carved decoration borders the upper half
of these facades as well as the windows. The rear facade (southwest)
is decorated solely by the carved border. The carved ornament, which
is derived from botanical forms, was designed so that each side of
the building has a unique pattern not repeated on the other sides.
"The roof of the cubic main block has three circular stepped bands
which form a base for the dome.
"The interior mosaic floor has two centrally placed marble burial
slabs. Above them the dome ceiling, is covered with a deep blue
mosaic. A gold star is in the center at the apex of the dome. The
interior walls are lined on three sides by marble seats. The interior
double doors, behind the bronze grill, are also of ornate design in
cast bronze.
"The tomb is presently in excellent structural condition. The ornament, however, is slowly weathering due to the physical nature of
limestone and its interaction with the climatic environment." ~ NRHP Nomination Form
" ... There are the intricate mosaics on every surface, surely offering chills for the Sullivan acolyte who’s never seen his geometric designs rendered in tile. Looking up, you see the interior of the dome, where some very un-Sullivan-esque angels inspired by the work of Raphael float in an underwhelming sea of dun-colored mosaic.
"The mosaics are like all of Sullivan’s work—either his yen for hyper-detailed ornament floats your boat or it doesn’t. For my money, the exterior, with a sphere half-melted onto a cube, is more intriguing." ~ St. Louis Magazine, by Byron Kerman, June 30, 2011