Riverside Cemetery Gatehouse is a historic office building located in Riverside Cemetery at 3607 Pearl Road in Cleveland, Ohio. It was completed in 1897, and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987. A significant interior renovation occurred about 1991 to 1992.

Constructing the gatehouse

The Riverside Cemetery Association was formed on November 15, 1875. Riverside Cemetery opened on July 8, 1876, on a bluff overlooking the west bank of the

Cuyahoga River The Cuyahoga River ( , or ) is a river located in Northeast Ohio that bisects the City of Cleveland and feeds into Lake Erie. As Cleveland emerged as a major manufacturing center, the river became heavily affected by industrial pollution, so mu ...

in the unincorporated village of

Brooklyn Centre Brooklyn Centre is a neighborhood on the West Side of Cleveland, Ohio. It borders Old Brooklyn to the south, Stockyards, Clark–Fulton, and Tremont to the north, and the Cuyahoga Valley and the suburb of Cuyahoga Heights to the east. Histo ...

(now a neighborhood which is part of Cleveland, but then an independent settlement). It was a garden-style cemetery, and at the time of its dedication the largest cemetery on Cleveland's west side. As the cemetery was being laid out in 1875, the cemetery association constructed a wooden office building in the southwest corner of the property near the corner of Pearl Road and Willowdale Avenue. But as the cemetery grew, this structure proved too small for administrative needs. The cemetery's trustees approved construction of a new building at their annual meeting on December 9, 1895. Noted local architect Charles W. Hopkinson was hired to develop the plans for the new building. The date on which Hopkinson was hired is not known, but he submitted plans to the cemetery trustees probably in April 1896. The trustees approved his plans on May 4. Hopkinson recommended that the building be constructed of granite. But granite was expensive, and the trustees asked the architect to re-estimate the cost using red

brownstone Brownstone is a brown Triassic–Jurassic sandstone that was historically a popular building material. The term is also used in the United States and Canada to refer to a townhouse clad in this or any other aesthetically similar material. Type ...

(a building material popular at the time) instead. The difference was significant, and the trustees chose brownstone. Construction contracts were let on June 30, 1896, and construction began on July 9, 1896. The architectural style of the building has been variously described as " French château",

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

, and Romanesque Revival. One source called it a combination of Gothic Revival and Romanesque Revival. The structure consists of a steel beam frame with red-colored brownstone walls. The stone was quarried near

Longmeadow, Massachusetts Longmeadow is a town in Hampden County, Massachusetts, in the United States. The population was 15,853 at the 2020 census. History Longmeadow was first settled in 1644, and officially incorporated October 17, 1783. The town was originally farm ...

, and mortared with Portland cement. The base of the veranda which wraps around the building is poured-in-place cement. The building features a

turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope * Mi ...

on the southwest corner that reaches beyond the roof,

dormer A dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond the plane of a pitched roof. A dormer window (also called ''dormer'') is a form of roof window. Dormers are commonly used to increase the usable space ...

windows on the second floor, and buttresses on all sides. Construction was largely complete by the end of 1896, although interior work continued into early 1897. The final cost of the building was variously reported as $18,000 ($ in dollars), $19,000 ($ in dollars), and $20,000 ($ in dollars).

About the building

First floor plan - Riverside Cemetery Gatehouse

The Riverside Cemetery Gatehouse has two above-ground stories and a basement. As originally constructed, the first floor contained a reception room, office, fireproof vault, and a women's bathroom. The floors on the first floor reception room and women's bathroom were covered with mosaic tile. The reception room was the largest space on the first floor. It was roughly in size, with an arched, coffered, Tudor-style, high oak ceiling. The walls of the reception room were lined with thick enameled brick in a warm yellow color. The reception room also featured a gas-fired fireplace with a wide mantel, and an "art window" made of 2,955 pieces of clear and

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

. The office measured . Its walls were tinted plaster, it had a ceiling panelled in oak, and it had oak flooring. A narrow, winding staircase led to the second floor. Two meeting rooms existed on the second floor for the use of the trustees. With the exception of the first floor reception room and office, each of the rooms on the first and second floor were

panelled Panelling (or paneling in the U.S.) is a millwork wall covering constructed from rigid or semi-rigid components. These are traditionally interlocking wood, but could be plastic or other materials. Panelling was developed in antiquity to make roo ...

with quarter-sawn oak. Chandeliers of Flemish brass lit the reception room, office, and both second floor rooms. The basement consisted of closets and storage space, and contained a furnace room. A wide veranda with a coffered roof supported by arches wrapped around the building on its north, west, and south sides. The roof was made of red Spanish-made terracotta tile, with copper flashing. A

jutted above the second floor.

History of the building

The building was originally lit by natural gas, but this was converted to electricity in the early 20th century. At some point, the ladies' bathroom was divided, so that a men's bathroom could be added. Shortly prior to 1992, the gatehouse underwent a significant renovation. The ceiling in the office was covered by a

dropped ceiling A dropped ceiling is a secondary ceiling, hung below the main (structural) ceiling. It may also be referred to as a drop ceiling, T-bar ceiling, false ceiling, suspended ceiling, grid ceiling, drop in ceiling, drop out ceiling, or ceiling til ...

of sound-dampening tiles, and the north and east entrances to the building were closed off.

References

;Notes ;Citations

Bibliography

* * {{National Register of Historic Places Gothic Revival church buildings in Ohio Churches completed in 1876 Buildings and structures in Cleveland National Register of Historic Places in Cleveland, Ohio

Constructing the gatehouse

About the building

History of the building

See also

References

Bibliography