Woodlawn Cemetery Gates and Shelter is a historic

building A building, or edifice, is an enclosed structure with a roof and walls standing more or less permanently in one place, such as a house or factory (although there's also portable buildings). Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and fun ...

and

structure A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such as ...

located in

Washington, Iowa Washington is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Iowa, United States. It is part of the Iowa City, Iowa Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 7,352 at the time of the 2020 census. History Washington was founded in 1 ...

, United States. They were listed together on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 2016. Originally named City Cemetery, Woodlawn was established southwest of the city limits in 1840. Jonathan H. Wilson donated the land. The first interment occurred in December of that year and the first headstone was erected the following year. The Washington Improvement League was established in 1915. They raised funds for civic improvements, most of which benefited the cemetery. The entrance gates, and fence were completed in 1917 and the shelter house was completed in 1926. They were both executed in the rather rare

Egyptian Revival Egyptian Revival is an architectural style that uses the motifs and imagery of ancient Egypt. It is attributed generally to the public awareness of ancient Egyptian monuments generated by Napoleon's conquest of Egypt and Admiral Nelson's defeat ...

style. The fence and gates feature six

obelisk An obelisk (; from grc, ὀβελίσκος ; diminutive of ''obelos'', " spit, nail, pointed pillar") is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape or pyramidion at the top. Originally constructed by Anc ...

posts and three iron gates. The posts are composed of river rock and capped by a square concrete slab with a flat

pyramid A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilat ...

top. The shelter house is a square clay tile and

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...

building with stone obelisks at the corners.

References

External links

* {{NRHP in Washington County, Iowa Buildings and structures completed in 1917 Buildings and structures completed in 1926 Egyptian Revival architecture in Iowa Washington, Iowa Buildings and structures in Washington County, Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Washington County, Iowa Cemeteries on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa