Rose Hills Memorial Park
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Rose Hills Memorial Park is located in
Whittier, California Whittier () is a city in Southern California in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, part of the Gateway Cities. The city had 87,306 residents as of the 2020 United States census, an increase of 1,975 from the 2010 United States ...
. It is currently owned and operated by Service Corporation International (formerly,
Loewen Group Raymond L. "Ray" Loewen (born June 27, 1940) is a former business owner and political figure in British Columbia. He represented Burnaby-Edmonds in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 1975 to 1979 as a Social Credit member. Born in ...
). It claims to be the largest cemetery in North America.


Sites

; Mausoleums * Whittier Heights Mausoleum, built in 1917 as "Mausoleum #1" or "The Little Mausoleum", was the second public mausoleum in California (the first being at Anaheim Cemetery in Anaheim) and portrays a sense of early California architecture with its Spanish Renaissance influence. * Over a period of years, four garden mausoleums (Terrace of Memories, Court of Eternal Light, Mausoleum of the Valley, and Lakeview Mausoleum) were constructed. * El Portal de la Paz (Doorway of Peace) was dedicated in 1930 as part of the initial expansion program at the cemetery. Complete with an enclosed outdoor garden and fountain, Rose Hills' second mausoleum reflects California's early Spanish Mission era. The hallways are named for the California Missions. * The Buddhist
Columbarium A columbarium (; pl. columbaria) is a structure for the reverential and usually public storage of funerary urns, holding cremated remains of the deceased. The term can also mean the nesting boxes of pigeons. The term comes from the Latin "'' colu ...
: Built in 1999, located on at the highest elevation of Rose Hills, is the largest Buddhist
pagoda A pagoda is an Asian tiered tower with multiple eaves common to Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most often Buddhist but sometimes Taoist, ...
in the United States. The three-story structure, containing 21,000 niches for the interment of cremated remains, is supported by crimson pillars and golden glazed tiles replicating the architecture of ancient Chinese palaces. The pagoda is associated with
Fo Guang Shan Fo Guang Shan (FGS) () is an international Chinese Mahāyāna Buddhist organization and monastic order based in Taiwan that practices Humanistic Buddhism. The headquarters, Fo Guang Shan Monastery is located in Dashu District, Kaohsiung, and is ...
's Hsi Lai Temple in
Hacienda Heights Hacienda Heights () is an unincorporated suburban community in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2010 census, the community had a total population of 54,038, up from 53,122 at the 2000 census. For statistical purposes, the ...
. ;Chapels * Rainbow Chapel, built in 1942 as "Rose Chapel", is an example of early California Mission architecture. This chapel features large windows overlooking gardens and has a maximum seating capacity of 90 people. It is located behind El Portal de la Paz Mausoleum. * Hillside Chapel, built in 1956, is a contemporary diamond-shaped structure surrounded by a garden area. The interior was created for an effect of a sunrise through its rose-tinted skylight and -high windows. Hillside Chapel seats up to 182 people. This building is said to have perfect acoustics. * Sky Church, a glass building also completed in 1956, was destroyed by the Whittier earthquake of 1987. * Memorial Chapel has three tall, white
spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires are ...
s. It was completed in 1964 as a memorial to John D. Gregg, President of Rose Hills from 1950 to 1959 and son of Rose Hills founder Augustus Gregg. Memorial Chapel seats approximately 192 people. * SkyRose Chapel is on a central hilltop with a view of the
San Gabriel Valley The San Gabriel Valley ( es, Valle de San Gabriel) is one of the principal valleys of Southern California, lying immediately to the east of the eastern city limits of the city of Los Angeles, and occupying the vast majority of the eastern part ...
, Los Angeles Skylines to the West and Sycamore Valley to the East. SkyRose Chapel seats 300 people. The building consists of three levels, the upper containing a custom Quimby
pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''ranks ...
, one of the largest in the Los Angeles area. The lower level is an 11,200 sq. ft. mausoleum. The corridors of the mausoleum are named for the woods used in the building's construction. ;Gardens * Cherry Blossom Lawn, a Japanese garden with and an Azumaya (meditation house).


Notable burials

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References


External links

* * * {{Authority control 1914 establishments in California Cemeteries in Los Angeles County, California Puente Hills Avocado Heights, California Whittier, California