San Francisco Columbarium
The San Francisco Columbarium is a columbarium in San Francisco , California . The building, built in the classical style and inaugurated in 1898, offers space for around 8,500 urns and is today the only non-denominational burial place still in use within the city limits of San Francisco.
history
The building, designed by British architect Bernard JS Cahill , was originally part of the Odd Fellows Cemetery , a 68-acre cemetery north of Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. It was supplemented by a crematorium , also designed by Cahill in 1895 .
When the city council of San Francisco banned cremations within the city in 1910, the crematorium belonging to the columbarium was demolished. After the cemetery was abandoned by the Odd Fellows , the reburial began in 1929, with some families also removing the urns of their relatives from the columbarium.
In the period between 1934 and 1979, the columbarium that was left alone on the former cemetery grounds fell into disrepair. It was purchased by the Neptune Society of Northern California in 1980 and restored over the following years.
In 1996 it was added to the San Francisco Landmarks Directory under number 209 . In July 2011, the Neptune Society of Northern California presented their plans for the further expansion of the columbarium. A total of 5,300 niches in additions to the historic columbarium are intended to complement the existing 8,500 niches to create more space for burials within the city limits of San Francisco.
Basement of the columbarium with burial niches.
View into the round interior of the columbarium.
Urn room on the first floor of the building.
Todays use
Today the columbarium is used again as a burial place and is open to visitors seven days a week. Many of the recently furnished niches in the columbarium contain not only urns, but also objects from the lives of the deceased. And some of the urns themselves are related to the life of those who have chosen to be buried in the columbarium. For example, cookie jars, teapots or a baseball are used as a storage vessel for the ashes of the deceased.
In July 2006 the first “Meet your neighbors-for-eternity party” took place, in which the owners of the niches had their future neighbors in the columbarium before them Got to know death. On this occasion, the participants of the event exchanged ideas for the decoration of their burial niches.
Important people who were buried here
- George Ainslie (1838–1913) - Congressional delegate of the Idaho Territory.
- Chester Leo Helms (1942-2005) - music manager, known as the "father of San Francisco's 1967 Summer of Love".
- Frank E. Hill (1850–1906) - participant in the Indian Wars and holder of the American Medal of Honor .
- Harry August Jansen (1883–1955) - magician, known under the stage name "Dante the Magician".
- Jerry Juhl (1938–2005) - screenwriter for the Muppet Show.
- Anna Elizabeth Klumpke (1856–1942) - genre and portrait painter.
- Dorothea Klumpke (1861–1942) - astronomer and first woman to make astronomical observations from a balloon.
- Harvey Milk (1930–1978) - First openly homosexual politician in the USA and civil rights activist for the gay and lesbian movement.
- Edward Robeson Taylor (1838–1923) - 28th Mayor of San Francisco.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ San Francisco Landmark 209: Columbarium. NoeHill, accessed February 4, 2012.
- ↑ Landmark Columbarium in San Francisco Breaks Ground on Expansion. PRWeb, July 19, 2011, accessed February 5, 2012.
- ^ Sam Whiting: SF Columbarium in good hands with Emmitt Watson. San Francisco Chronicle , May 12, 2011, accessed February 5, 2012.
- ^ Erin Allday: Meet your neighbors-for-eternity party. San Francisco Chronicle , July 13, 2006, accessed February 5, 2012.
Coordinates: 37 ° 46 ′ 50.2 " N , 122 ° 27 ′ 25.5" W.