Reviews for Walk Through Graceland Cemetery A Chicago Architecture Foundation Walking Tour

The average rating for Walk Through Graceland Cemetery A Chicago Architecture Foundation Walking Tour based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2014-11-21 00:00:00 Thong Pham They don’t bury people the way they used to. Back when Chicago was emerging from trading outpost to mega-metropolis, the movers and shakers of local society went to their graves in the lavish fashion in which they had lived. Well-known artists and architects, designers and sculptors were commissioned regularly to create extravagant tombstones and amazing monuments to those who rested beneath them. Graceland Cemetery, whose main entrance is at Clark Avenue and Irving Park Road, is a wonderful example of this period in American burial history; and A Walk through Graceland Cemetery by Barbara Lanctot is an equally wonderful companion to any visit there. The book offers a walking tour, complete with photographs of various tombstones and monuments, of one section of the cemetery. Reader/visitors, once hooked, can explore the rest of the cemetery on their own. For example, Chicago icon Marshall Field (1835-1906) rests beneath an imposing sculpture of a sorrowing woman seated in large chair and holding a small branch in one hand. It was designed and executed by sculptor Daniel Chester French and architect Henry Bacon who later collaborated to create the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Potter Palmer (1826-1902) and his wife, Bertha, rest in matching above-ground sarcophagi under a Greek temple that prompts author Lanctot to note their tomb was “in the same grand style and sumptuous splendor in which they lived . . . proving, perhaps, that you really can take it with you after all.” (p. 27) For those in need of a quick history lesson, Palmer built his first Palmer House Hotel before the Great Chicago Fire and another, more regal one, after it. His wife was famous for spectacular parties and her collection of French Impressionist paintings, many of which now hang in the Art Institute. Other personages buried here made their marks not only in Chicago but also in the world at large. Cyrus McCormick’s (1809-1894) name is synonymous with farm implements; Philip Armour’s (1832-1901) name with meat packing; and Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe’s (1886-1969) name with modern buildings. George Pullman’s (1831-1897) name is associated with the development of the Pullman railroad sleeping car and with the creation of the company town of Pullman. He is also remembered for cutting employee wages, taking them to court when they went on strike, and ultimately defeating the effort to unionize his company. Bitterness was part of his final legacy. Since his death, Pullman has rested beneath a tall Corinthian column with seats on either side of it, in case the visitor wishes to sit and contemplate. Beneath the surface, his coffin is sunk in a concrete block the size of a room, because it was feared angry railroad employees might try to steal the body. They never did. Allan Pinkerton, founder of the detective agency that bore his name, is buried under an obelisk in his family’s plot. There is also a plot for Pinkerton employees that includes Kate Warn and Timothy Webster, two agents who accompanied Abraham Lincoln to his inauguration. Some of the monuments share a traditional style, while others are definitely one-of-a-kind. In this latter category are the vine-covered statue of a woman holding a cross (Eli Williams’ grave), another statue titled Eternal Silence by its sculptor but nicknamed Statue of Death (Dexter Graves), and a giant baseball to honor the founder of the National League of Professional Baseball Clubs (William Hulbert). Today, the trend in cemetery monuments is toward the subtle. In fact, some cemeteries no longer allow anything more than a marker set flat in the lawn, the easier to care for the grounds. So if you want to see how the other half is buried, A Walk Through Graceland Cemetery is just the book. There is a little bit of history, a little bit of who’s who, and a little bit of bragging rights on every one of its 61 pages.

Review # 2 was written on 2009-06-24 00:00:00 Cameron Johnson I found this interesting. I got a mini-tour of Chicago history through a tour of the graves of Chicago's rich and influential from the mid 1800's through the mid 1900's in the Graceland Cemetery, with an emphasis on architecture. It is a short little book, meant to take on a walking tour of Graceland Cemetery. I'll be putting it in a bookbox and hope that someone with an interest in American history or Chicago will be intrigued.