The cremation of the dead: considered from an aesthetic, sanitary, religious, historical, medico-legal, and economical standpointErichsen, Hugo
Religion
The cremation of the dead: considered from an aesthetic, sanitary, religious, historical, medico-legal, and economical standpoint
Erichsen, Hugo
Cremation
At a meeting of the board of directors in the early part of August,
1885, the committees appointed for the purpose rendered their reports in
reference to a site for a crematorium and a cinerary apparatus. In
accordance with these reports the directors purchased a site on Delavan
Avenue, near Delaware Avenue. The dimensions are 181 feet front, 161
feet rear, and 148 feet in depth. The property was bought at a cost of
$20 per foot, and on very favorable terms.
Originally the capital stock was $10,000, divided into 400 shares, of
the par value of $25 per share. This was afterward increased to $15,000,
divided into 600 shares of the same par value. This stock when once paid
up is non-assessable, and not liable for the debts of the company.
The Buffalo crematorium, which was finished recently, is of a composite
style of architecture, and is constructed of Medina stone, with a slate
roof. The outline of the building is a pleasing one, and the
architecture is of such a character that it resembles a church more
closely than a place where any mechanical operation is carried on. The
grounds of the company are entered from Delavan Avenue by a spacious
roadway, running to a porch and then passing around the building to the
door of the mortuary chamber, on the east side. Those who accompany the
body alight at the porch, and pass thence into the auditorium. The body
itself is removed from the hearse at the door of the mortuary chamber.
When the coffin containing the body is received in the mortuary chamber,
the body is removed and placed on the car which awaits its reception.
The car is then moved by machinery, and without noise, into the chancel,
where, if it is desired, the body may remain in sight of those in the
auditorium during the progress of such service as the friends and
relatives may wish to have performed. At the proper time the same
mechanism moves the car noiselessly behind the doors which cut off the
incinerating room from the sight of the audience.
The building itself is some 70 feet in width, by 60 feet deep. The
construction throughout is of the most substantial character. The lot is
graded and seeded, and trees and shrubs were planted, so that the
appearance of the crematorium and its surroundings is most pleasing to
the eye.
[Illustration:
CREMATORIUM AT LANCASTER, PA.
(Interior View.)
]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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