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Blog Entry 70 of 78 Grave Concerns: Inside Grand View Memorial Park

News you can use regarding Grand View Memorial Park, Glendale, CA's oldest cemetery, which has been closed for regular business since June 13, 2006, due to legal and financial problems.

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$400k is a familiar figure in Grand View history

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Contributed by: Lisa Burks on 8/23/2007

$400,000 is a lot of money.

That's roughly the amount that the Glendale City Council recently tabled to possibly spend on watering and tree maintenance at desiccated Grand View Memorial Park, pending the outcome of the city's nuisance abatement action against cemetery owners.

Oddly enough, that same hefty figure was also in the news relating to Grand View 83 years ago.

The Glendale Daily Press reported on July 30, 1924, that a $400,000 permit had been secured by Grand View's then president, Len C. Davis, to cover construction costs for the first unit of the "colossal" West Mausoleum.

Translated to 2007 dollars, that's about $4.9 million.

As city council member John Drayman pointed out at Tuesday's meeting, the West Mausoleum has a unique place in local, state and world history.

The "Huge House of the Silent" was hailed at its inception as the largest mausoleum in the world, spanning 1,064 feet long and 90 feet wide, covering the entire western border of the property between Kenneth and Glenwood Roads.

"It has always been my ambition to erect a building as we are constructing at Grand View, and I welcome the opportunity," commented world-famous mausoleum engineer, Cecil E. Bryan, of Pasadena, who Davis retained, during an interview in September 1924.

The Spanish Mission-style mausoleum was constructed of reinforced steel and concrete. Its interior featured elegant polished marble acquired from various points around the United States, with bronze doors and accents, and cathedral glass windows and ceilings to "allow in a gentle light."

"Erecting this building in one large unit makes it possible to sell crypts at a price that the average man can pay," said Bryan. "Any institution that expects only to cater to the people of wealth cannot long endure," he added, in reference to the local competition, Forest Lawn, which had begun construction of its Great Mausoleum.

Davis stated that he raised funds for the construction of the "mammoth" mausoleum through wholesale pre-construction sales of a good portion of the mausoleum's 5,700 crypts and 2,000 cremation niches.

The price tag for crypts was $150 and niches cost $50 ($1,827 and $609 today, respectively.)

The purchase agreement, said Davis, gave holders the option to re-sell at a higher rate once the mausoleum opened.

"This is a community mausoleum, built to honor the people of California," Davis told the press in February 1924. At that same time, he noted that a perpetual care fund had been created to provide for present and future maintenance of the building.

The perpetual care fund, which we now refer to as the endowment care fund, was apparently originally created for the cemetery prior to the mausoleum's construction by Davis in 1921, according to various local news clippings of the era.

According to these same clippings, Davis had purchased the cemetery (originally organized as the Palm Valley Cemetery Association in 1890) from a group of local investors, and formally incorporated Grand View Memorial Park for $20,000 in 1919, when most of the then 13-acre property was "nothing but a neglected weed patch." (Sound familiar?)

The cemetery's development blitz occurred under Davis' reign.

Between 1919 and 1924 he reportedly invested upward of $450,000 (excluding costs of the mausoleum) in expanding the property, landscaping, installing an electrically-lighted arch over the Glenwood Rd. entrance, a watering system and construction of the chapel, office, residence and driveways.

Grand View was also publicized as Glendale's "only cemetery" in that its property lay totally within city limits, opposed to Forest Lawn, which technically straddled Glendale and Los Angeles lines.

As Drayman also pointed out to his colleagues at the council meeting this week, many families with loved ones entombed there have not had access to the building since June 2006, and he's gotten many phone calls from people who are upset about that fact.

Due to the court's preservation order, and also generally unsafe conditions inside, the mausoleum doors have remained locked during city-sponsored visitations which are limited to the outside grounds.

The last time I had access to the West Mausoleum was in November 2005. Click here to see photos that I took.

Do you have historical information and/or photos to share with readers about Grand View? Send your contributions to me via email at lisa.burks@yahoo.com so I can post them here on valleynews.com.

UPDATE 8/25/07: Paul Ayers, one of the civil lawsuit plaintiff attorneys and fellow Grand View history buff, kindly sent me two extraordinary vintage photos to share with readers. They were taken in early summer 1924 at the cornerstone laying ceremony for the West Mausoleum.

Click on the links below to see these fascinating images:

The first one shows the gathering of Glendale, Burbank and Los Angeles residents and dignitaries at the southwest corner of the cemetery, facing what is now the corner of Sonora and Glenwood.

The second one features three unidentified dignitaries readying the actual cornerstone, facing north toward the Verdugo Mountains. I'm working on identifying the men, but I believe the man sealing the stone is Len C. Davis.

Paul also offered me some comments in response to this blog post regarding what he calls a misconception about the preservation order keeping Grand View and its mausoleums closed.

"The mausoleums have been closed during the city openings because the city felt it could not provide staff to safely open them," said Paul.

"The cemetery has been closed because the owners do not have the money to operate it. All the preservation order does is prevent (1) gross alterations to the grounds and buildings and (2) removal of equipment and goods belonging to the cemetery corporation," he added.

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Submitted By: Norman Todd

posted on 8/26/2007 @ 2:55:23 PM

Rated Blog Entry

Thanks for one of the few sources of information on Grandview. I am in possession of a deed to Grave 8, Lot 8, Block C. dated in 1911. How can I find out who is buried there? Norm Todd nctodd@earthlink.net

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Submitted By: K Fog

posted on 8/24/2007 @ 9:34:09 AM

Rated Blog Entry

Great blog! I love reading the history of Grandview!

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