Plans progress on restoring Monongahela Cemetery chapel
Restoration of the chapel's stained-glass windows alone will cost an estimated $16,000.
Rick Shrum/Observer-Reporter
Jack Cattaneo, left, of Monongahela Cemetery, speaks with Chuck Brooks inside the chapel.
Chapel at Monongahela Cemetery
Rick Shrum/Observer-Reporter
Plans are in the works for a $150,000 restoration of the chapel at Monongahela Cemetery.
Between tours, Jack Cattaneo stood inside the slightly crumbling chapel of Monongahela Cemetery, verbally summarizing its 124-year history in about 124 efficient seconds. It includes a renovation that underwhelms him.
“The last time they touched this, in the ’70s, they attempted a remodeling,” said Cattaneo, first vice president-secretary of the cemetery board of directors. Then his words trailed off for a moment.
“We’re attempting to restore the building.”
Returning the chapel to nearly its original state is more than a renovation, a project that will include restoring the bricked-up fireplace, stained-glass windows, oak floors, roof and more, and putting the pocket doors back into use.
And there will be modern upgrades, of course, including restrooms and climate controls.
This is a formidable endeavor that will take formidable dollars, but Cattaneo and the board are committed to doing that. The directors launched a fundraising effort last June, seeking $150,000, and ramped up their efforts Saturday afternoon by ramping up interest in the chapel. They hosted a four-hour open house, conducting tours for small groups without charging a fee, but encouraging donations by showing off a showpiece.
In 10 months, the board is almost halfway toward its goal. Cattaneo said $68,000 had been collected through Friday, and funds likely came in Saturday, as a steady stream of “tourists” showed up.
“It’s truly been a local effort,” said Cattaneo, a retired Ringgold teacher who led some of the tours, the facts and anecdotes all off the top of his head. He seems to know everything that has transpired at the cemetery since it was built in 1863, the year of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.
This planned restoration is a byproduct of work done by Terry Necciai, a historical architect and preservationist, who conducted copious research on the original chapel and presented a voluminous 47-page assessment to the board.
“He looked at every mortar joint, every brick, every stone, every part and piece of the building,” Cattaneo said. “Terry designed a rebuild in the report to make it the same as it was in 1894.”
Architect Frank P. Keller Sr. designed the chapel that year and Yohe Brothers Construction Co. erected it. The structure cost about $3,500 to build, and 20 percent of that – $700 – was the stained glass.
Restoring and putting up outdoor protection for the double windows, tall and strikingly beautiful, will be a substantial cost again. Cattaneo said the tab for that work is $16,000.
“We want to cover the outside with unbreakable glass.”
Monongahela Cemetery is an expansive property, with 172 acres off Route 88, near Monongahela Valley Country Club. Only 80 acres have been developed. There are 35,875 people interred there, the equivalent of a Pirates sellout at PNC Park.
Pittsburgh architect John Chislett designed the cemetery, which embodies rural elements of another of his projects – Allegheny Cemetery. Chislett also designed the ornate entrance gate at that Pittsburgh location.
“He saw the industrialization and urbanization of Pittsburgh and it horrified him,” Cattaneo said. “He wanted an urban park at Allegheny Cemetery. There was industry here and the director of this cemetery hired him.”
Fundraising, in the meantime, will continue for the chapel project at Monongahela Cemetery. Restoration may be on hold, but plans are in place and so is optimism among the directors. One has already contacted kin of the original architect about a future visit.
“We’re hoping that when the building is restored, to contact Frank Keller’s descendants,” Cattaneo said. “They will be invited to see what their great-grandfather did. See the finished product.”
See a near original.