Philipson Mausoleum

This is an extraordinary building; a latticed wall encircles a central domed structure, originally designed, like the Pantheon, to be open to the sky. The intention was for the space between the outer and inner walls to be planted with roses. Inside, two alabaster cinerary urns stand on a pedestal opposite the doorway. In front of this, in the centre of the floor, is an ‘inverted dome’ to catch the rainwater (no longer needed now that the dome is glazed) and, round the wall a walkway and bench.

Architect

Sir Edwin Lutyens

Style

--

Listing

Grade II (England and Wales)

Year built

1914

History

The mausoleum was built following the death of Florence Philipson (1877-1914) wife of RH Philipson. The family came from Newcastle, and in his will Philipson left a sum of money to a boys’ home in that town, stipulating that any surplus was to be used for the care of the mausoleum. A set of Lutyens’ drawings for the mausoleum are held in the Cremation Company archives, while other sketches of the building are among the architect’s papers in the RIBA Drawings Collection.

Condition

Good, although there appears to be a leak in the roof (2002).

Sources

BoE: London 4 (1998);

H Meller, London Cemeteries: an Illustrated Guide and Gazetteer (1985) 123-4;

L Pearson, Mausoleums (2002) 22; Centenary History of Golders Green Crematorium, ed. Hilary Granger and Peter Jupp (2002).

Links

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