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MEKUS STUDIOS <br />INTRODUCTION <br />The purpose of this study is to evaluate the Riverview Gatehouse and define <br />financial parameters for returning it to its original condition. <br />HISTORY <br />The Riverview Cemetery was developed in 1900 when a group from South Bend <br />formed a stock company and purchased the James Miller estate for the purposes <br />of developing a suburban cemetery. <br />It is a significant local site being the location of the St. Joseph - Kankakee <br />Portage, an important link between the Mississippi and the St. Lawrence River <br />and the Atlantic Ocean. <br />Riverview Cemetery includes many significant family mausoleums which adopted <br />the architectural styles popular at the time they were constructed. The cemetery <br />is considered to have more private mausoleums than is typical elsewhere in the <br />upper Midwest. <br />Claude K. Howell, a notable Midwest architect, was responsible for the design of <br />the Gatehouse and Entryway. The Romanesque style is characterized by large, <br />rough -cut stones and stucco and half timber walls with a gable slate roof. The <br />front porch wraps around the front and incorporates Doric Columns on top of a <br />low stone wall. <br />At the rear of the Gatehouse is an addition that incorporates an all stucco and <br />half-timber wall with a gable roof. This addition seems foreign to the original build- <br />ing design as it does not include any rough cut stone. Additionally, the addition's <br />roof has asphaltic shingles and not slate like the original Gatehouse roof. <br />The Gatehouse was granted historic landmark status by the city of South Bend <br />and St. Joseph County by ordinance No. 9150-00, on October 23, 2000. <br />2 <br />