Historic Landmark - 2257 Portage Avenue

Home Browse Search

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION The Riverview & Highland Cemetery are located in section 27, Township 38, north; range 2 east. Both cemeteries contain numerous sites and structures of various styles, however; only four structures/sites are being proposed for landmark status. They are the Riverview Cemetery Gatehouse, the Riverview Cemetery Crematory & Columbarium, Riverview Cemetery's LaSalle's Landing and Highland Cemeteries Memorial Mausoleum. The Crematory and Columbarium building is set into an embankment with a metal double-leaf entry and iron gate. The structure is rectangular in plan, one story tall with rough-cut stone foundation and walls. The roof is covered in tar and gravel and is bowed in shape. It extends to form a parapet with concrete cap and concrete globes on the corners. The St. Joseph Kankakee Portage or LaSalle's Landing is a bluff that rises approximately 25' from the riverbed and is 700' to 725' above sea level. The site is marked by a copper plaque set in a 3' high rock located at the mouth of one of the gullies. The Riverview Cemetery Gatehouse is a two-story structure with an irregular plan and stone foundation. The walls are rough-cut, irregularly coursed, f eldstone block walls with wood paneled gables. The wood gable ends have horizontal, vertical and diagonal half-timbering. The roof is covered in red slate, gabled in shape with gable intersects, a front gable dormer and a gabled porte-cochere. The structure also has projecting wooden eaves and open rake. The building boasts a wraparound veranda with Doric half- columns, rough cut stone balustrades with stone cap, and aporte-cochere set at a 45 degree angle to the main body of the structure with an open eave gabled roof, curved brackets and vertical slats. The windows are double hung wood sash on the first floor and double hung sashes with diamond pattern in the top sash of the second floor. The windows also have stone lintels. The gatehouse also has an oval window set into the south wall and a glazed wood frame double front door. The Highland Memorial Mausoleum was the first of its kind to be built in South Bend. It was designed by Lovell & Lovell and built in 1930 by the H.G. Christman Company. The structure was built of stone with walls and floors of marble and windows of imported art glass. In the center was a chapel, which branched out into corridors containing the crypts. The mausoleum had a capacity for 800 crypts. Among other building material used was granite, marble, Bedford stone, and bronze to enhance the structures' beauty and durability. 3