I have 2 questions from today's tour that we docents were unable to answer.
1. Are the roadways within the site all original or were some added during the renovation??
2. There is a pipe sticking up in each east corner of the platform that supports the pyramid monument. These protrude up maybe 6 inches and appear to go down into the concrete platform to an undetermined depth. What are these for?? A couple of the guests speculated that there could be an underground tomb or burial vault and that these are some sort of ventilation or exhaust pipes. Any ideas??
See my next post
ReplyDeleteWell, there's certainly no evidence that there was ever an underground tomb or burial vault on that site, so I think we need to keep working on what the pipes are there for.
ReplyDeletePerhaps support posts for some kind of tarp cover to be used temporarily for services, or a flagpole support for National and State flags...???
ReplyDeleteFrom my random bits and pieces of architectural experience it would be entirely feasible that the posts (and post holes) would be appropriate for flag poles or to eventually support lighting fixtures.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI decided to check through the probate documents for EA Tovrea, and found an item called "Payment on Mausoleum to Independent Mausoleum Co." for $1000 on June 9, 1932, which would have been big bucks back in those days, so it appears that some work was done on the mausoleum before they found out that neither EA nor Della could be buried there--according to the codicil to the will, it was to be large enough for their two bodies, and built on the north mound, so everything fits with that platform having been built as the foundation for the mausoleum.
ReplyDeleteWhen we were doing the tour yesterday, I dropped a stone into one of the pipes, and it didn't go very far at all, so those pipes must have been meant for part of the future construction of the mausoleum, because they don't go deep enough to be ventilation for anything down below. This is all just me sorta thinking as I type.
EA also left money for flowers to be placed at the mausoleum in perpetuity on his and Della's birthdays. There's a document dated July 29, 1932, where a representative of Phoenix Savings Bank & Trust agrees that "Said mausoleum has not be constructed" and therefore the Bank waived its right to receive the money it was to receive for "the perpetual care of said mausoleum and the placing of flowers thereat."
Whoops. Should have kept reading. On August 22, 1932, the Independent Monument Company got another $1,254.24 "for work done on mausoleum to the time the contract was cancelled by Mrs. Tovrea." Guess we'd have to track down the records for the Independent Monument Company to find out what they actually did for all that money. Design and construction of the foundation?
ReplyDelete