Abbey Mausoleum (Arlington County, Virginia)
One of the most luxurious burial places in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, many famous individuals, judges, and military leaders were buried there.
[3] The 18,000 square feet (1,700 m2) lot was rectangular in shape and located next to the Hobson Gate of Arlington National Cemetery.
[7] U.S. Mausoleum encountered financial difficulties in 1927, and sold the building and grounds to the Stone Mountain Granite Corporation before dissolving.
In 1928,[6] a new corporation, Abbey Mausoleum Inc., was formed by local D.C. area businessmen, and it purchased the crypt and land from Stone Mountain Granite.
Abbey Mausoleum Inc. then purchased in 1928 the second lot offered for sale by Rice, and invested additional funds to complete the finishing touches on the crypt.
[1][9] The United States Marine Corps headquarters moved to the Navy Annex Building adjacent to the south side of Arlington National Cemetery in November 1941.
To house both companies, the Marine Corps began acquiring, through purchase, easement, eminent domain, and other means, property to the west and northwest of the Navy Annex Building.
All told, 23 acres (93,000 m2) were acquired, and athletic fields, a bowling alley, chapel, firing range, gas station, gym, hobby shop, officers' and enlisted men's clubs, post exchange, post office, radio station, supply depot, and swimming pool were all built on the site.
[3] Legislation was introduced in Congress in 1945 to give the United States Department of War $550,000 to acquire the crypt and its land,[11] but the bill was not enacted.
Frank B. Tavenner, an attorney for crypt buyers, was named bankruptcy trustee by the Circuit Court of Arlington County.
In 1984, Tavenner suspected that many owners of unused crypts had been buried elsewhere due to the federal government's ban on new burials at Abbey Mausoleum.
The vandals opened the coffin, and placed a copy of Circus (a heavy metal music magazine) on the chest of the skeleton.
The vandals also broke into a funeral niche, poured the human ashes on the floor, and drew a smiley face in them.
[7] In 1994, police discovered bloody handprints, candles, dead cats, pentagrams, and other signs of occult worship.
[3] A plan for identifying and contacting descendants, providing for private disinterment and reburial, and for relocating all remaining graves was then devised.
The Corps moved the remaining bodies and ashes to a mausoleum at National Memorial Park, a cemetery in Idylwood near Falls Church, Virginia.
[6] The United States Navy and the Arlington County Planning Department signed an agreement prior to Abbey Mausoleum's demolition to salvage many of the structure's components for historic preservation.
Arlington County was granted explicit ownership of the stained glass windows at the site, as well as any interior or exterior architectural elements it wished.
Experts determined that the windows were dedicated to E. St. Clair Thompson, a wealthy Freemason interred at Abbey Mausoleum in 1933.
[2][12] Many of the windows were damaged by vandalism, and most had suffered cracks, fading, and missing pieces due to neglect and age.
Workers spent three months hand-cleaning each piece of glass and fitting each window chosen for preservation into a new aluminum frame.
According to stained glass restorer Mark Russel, the windows suffered significant fading damage due to sunlight and lack of care.
[12] The large religious-themed window (which was 10 by 10 feet (3.0 by 3.0 m) square)[12] proved too expensive to restore, and five others were too heavily damaged to repair.
