[1] Schoenhofen's family mausoleum was designed by Richard E. Schmidt, a Chicago School architect, in 1893, with construction beginning on July 1 of that year.

The Schoenhofen Pyramid Mausoleum is a steep sided tomb designed, like many of the monuments at Chicago's Graceland Cemetery, in the Egyptian Revival style.

[4] Regardless, the American Institute of Architects' Chicago guide book called the angel "rather out-of-place".

The Roman funerary pyramid of Caius Cestius is considered a historical predecessor to the Schoenhofen Mausoleum.

[2] Perhaps more closely related are the pyramid by Louis Carrogis Carmontelle at Parc Monceau in Paris and a cenotaph by Antonio Canova that was erected as the tomb of Maria Christina in Vienna at the Augustinian Church.