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Penn Avenue Entrance Buildings, 1887-89. Macomb & Dull (Philadelphia), architects; side gateways, 1942, Brandon Smith, architect. By 1885 the Penn Avenue way into the Cemetery was considered the main entrance, with Butler Street for exit only, and a monumental gateway and other entrance features were needed. Henry Moser, designer of the 1870 Office Building, submitted a design that was not accepted, and a competition was announced for the architectural work; the elaborate wrought-iron grill work was excluded from the competition, and who designed it is not known. In all, 16 designs by 14offices were submitted, including ones by the local architects William Kaufmann, Edward M. Butz, J. F.Mackenzie, Frederick C. Sauer, Richard Nevin & Company, and Henry Moser, and by such outside architects known to history as Henry Hudson Holly and Clarence Luce(New York) and George Keller (Hartford).One of Henry A. Macombs two submissions won the prize. Work continued through 1889, when the architects suggested a change in the "belvedere" of the 135-foot tower, probably to incorporate hints from the Courthouse tower downtown, a much-imitated design by Henry Hobson Richardson completed the previous year. Collaborating artists names are not given in the minute books, except for the note that Sharpless & Watts (Philadelphia) laid the mosaic floor in the reception room. There was some interior redecoration in later years, as in 1908 when Late Victorian architecture was in ill repute, and in 1947 a consultant suggested demolishing the whole entrance. It survived however, and in 1984 the masonry and, just as importantly, the red roof tiling were cleaned.
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