Address: Graceland Cemetery, Clark Street and Irving Park Road Year Built:
1890
Architect:
Louis H Sullivan
Date Designated a Chicago Landmark:
March 10, 1971
The quiet elegance of this tomb celebrates life amidst the cemetery's somber environment of death. An architectural writer once described it as being "as near perfection as mortals are allowed to approach." Its beauty is achieved through a combination of simple geometric shapes and rich, delicately proportioned ornamentation. The tomb is located in an area of Graceland Cemetery that contains the graves or monuments of such prominent Chicago families as the Potter Palmers, George Pullmans, and Marshall Fields. The Getty Tomb was built by businessman Henry Harrison Getty for his wife, Carrie Eliza Getty.