Graveyard Geology of Chicago, Part 10: The Frances Pearce Monument, Rosehill Cemetery, Edgewater Neighborhood (1856; moved here in 1861)

Like Chicago's other famous North-Side burial ground, Graceland Cemetery, Rosehill is built atop a ridge that formed as a sand spit during a highstand of one of modern Lake Michigan's postglacial predecessors. And it too is a geological wonderland featuring a wide array of ornamental stones from my different locales.

This elaborate and evocative mass of carved Carrara Marble features two reclining figures—mother Frances and her young daughter of the same name, who died only two months after her namesake. Originally installed in what is now the city's waterfront Lincoln Park, the monument was relocated here with the remains in 1861.

The sculpted ensemble, a masterpiece of melodramatic Victorian grief, is the work of American Chauncey B. Ives, then living in Rome, Italy. When the monument was transfered to Rosehill, husband Horatio O. Stone made sure its upper portion was enclosed in a glass case—a wise practice also followed elsewhere in this graveyard for other marble memorials.

Long considered one of the world's premium building and sculptural stones, the Carrara is a fine-grained calcitic marble whose protolith was a limestone of Upper Triassic to Lower Jurassic age. It was metamophosed into its present, sugary-textured form in the Oligocene, about 27 Ma ago, when it was buried under the Tuscan Nappe. It has since been exposed at the surface in the Apuan Alps north of Pisa, in a tectonic window extensively exploited by Italian quarriers ever since Etruscan times.

While the Carrara often survives well in outdoor environments in its native Mediterranean climate, it frequently deteriorates badly in Temperate, continental-interior regimes, where it's exposed to greater precipitation and to wilder temperature extremes. The most infamous example of Carrara misuse in the Windy City was the late-twentieth-century failure of the original cladding of the Amoco Building (now Aon Center).

From a geological standpoint, the Pearce Monument is a fantastic place to show the difference in weathering rates between the still mostly pristine enclosed portion and the unprotected and much more affected base. As following detail shots will show . . .

To learn much more about this site and 200 others in the Windy City, make it your top personal priority to get a copy of my book Chicago in Stone and Clay, described at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501765063/chicago-i...

And to peruse the other photos and descriptions in this series, pay a visit to my Cemetery Science album.

Taken in: United States / Illinois / Chicago / West Edgewater (show map)

Taken on: April 10, 2021

Tags:

architectural_geology

architecture

geology

illinois

marble

rock

rocks

stone

cemetery

Rosehill Cemetery

Carrara Marble

sculpture

monumental stone « less

Sets appears in: • Architectural Geology: Chicago • The Beauty of Building Materials more » • Cemetery Science • Natural History: Illinois • Urban Exposures: La città esaminata « less

Groups appears in: • Chicago... • STONE more » • Rocks and Geology • Geology Rockers • Stones and rocks • GeoTagging Flickr • Geotagged • Rocks • Geology • Stone Work • Chicago Architecture • Architecture | Nature • Architecture Photography • Building with Stone • Old Buildings & More..... • Rocks and Stones • Chicago Cemeteries • Geologists • USA - UNITED STATES OF AMERICA • Architecture of Days Gone By • The World of Architecture • Geology for all • Geology/EarthScience • Cemeteries of the United States • The Illinois [directory] ! • Structural Geology • Architectural Photography Group • Great Buildings • Cemetery Photos • Cemetery Architecture, Monuments, & Gravestones • American Photography • Enjoy Illinois • Rocks-Fossils-Minerals • Discovering Illinois • Chicago Architecture Info • stones n rocks • Geotagged: Illinois • Explore Northeastern Illinois • Old Stone Buildings • Architecture of Illinois • I Love Rocks! • Brick and stone works • Geology Flickrs • World Of Architecture • Chicago's Architectural Ornamentation • Photography with a Story • Geology / Geologie • The Very Great Outdoors • We love Nature and Geology • AMERICAN PHOTOGRAPHER « less

Camera: Canon PowerShot SX530 HS, f/4.0, 1/200 sec, 6.3mm, ISO 200 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon PowerShot SX530 HS
Aperture:	f/4.0
Exposure Time:	0.005 sec (1/200)
Focal Length:	6.3mm
ISO:	200
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Show full info

Stats: 926 views

go back

Link to this photo view:
Link to this photo large view: