Bayview Cemetery & Crematorium
Location:
740 Spring Gardens Road, Burlington, Halton Region, Ontario, Canada.
S Lot 11, BF (Broken Front), East Flamborough Township (Nelson Township).
GPS:
Latitude: 43.28830°N
Longitude: –79.87605°W
History:
This mausoleum, originally known as the Hamilton Mausoleum, is of the Classic Greek-Doric type located on a site overlooking the Hamilton Bay and adjoining Woodland Cemetery. The Architects were Messrs Cameron and Ralston, a firm that specialized in mortuary construction.1 Well in advance of the construction, many Hamilton families contracted for space in the building.2
It was built by Canadian Mausoleums Limited, which had previously erected eight other smaller mausoleums. Construction took place in 1926 and 1927.3 The exterior walls of the mausoleum are of concrete with a sandstone veneer.4 The original owner was Oscar M. Trano, who died in 1955. Pat Markey of Hamilton bought the property in 1985 and changed the name to Bayview Cemetery and Crematory.5 At that time the walls were cleaned by sandblasting, the interior renovated, and lights installed in the corridors.
A central feature of the building is the front entrance. Steps lead up to a portico or porch where four Corinthian fluted pillars6, surmounted by a lintel, support the roof. Bronze doors open onto the narthex at the rear of a large upper floor chapel. From each side of the narthex, a wide main corridor extends to each end of the building. From this corridor, four side aisles (two on each side of the chapel) extend to the rear of the building. The sides of the corridors contain numbered sections. These are tiers of crypts for burial compartments faced with marble tablets for inscriptions. The corridor arrangement is the same on the lower floor. The room below the main chapel contains a smaller chapel. It is connected with the main chapel by a wide marbled staircase, which descends from each side of the pulpit. All floors are of marble. There are doors from the outside at each end of the lower main corridor, although it is the left side door that is ordinarily used for access. There are large stained glass windows at the ends of some corridors and aisles, also at the stairway in front of the main chapel. These are the work of James Blomfield, a well-known painter and stained-glass artist. He died in 1951 and is buried in the mausoleum (Tier 106, crypt D).
Cremations commenced in 1958 with an installation inside the mausoleum. In 1969, a separate building was erected as the crematory. It is attached to the rear of the mausoleum and has a doorway into a lower floor corridor.7
Within the mausoleum, some sections that have not been numbered are divided into tiers or shelves of small compartments. These compartments are called niches. They are large enough to hold an urn containing cremated remains. The section of wall containing niches is called a columbarium. There are four columbaria that contain glass covered niches. Through the glass one can see not only the urn, but also a photograph or a card and a dedication marker containing an inscription. Other niches that contain an urn have a bronze cover with an inscription.
A third common type of marker at Bayview Cemetery is called a scatter marker. These are the markers for people whose cremated remains have been scattered. The markers are made of bronze and are the size of nameplates that bear an inscription. They are grouped together in rows and columns. One group is on the wall of the marble staircase between the floors. The other groups are in an outside area called the Bayview Memorial Point at the rear of the property overlooking the Bay.
There are also three other outside grassed and gardened areas. They are called the Birch Circle, the Bayview Glen and the Birch Circle respectively. The Birch Circle is located in an area in front of the Mausoleum. Its main feature is its interesting curved stone walls that are divided into four sections which serve as columbaria. The Bayview Glen and the Walnut Grove are located in an area behind the mausoleum. In these areas, the burial compartments are of the niche type. They are either in columbaria or are in the ground with markers made of bronze or granite.
On June 28 1992, in a joint venture by Halton-Peel and Hamilton Branches of the Ontario Genealogical Society, all of the memorial markers were transcribed. There were a total of 1736 inscriptions.
Researched and edited by Marie Ionson and John Quinsey, October 7 1992.
Source Notes:
1. Hamilton Spectator; March 1 1926, p. 12, advertisement.
2. Hamilton Spectator; January 10 1927, p. 13, article.
3. Hamilton Spectator; March 1 1926 and January 10 1927.
4. Memorial Ridge Mausoleum (built in 1925 by Canadian Mausoleums Limited at Zion Cemetery, Ridgeway Ontario); memorial inscription.
5. Hamilton Spectator; February 23 1989, article by Paul Wilson.
6. Hamilton Spectator; January 10 1927.
7. Ross Hutchison, Manager of Bayview Cemetery and Crematory.
Transcription purchase:
No transcription has been made available for purchase, because the cemetery had so few stones.