Photo Courtesy of the Columbarium

Superstitious homeowners in San Francisco's Richmond District might be unnerved to discover that their homes are built on a graveyard. The still extant Columbarium on Loraine Court off of Anza was originally the centerpiece of a 167-acre cemetery and crematorium. The Richmond District was entirely cemeteries until a 1901 law made burial illegal in San Francisco, and other laws in the 1930s mandated the removal of the graves to newly created Colma.
    The word "columbarium" comes from the Latin word "columba," meaning "dovecote," a compartmentalized shelter for domestic pigeons. Rather than house living, breeding birds, a columbarium houses the ashes of the deceased in separate niches.
    Built in 1897 by British architect Bernard J. Cahill for the Odd Fellows' cemetery, San Francisco's Columbarium is the last of its kind still in use in this country. The building was abandoned in 1934 and lay dormant until 1979 when it was rescued and restored by the Neptune Society.
    According to caretaker Emmitt Watson, when the Neptune Society purchased the property, raccoons denned in alcoves, doves and pigeons nested in the eaves. The roof leaked profusely, allowing fungus, including mushrooms, to grow everywhere. "It was spooky," he recalled. But Watson was simply "afraid of the ugliness, not of the dead people."
    The San Francisco Chronicle in June 1939 tells the horror story of vagrants and thieves who raided the abandoned cemetery vaults, stealing silver handles from coffins, robbing the dead of dignity as well as their final possessions:
    "Here, during the cemetery's abandoned years...tramps piled up their pots and pans, set up their cooking utensils for a macabre type of housekeeping. Some even say that these dank vaults were hideouts for bootleggers, during the prohibition years.
    "Other ghouls have wreaked havoc. Bronze and iron-grilled doors of other ornate marble and granite above-ground vaults have been pried open. Inside all is shambles. Flower urns have been ripped from wall braces, coffins hacked open, bones strewn about."
    According to Mr. Watson, the Columbarium has been "about 75% restored." The amount of Victorian detail is staggering, so restoration and maintenance take time. The ongoing work is evident in the uppermost of the three floors where the plaster has cracked and the ornamentation has been partially replaced. The walls, windows, tiled floors, and metalwork of the ground floor and first floor have been repaired and are lovingly maintained.
    The Columbarium is a round building with small, square wings on the sides. Services are held in the three-story central rotunda. Soft light filters through a golden web-leaded skylight high overhead. Ancillary rooms named Zephrus, Olympus, Arktos, Aquilo, Solanus, Eurius, Auster, Notus‹the Greek winds‹surround the ground floor. The constellations Corona, Zubanan, Cheiron, Argo, Sothis, Orion, and Perseus look out from the next level. The less expensive top floor is functional, brightened by incidental light from stairwells and ornamented solely by the alcoves.
    Each alcove is numbered by floor, section, row, and box. A few typed tags stick to simple doorways. Red and yellow stickers mark reserved spots. Cardboard placards behind clear glass announce availability. Only 250 spots are left, so a new building is under construction.
    Every windowed, metal-doored, or draped hollow is secure. Historical San Francisco names like Page and Haight are written in gold leaf outside their large alcoves. Some of the spaces are decorated with tributes, mementos, and photos. Sealed inside are belt buckles, baseballs, shot glasses, sheet music, doll furniture, toy cars, keno tickets, bingo cards, crystals, martini shakers, medals, and jewelry. Outside are real flowers and fabric flowers, plastic leis, bowls of oranges, origami cranes, birthday cards, even guestbooks.
    Each niche holds a container for ashes. Containers are elaborate or simple, whimsical or solemn. Some remains rest in cookie jars or piggy banks, others in engraved silver, brass, or marble urns. Urns and markers date from the 1890s to the building's abandonment in 1934 and after 1980.
    Signs of the original owners of the Columbarium are ensconced here in the several oxidized copper trees of the "Woodsmen of the World," a fraternity of the Masonic Order. A large number of spaces are occupied by gay men, single and in couples‹a poignant reminder of the apex of the AIDS epidemic. The Case Family (1849-1914) has a large alcove. Mrs. Wolf lies alone.
    Memorial services are held here. So are parties. There have been funerals and weddings, tears and laughter. Mourning doves still live here, perched in trees, cooing to visitors. The stuff of life resides even in places of the dead.

The Columbarium, located at 1 Loraine Court, is operated by the Neptune Society. It is open daily. Call (415) 221-1838 for more information.