www.mybaycity.com
March 14, 2003
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Elm Lawn Cemetery Gatehouse, Chapel Concern of Architectural Review Group
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Elm Lawn Gatehouse/Chapel is popular tour attraction
Mary Ewald-Sayles, left, ARC Chairman Duane Anderson, and Architect John Meyer meet with ARC
The Bay City's Architectural Review Committee (ARC) will meet March 26 at 4 p.m. at the Elm Lawn Cemetery gatehouse/office to consider how to preserve this landmark and a companion gothic chapel.
The committee, headed by Duane Anderson, architect, is grappling with issues regarding the esthetics of the community. The Elm Lawn arch/gatehouse and the chapel are part of the architectural heritage of Bay City. The structures date to the establishment of the cemetery in 1890. A new owner reportedly is considering whether the structures should be demolished in a cost-saving move and the committee is concerned.
"I've been all over the state and nation and have not seen such a masterpiece of architecture as that arch," says Anderson. His sentiments are echoed by City Planner Jim Bedell. "It would be a real loss if that structure and the chapel were to be torn down," said Bedell.
Although the ARC has no formal authority over any areas of the city except the Midland Street and Center Avenue historic overlay districts, the members are concerned about the Elm Lawn gatehouse because it is such a unique and distinctive structure, officials indicated.
The gatehouse and arch, at the foot of Green Avenue, and chapel situated inthe center of the 60-acre cemetery, were erected by a group of Bay City's leading businessmen headed by architect and developer James Shearer. The chapel is in disrepair and the previous owners of the cemetery for years had sought ways to restore the building.
Mary Ewald-Sayles, owner of Hyatt-Ewald Funeral Home and a member of the ARC, is spearheading a drive to raise funds to renovate the chapel at Elm Lawn. She is working with the cemetery manager, Deborah Lang, and the pair will present a proposal to the new owner of the cemetery, a Detroit attorney who owns multiple cemetery properties in the state.
Officials of the Bay County Historical Society and the Bay Area Convention and Visitors Bureau also are concerned about fate of the cemetery structures. Elm Lawn is a highlight of cemetery and ghost tours which attract dozens of tour buses here from all over the state as well as local trolley tours.
For more information about the fund-raising drive for the chapel contact Mary Ewald-Sayles, 892-3923.
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