Green-Wood Restores 19th-Century Monument to Original Majesty

On the eve of the sixth annual celebration of “Niblo’s Garden,” The Green-Wood Cemetery has unveiled a newly restored Niblo Mausoleum – returning it to its nineteenth-century majesty.

The Niblo Mausoleum is the final resting place of William Niblo (1789–1878), the proprietor of the pleasure garden and theater, Niblo’s Garden – often called the Radio City Music Hall of its day. The fashionable theater considered the destination for entertainment in New York City, was located on Broadway in lower Manhattan and could sit 3,200 people for shows featuring acrobats, vaudeville, dramas, musical concerts, and operas.

Niblo regularly picnicked at the mausoleum prior to his death in 1878.

Before restoration, large openings within displaced stones were being pushed open by soil deposits and the freeze thaw cycle. A decorative ornament on the vault, also called a finial, was also listing dangerously. The preservation work, conducted by Neela Wickremesinghe, Manager of Preservation and Restoration at Green-Wood, and her team, included resetting displaced stones, removal of inadequate mortar and new mortar installation, rebuilding the finial, and other repairs.

The Niblo makeover follows its eco-friendly cleaning last year by Kärcher, a global provider of cleaning technology. The removal of centuries of dirt and grime brought to light the need for restoration work on this architectural marvel.

“Green-Wood is committed to historic preservation,” said Richard J. Moylan, president of Green-Wood. “Through this work, we are helping keep centuries of stories and history alive. With today’s advanced preservation methods and an extraordinary restoration team, we are turning back the damage caused by time and exposure to the elements on many old monuments.”

On July 13 and 14, from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m., for the sixth year in a row, Green-Wood will celebrate Niblo’s Garden and transform the grounds into a nineteenth-century pleasure garden for a one-of-a-kind show with entertainment curated by Bindlestiff Family Cirkus, masters of vaudeville and the performing arts. NOTE: BOTH EVENTS ARE SOLD OUT.

Guests are encouraged to bring blankets and picnic dinners as they enjoy the show on the banks of Crescent Water, one of Green-Wood’s beautiful glacial ponds, in front of the Niblo Mausoleum. After the show, guests will be invited inside for a candlelit glimpse inside the nineteenth-century structure.

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About Green-Wood: Incorporated in 1838, The Green-Wood Cemetery stretches across 478 pastoral acres in Brooklyn and boasts extraordinary works of nineteenth- and twentieth-century sculpture, statuary and architecture. Home to thousands of historic figures, The Green-Wood Cemetery offers tours of its grounds, concerts, book readings and other public events throughout the year. Green-Wood has been designated a National Historic Landmark by the United States Department of the Interior. The Green-Wood Historic Fund is a registered 501(c)(3) not-for-profit membership organization created to maintain Green-Wood’s monuments and buildings of historical, cultural, and architectural significance; to advance public knowledge and appreciation; and to preserve the natural habitat of one of New York City’s first green spaces. For more information, please visit www.green-wood.com.