Beth Olam Cemetery
The Beth Olam Cemetery is a historic cemetery in Cypress Hills, Brooklyn, New York, United States. It is located in the city's Cemetery Belt, bisected by the border between Brooklyn and Queens.
Beth Olam Cemetery | |
U.S. National Register of Historic Places | |
| Location | 2 Cypress Hills St., Brooklyn, New York |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 40°41′26″N 73°52′48″W |
| Area | 12.37 acres (5.01 ha) |
| Built | 1851 |
| NRHP reference No. | 16000254 |
| Added to NRHP | May 16, 2016 |
It is a rural cemetery in style, and was started in 1851 by three Manhattan Jewish congregations: Congregation Shearith Israel (Spanish Portuguese) on West 70th Street, B'nai Jeshurun on West 89th Street, and Temple Shaaray Tefila on East 79th Street.
In 1882, Calvert Vaux was commissioned to design a small, red brick Metaher house or place of purification and pre-burial eulogies, near the entrance to the Shearith Israel section, and also designed its gates. It is the only religious building that Vaux, the co-designer of Central Park, is known to have designed. Many mausoleum windows are made with Tiffany stained glass and LaFarge bronze doors.
The burial ground contains many examples of architecture and funerary art.