Metropolitan Sepulchre

The Metropolitan Sepulchre was a massive pyramidal necropolis proposed for construction in Primrose Hill in London in the 19th century as a way of addressing the shortage of burial space in the London area. Designed by the architect Thomas Willson, it would have been 90 stories high, and capable of holding up to five million dead.[1][2] The 18-acre footprint of the pyramid would have allowed a number of burials equal to 1000 acre of regular cemetery ground.[3] Willson said that "Not many centuries will pass away before it will not only be completely filled, but that another one will be required."[4]

The pyramid would have been faced with granite blocks, and had flights of stairs on every side, leading to an obelisk and astronomical observatory at the pyramid's peak.[3] The project would have cost around £7 million.[4] It was never built, and the need for it was supplanted by the creation of a ring of "garden cemeteries" around London.

References
  1. Kriston Capps (9 March 2015). "Now More Than Ever, London Needs a 'Death Pyramid'". Citylab.
  2. "The landmark buildings that never were". BBC News. 24 July 2012.
  3. Penny Magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. C. Knight & Company. 1834.
  4. Loudon, John Claudius (1829). The Gardener's Magazine and Register of Rural and Domestic Improvement. Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green. p. 214. Retrieved 26 October 2018. Metropolitan Sepulchre.

See also
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