Not Near the Little People

Run away it's Leona Helmsley's mausoleum!!!  When he died in 1997 Harry Helmsley was entombed in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx.  In 2004 a community mausoleum was opened near Harry's place of rest.  Spending eternity near common people was not acceptable to the Queen of Mean so she went and found a more suitable plot in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.  The site is in a nook at a distance from other graves.  A volunteer for the cemetery, not the talkative Old Dutch Church guy, told me that she demanded that, contrary to cemetery convention, the 1.4 million dollar Helmsley mausoleum face away from the other burial plots. 

The mausoleum does have a nice stained glass window of New York's skyline.  The Helmsley's once owned the Empire State Building so I'd guess other buildings of theirs are also featured in the window.

I hope this did not frighten anyone too much! 

Comments

[Dane]

Heh. She certainly was one scary creature in life. How many interments do they plan for in there? My guess, knowing her, is that all that space is meant solely for her and her husband. I both can and can't believe that she wanted it to face away from everyone else ... what a piece of work.

But that stained glass skyline really is nice.

[judy]

what about her dog tho?

[Joe]

I don't know if Trouble, Helmsley's dog to whom she left $12 million, will join Harry and Leona in the mausoleum.

[Richie B]

I've been to the Cemetery and viewed her Masuleum, she had a very high opinion of herself. You can tell a very vain person had that entombment built. Mary Astor and other well to do person are buried not far away and none had the ego she had.

[Jez]

Actually Leona Helmsley was liked by many people who worked in her hotels. The media make her sound like a witch but she really isn't this is definitely the case in her later life anyway! She didn't give any money to her grandchildren for reasons which they knew about.