File:Chapel, Niagara Falls Memorial Park, Lewiston, New York - 20221222.jpg

English: As seen on an overcast December 2022 afternoon: the chapel at Niagara Falls Memorial Park was built in 1937 and, along with the south entrance gate, comprises the second phase of construction at this 30-acre nonsectarian cemetery situated a short distance outside the Niagara Falls city limits in the town of Lewiston, New York. Both are the work of the Buffalo-based architect Louis Greenstein. Faced in randomly coursed rustic stone blocks, the Gothic Revival style is exemplified here by the presence of bluntly pointed arches, splayed stepped buttresses at the corners of the projecting central portion of the façade, and crenellated parapets crowning both the entrance vestibule and the building itself. Additional parapets with central chimneys, flush with the side gables of the roof, delineate the outer ends of the building's lateral wings. At the time of its construction, the interior of the chapel was outfitted with a Symphotone, described in promotional materials as "the very latest musical equipment which produces the finest of organ music together with chimes, choral societies, quartets, etc.", not only for interment services but also on the occasion of the "sacred concerts" planned to be held "at the park at regular intervals during the summer months". No less interesting and forward-thinking was the design of the grounds themselves: an advertisement in the Niagara Falls Gazette in advance of its 1929 dedication wasted no time in elucidating its differences from competing cemeteries. Here, befitting the place's name, the ambience was to be that of "a park in every sense of the word": "unsightly shafts or markers" were strictly prohibited in favor of "grave[s]… marked only with a green bronze plate, 12x16 inches, set flush with the ground, erected upon a concrete base", from which "no variation of size or design… [were] allowed"; the landscaping was characterized by "green lawns, neatly trimmed hedges, and winding boulevards… all nature blending together in a plan of loveliness"; the cemetery's operations were financed courtesy of a permanent perpetual-care fund, thus assuring against the possibility of "any assessments, added expenses or any form of charge" for lot holders beyond that of their initial purchase. Today, aside from the Greenstein-designed structures, the only other major deviation from the vision set forth by its founders is a cluster of small columbaria dating to the 2010s, where cremains are stored in niches.