Aerial survey · USDA NAIP · public domainThe self-built 20-foot mausoleum of eccentric Tallahassee architect Calvin C. Phillips (1832-1919) — one of very few American tombs designed, built, and occupied by the same person.
838 North Bronough Street, Tallahassee, FL 32303
Research updated May 2026
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Free
Free public access to Oakland Cemetery during daylight hours.
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Limited Access
Historic cemetery with grass and gravel paths and some uneven ground around older monuments.
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Est. 1919 · Self-built American mausoleum (rare typology) · Designed by architect Calvin C. Phillips (1832-1919) · Blends Roman, Doric, Greek, and Indian architectural styles · Phillips also designed buildings for the 1892 World's Columbian Exposition · 2000 skull-theft incident — door now permanently bolted
Calvin Clarendon Phillips was born in 1832 and trained as an architect, designing several buildings for the 1892 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, according to Atlas Obscura's entry on the Phillips Mausoleum and to Tallahassee Magazine's profile 'Calvin C. Phillips: Unlikely Subject of Both Mystery and Legend.' Phillips arrived in Tallahassee in the early 1900s — most accounts place his arrival around 1907 to 1909 — and built a well-known clock tower near Gaines Street and Railroad Avenue during his time in the city.
In 1919, in his late 80s, Phillips began constructing a mausoleum for himself in Oakland Cemetery at 838 North Bronough Street. Eyewitnesses described him taking frequent breaks inside the structure as he built it. The completed mausoleum stands roughly 20 feet tall and blends Roman, Doric, Greek, and Indian architectural elements topped with an unusual onion-shaped dome. It is one of very few American mausoleums known to have been designed and constructed by its eventual occupant.
Phillips finished the mausoleum in November 1919 and died within days of completion. Per his wishes, he was buried in a cherry-wood coffin he had constructed himself and placed in the tomb he had spent his final weeks completing.
In 2000, Phillips's skull was stolen from the mausoleum, an incident covered in regional press. After the theft, the plate-metal door was permanently bolted closed. The mausoleum remains a frequently visited monument within Oakland Cemetery and is the subject of feature pieces in Atlas Obscura, Tallahassee Magazine, and Florida Memory.
Oakland Cemetery itself dates from the late 19th century and contains roughly 8,600 burials, including 188 veteran graves. It is owned and maintained by the City of Tallahassee.
Sources
According to Tallahassee Magazine's profile 'Calvin C. Phillips: Unlikely Subject of Both Mystery and Legend,' the precise circumstances of Phillips's death have become the subject of speculation, including a long-running and unverified story that he locked himself inside the completed tomb. Tallahassee Magazine treats the death story as legend and mystery; the Florida Memory record simply notes the completion-and-death sequence in November 1919.
The mausoleum appears on HauntedPlaces.org's Tallahassee listings and on Atlas Obscura as one of the city's strangest grave sites, with visitors reporting an oppressive atmosphere and a sense of being watched at the structure. The 2000 skull theft and the subsequent permanent bolting of the door have added a darker layer to the lore.
We present the 'died inside the casket' detail as unverified legend and avoid repeating it as fact. The verifiable history — a self-built tomb completed days before its architect's death — is itself unusual enough to anchor the site's reputation without embellishment.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
A short self-guided walk to the Phillips mausoleum — a 20-foot-tall structure blending Roman, Doric, Greek, and Indian architectural elements with an onion-shaped dome — within historic Oakland Cemetery.
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Tallahassee, FL
The Old City Cemetery was established in 1829 as Tallahassee's first public burial ground and expanded during the 1840s yellow-fever epidemics. It contains the graves of 19th-century politicians, enslaved people, business owners, Civil War soldiers from both sides, and yellow-fever victims. Its most-visited monument is the 1889 obelisk of Elizabeth 'Bessie' Budd-Graham.
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Historic Oakland Cemetery was chartered in 1850 as the six-acre 'Atlanta Cemetery,' renamed Oakland in 1872, and expanded to 48 acres. Approximately 70,000 people are interred, including roughly 6,900 Confederate soldiers (3,000 unidentified), four Confederate generals, six Georgia governors, 27 Atlanta mayors, Margaret Mitchell, golfer Bobby Jones, and Maynard Jackson, Atlanta's first African American mayor. The cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 28, 1976.
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