The Frazer Mausoleum
The Frazer Mausoleum, once the resting place of the Frazer family, is the largest and most iconic monument in Rookwood Necropolis, and a one-of-a-kind structure in Australia. John Frazer was an Irish-born merchant, company director and philanthropist who arrived in Sydney in 1842 as a bounty immigrant. He ran several businesses, with John Frazer & Co. becoming one of the most influential mercantile houses in Sydney.
John and Elizabeth Frazer commissioned Maurice B. Adams to design the mausoleum, built in 1894 for £5,000 (approximately $1 million in 2024 currency). The building is constructed from Pyrmont Sandstone known as "Yellowblock", which deepens to a honey-yellow colour as it oxidises with age. The architecture was described as "high Victorian Byzantine Gothic" with a dome of Byzantine or Moorish influence and gargoyles of French influence.
