Artist Unknown Type Granite Owner Glenwood Cemetery | Year 1936 (1936) Created 1936 | |
 | ||
Dimensions 150 cm × 210 cm × 30 cm (60 in × 84 in × 12 in) Location Washington, D.C., United States | ||
The Victor S. Blundon Monument is a 1936 public artwork by an unknown artist, located at Glenwood Cemetery in Washington, D.C., United States. "Victor S. Blundon Monument" was surveyed as part of the Smithsonian Save Outdoor Sculpture! survey in 1994. It serves as the final resting place for the Blundon family.
Contents
Description
This gravestone's focal point is a relief portrait of Victor S. Blundon sitting cross-legged on the ground next to his dog. Blundon wears a suit and tie and his left arm rests upon his left knee. His right arm is around his dog which sits next to him on his right.
The sculpture is inscribed in the front center:
VICTOR BLUNDONThe proper left side of the relief is inscribed:
CAROLINE.A.HYAM 1874-1959 BESSIE.C.BEHRENS 1884-1956 CHARLES.A.SCHNEBEL 1846-1908 EMMA.A.SCHNEBEL 1856-1912The proper right side of the relief is inscribed:
FRANCIS.A.BLUNDON 1867-1939 MARY.C.BLUNDON 1873-1941 VICTOR.S.BLUNDON 1896-1936 F.EDWARD BLUNDON 1894-1938The back proper left side of the grave is inscribed:
ROBERT.B.BLUNDON 1869-1936 S.BEULAH.FINDLEY 1871-1939 GERTRUDE.W.BLUNDON WIFE OF ROBERT BROOKE 1885-1969The back proper right side of the grave is inscribed:
MINNIE.A.ASQUITH 1881-1920The center back of the grave is inscribed: BLUNDON
Information
Charles Schnebel and his wife, Emma, were born in Prussia and owned a restaurant in Washington. They were the parents of Caroline Hyam and Mary Blundon.
Frances Blundon was born in Loudoun County, Virginia on April 14, 1867. His training as an apprentice and journeyman carpenter prepared him for a career in home building. Working as an independent builder starting in 1892 his company built approximately 700 homes in D.C. during the first ten years of his career. He often worked alongside his brother, Joseph, who lived with other members of the Blundon family in their Georgetown home. On January 5, 1893 he married Mary Schnebel (born in Virginia, August, 1873) and they gave birth to two sons: Francis Edward and Victor Sylvester. Both eventually became salesmen for the elder Blundon's company.
Frances Blundon built many houses in the D.C. area, primarily in the Northwest area of Washington in areas such as Bloomingdale. His brother, Robert Blundon, also worked in real estate sales, who lived with the family in the early 1900s. In their home in the 100 block of W Street, NW, they had a live-in African-American chauffeur named Frank Payner and an African-American live-in cook named Hattie Clement. This house is now owned by the Soul Saving Center Church of God. Frances Blundon's early career was with a construction firm with two other men called Blundon, O'Brian & Belt, Inc. Located at 1220 G. Street, NW, they specialized in real estate, insurance and loans.
Frances and Mary frequented steamship vacations traveling to locations such as Bermuda in 1926. Eventually, the family moved (along with their two unmarried sons) to a 50-acre farm on Georgia Avenue in Forest Glen, Maryland in 1918 and continued to live there into the 1930s. The farm sat on property once in the Getty family. This grave depicts Victor Blundon with his beloved Irish setter.
Condition
This sculpture was surveyed in 1994 for its condition and it was described as "well maintained."