London should be at the forefront of cities in regard to planning for the dead. After all, in London, there is barely room enough for the living
The final respite for the dead might have been situated in a different spot in London had Thomas Wilson gotten his way. In the 1820s, the architect proposed to build a colossal pyramid called the Metropolitan Sepulchre. Sited for Primrose Hill, today a park area in North London, the necropolis was designed to alleviate the overpopulation of London's graveyards while adding a looming monument to mortality to the city's skyline.
With the Metropolitan Sepulchre, Wilson envisioned a honeycomb of catacombs, each one capable of holding up to 24 coffins. The whole structure would have occupied a plot 18 acres in area; at more than 90 stories tall, it would have easily eclipsed St. Paul's Cathedral.
While it may have been inspired by the Great Pyramid at Giza, this necropolis was meant to be a true city of the dead, not just a palace for a pharaoh. The British pyramid would have served as the final resting grounds for some 5 million Londoners had the city gone with Wilson.
It's something of a surprise that tastes didn't swing in Wilson's direction. London in the 1820s was seized by a fever for Egyptiana.