Ivy Lawn Memorial Park is unique. It is the ONLY Historic District Cemetery in Ventura County!
We are proud to be selected for this honor as the criterion states “A cemetery is eligible if it derives its primary significance from graves of persons of transcendent importance, from age, from distinctive design features, or from association with historic events.”
Ivy Lawn Memorial Park is the final resting place for the largest percentage of historically significant individuals in all of Ventura county. Today there are over 50,000 individuals interred at Ivy Lawn.
Ivy Lawn Cemetery was the very first Lawn Park Cemetery in Ventura County and was specifically designed to serve the needs of both Ventura and Oxnard. The large expansive grassy areas, the circulation patterns of winding roads, the landscape, the monuments and family mausoleums are elements of the character of the cemetery.
A coalition of forces made Ivy Lawn a reality began in the Spring of 1913. Prominent leading businessmen formed a corporation in 1917 called the Ivy Lawn Cemetery Association.
Ivy Lawn is a concentrated collection and microcosm of 19th and 20th century individuals, military veterans, architecture, art iconography and symbolism. Often original monuments made the move with the people. The cemetery evolved over the decades it reflected the changing times in both architecture and societal culture. Along with new interments, cemetery records reveal that many people were moved from other cemeteries to Ivy Lawn. From 1917 through 1960’s hundreds of individuals were relocated from the Ventura Cemetery, and nearly of the occupants of the Springville Cemetery.
It is notable that at Ivy Lawn Memorial Park the astute business practices and financial guidance of the Board of Directors has enabled the cemetery to remain an independent non-profit corporation directed by community leaders. Today the majority of cemeteries are owned and operated by large for-profit corporations.
The current Board of Directors are guided by the same spirit of the founding members and envision Ivy Lawn as a public service. This makes Ivy Lawn Memorial Park unique.
What Makes Ivy Lawn Special?
The pastoral setting of Ivy Lawn Memorial Park contains elements of the cemetery sections, pathways, roadways, mausoleums, tombstones, monuments, columbarium and crypts have all retained their original design.
In 1964 Ivy Lawn built its mausoleum which was reported “to be the first of its kind in the county”. It is now one of the most significant classically designed Mid Century Modern structures in Ventura County. Its clean lines are ornamented with a structural enclosure that represents tress reaching to heaven. It has a floor to ceiling mosaic mural which depicts the progression from beginning of life to eternity.
Our chapel, also Mid Century Modern design, has exquisite examples of stained glass art.
Ivy Lawn has many exceptional examples of funerary architecture in the form of sculptures, memorials, monuments and abundant examples in the tombstones.
Ongoing Care and Maintenance
Ivy Lawn Memorial Park is an Endowment Care cemetery. What does this mean?
An endowment care fund is created as a portion of the price paid for an interment is deposited right into an account that is used for the care of the cemetery into the foreseeable future.
The funds are protected by law and are allowed to be invested very conservatively. Only income from the funds may be withdrawn to help defray the ongoing costs of cemetery upkeep and maintenance.
At Ivy Lawn Memorial Park we know the importance of a well maintained cemetery is crucial. We understand that grieving does not end on the day of interment. Your burial site is a kind of sanctuary, a place for family and friends to mourn, to remember and celebrate a loved one. We work together with you to ensure that the site continues to be beautifully maintained now and into the future.
How is Ivy Lawn Memorial Park Unique?
Ivy Lawn Memorial Park endowment care charges are more than the minimum that the state statute requires as a minimum deposit into the endowment care fund. In addition, Ivy Lawn Memorial Park’s Board of Directors protects the endowment care funds by strategically investing them to maximize the income generated from endowment care funds.
Why is Endowment Care Important?
We must plan for the time that we are not here any longer which translates into planning for the future care of the cemetery. Planning prevents letting things slide!
Families perceive the amount of honor and respect given to their loved ones by how well the cemetery is maintained. Also, customers will make the decision, in part, based on their feelings as they visit the property.
Cemeteries are significant cultural and historical resources that need to be maintained with the utmost respect. If Ivy Lawn Memorial Park is a place for the living to honor their past today, there will be a better chance that you will see us as an important place for your loved one in the future!
Ivy Lawn Memorial Park is responsible for the maintenance of ground cover, trees, landscaping, roads, and maintenance of cemetery property and buildings.
For Endowment Care pricing information, please click here. All pricing information is subject to change without notice. For more information please visit our Consumer Guide.