Windows Restoration
After 100-plus years, you’d probably need some work done, too!
About 2 years ago now, we noticed some issues with a couple of our beautiful stained-glass windows, the most concerning was severe bowing in the lanterns or long paneled areas of glass in the East Transept window. Where to turn for such a daunting task of repair? Thanks to colleagues and Tiffany experts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Neustadt Gallery of Tiffany Glass, BCC learned that the window collection was historic, important, and in need of preservation. As the next step, BCC engaged Liberty Stained-Glass Consulting, whose approach is to provide ethical treatment and conservation of historic windows.
Armed with an Existing Conditions report and Scope of Work from Liberty, BCC hired Femenella & Associates. a contracting firm with 30 years of practical experience conserving artistically important stained glass for museums, educational institutions, and ecclesiastical buildings. In early 2024, they began work on a proposed three-phase, multi-year restoration project.
During their examination of the windows, Liberty found a number of concerns, including crizzled glass (glass with a network of fine cracks visible to the eye), lead carbonate, paint loss, significant bowing and slippage, untreated breaks, and poorly administered repairs. And of course, just decades of built-up dirt and grime. Liberty also determined that the aging laminated glass was starting to fail and that the protective covering really should ideally be replaced with isothermal
protective glazing. Liberty further prioritized the windows in order of need.
Phase I. Liberty identified three of BCC’s most at-risk windows. First, each window was carefully photographed inside and out for documentation, and each panel or lancet marked with labels for identification later. After cutting through caulking and putty to access and pull off the protective Plexiglas, the crew carefully gouged out more caulking, removed nails and glaziers’ points, and after checking for any impediment to its release, gently tapped, wriggled, and then finally lifted each panel free. The removal was done with great care and planning, including applying curatorial tape across some of the more at-risk panels.
The East transept, a gorgeous 1929 landscape window by John Hardman Studios, suffered from severe bowing or warping in two of its lanterns as well as some upper tracery windows. Each of the larger pieces taken out for restoration had three distinct sections. Flattening was achieved by simply laying the window down and letting it “relax” back into flat, or by adding weights to the lead channeling to gently pressure the pane and have it gradually to return to its original conformation. The window commemorating Calvin Luther also needed attention. It was discovered that the panel with Martin’s head was slipping, and that the exterior putty bevel had cracked. Sections had fallen and were stuck between the stained glass and protective glazing.
The window receiving the most attention was our magnificent South window, called “Joseph and his Brethren.” A Tiffany gem, it is the oldest and most complex window design-wise. Given by Walter Law in memory of his business partner, W. J. Sloane in 1898, the window suffered from bowing, crizzled or cracked glass, funky silicone repairs, and degradation of the painted lettering. The multiple layers of glass, or plating, made the window extremely heavy and difficult to maneuver.
Taken to a stained-glass restoration-studio for cleaning and repair, the window showed evidence of poor annealing, or cooling, as well as cracks and warped pieces. There were a number of stunning discoveries. The Egyptian wall carving or bas relief panels relating the story of food delivery to Joseph’s family yielded an astonishing find: a purple acid-etched panel silhouetting the figures in the scene. The panels with writing had three layers of glass each, some appeared to be mismatching. The team discussed what the intention of the color layering might have been, to decide how to best move forward in the conservation process, with the goal to make the panels more consistent. The lettering, which had deteriorated, was rehabbed in a sympathetic way so the words could all be read without looking brand new.
With the cleaning, repair and addition of a glass border to fill the space of the removed wooden ventilators, the colors, details and textures of the Joseph window are more brilliant and luminescent than ever before. The window truly has been restored to glory.
And now it’s on to Phase II—the restoration of a 1906 Tiffany landscape window designed by Agnes Northrop, the premier landscape designer at Tiffany Studios for 50 years. Northrop also designed the exquisite “Garden Landscape” and Autumn Landscape windows on display at the Met. This massive window will cost about $150,000 to remove, examine, repair, clean and reinstall. To achieve this next phase BCC is relying on financial support from members, friends, and community at large who appreciate the historic importance of all of the stained-glass windows in its collection.
