Tiffany Window

In the 1980's our church built a new, larger sanctuary... abandoning the old one to basically sit empty until a couple of years ago. The room, which holds about 150 people, has been renovated and now is a beautiful, vintage room for weddings, funerals and receptions. This smaller sanctuary is full of stained glass windows, one of which is a true Tiffany, complete with number and registration. It was commissioned by Whitelaw Reid in memory of his father in 1895. The window was completed and shipped from the Tiffany Studios in New York City to Cedarville, Ohio in 1902.

Being 106 years old when the sanctuary was renovated,

you can imagine that it needed some work itself!

The professionals were called in, Beau Verre-Riordan

Stained Glass Studios from Middletown, Ohio.

This studio was established in 1838 and they actually

had done the original installation back in 1902.

It took 10 months to refurbish the 18 foot window.

All the lead had to be replaced, using a unique

Tiffany lead, thick enough to hold the heavy glass.

I stopped in and watched on several occassions

as each piece was painstakingly removed,

returned to their studio for work and then

returned and put into place by soldering the lead.

This large medalion piece has 2000 glass pieces in it.

Each are cut, chemically processed and layered

to reflect light. In the sun the pieces sparkle! It was

very difficult to capture with my little camera, but you

can see some of the shimmering in the angel's wings.

When the 6 men were there to reinstall this medalion

piece, they were so nervous in it's lifting (heavy!)

and concerned not to drop it, that they asked that

nobody be there with them to watch.

I don't blame them one bit!

There is a sister window

on the opposite side of the room...same size and shape

with gold and brown colors, but not a Tiffany.

The restoration took 10 months and $35,000 but

it makes the room and was certainly worth it!

The line you see on the right side is an electrical cable outside the window. :)