AdammsGallery

Stained Glass Restoration-Grace Church of Orange

 

BEFORE , Note buckling, and twisted zinc came divider

Early September 2011 we(Adamm's Stained Glass, Santa Monica, CA.) completed the restoration of the stained glass entry for Grace Church of Orange, Orange, California. We removed the entry stained glass, boarded up the openings, and brought them to our studio.

Once we had them in the studio we disassembled them removing all the leading and then cleaned the glass.The lead was a variety of 1/4", 1/2" and 5/8" wide. Many of the pieces were broken, so we either re-leaded in at the beaks or replaced the pieces completely. Matching the variety of colors was not a problem as the windows were just over 50 years old. Much of the glass we either had in stock or was easily available. We generally use Mad Dog Stained Glass(Van Nuys ,CA), or Hollander Glass(Stanton, CA) as our suppliers. However, if necessary we will use Bendheim, Kokomo Opalescent , Uroborus, or Bullseye Glass directly.

It is interesting to note that the side light panels did not have reinforcing bars. As a result the panels were creasing(bending) on the diagonal leading. When we re leaded we added reinforcing bars along the lead lines. The panels originally were installed using 3/4" zinc came as dividers. These cames did not hold up over the years and the panels were bowing and twisting from the weight.When we reinstalled the central panels we used 1" T bar for support between the panels. This relieves the pressure on the bottom panels and makes them much more sturdy. The windows cleaned up like gemstones. We were told that the congregation was greatly relieved to see the windows restored. Evidently they were very weary of walking under them with their condition being so dangerous. They were very pleased with the results, and we were very gratified .

AFTER

 

Stained Glass Restoration at the 2nd Church of Christ, Scientist Los Angeles

 

 

 

 

  

   
 
 
 

Adamm's Stained Glass, Santa Monica continues work on the Christian Science Church at 946 West Adams in Los Angeles.  This area, close to the University of Southern California, is known as the West Adams Historical District. Currently we are continuing to work removing , releading, and installing the windows on the rotunda of the Church.  These windows are 104 feet above the ground level.  Fortunately we are using a lift to gain access to the roof and the windows.  For safety we have two sets of cables that surround the rotunda. Wearing climbing harnesses for safety, we are able to attach our lifelines to the cables during the removal and installation process.

     The 100 year old windows, that measure 44' x 84" ' acually come apart in pieces.  This is certainly not uncommon in such old windows.  The fact that these windows have been exposed directly to the elements for 100 years ceretainly explains their condition. With the window apart in pieces we load the pieces into  special crates and then lower them to the ground on the lift.  The lead is recycled.

     The restored windows are loaded into a crate that is tied to the lift and raised up to the rooftop.  Once there we are able to remove the completed window and install it in the opening.

     The windows weight 72 pounds.  The crate weighs  about 135 pounds.  With the maximum weight for the lift of 400 pounds you can understand why the lift is remotly operated to raise and lower the windows.

     We have been removing and installing the windows four at a time.  The complete rotunda has 32 windows, although half had been releaded previously.

   This is an interesting job, and the view from the roof top is magnificent.

Stained Glass Restoration, 2nd Church of Christ, Scientist Los Angeles

 
We bid on this project  about nine months ago when The Art of Living foundation was thinking of buying the 21,000+ square foot building.There is extensive stained glass throughout the building. The entry and all four stairwells have stained glass windows and skylights.  The sanctuary has nine very large windows with transoms.  The there are the classrooms, bathrooms, offices, and huge meeting hall. To top it off the 104 foot high dome is topped with a 32 window rotunda with each window being approximate 4 feet by 8 feet.

The Church is located in the historic West Adams area of Los Angeles. It was completed exactly 100 years ago this year, and is surrounded by numerous 100 year old large homes and mansions. Most of these either have been or are in the process of being restored to their former magnificence. Just down the street on Chester Place is the Doheny Mansion which we finished restoring just last year. Located in an area that has been notorious for vandalism the church's stained glass windows have not stood up well under a bombardment of wine and beer bottles.

We started restoring the windows in the North stairwells.  Fortunately, we were able to get a very good match on the glass from both Bullseye Glass Company in Portland,Oregon, and Kokomo Opalescant Glass Company in Kokomo , Indiana. We removed the windows by passing them through the opening and carrying them out on a piece of plywood.  The installation of the restored windows were done the same way.  We did use a bucket lift to place our men on the ledge of the window and back them up for safety. The ledge is quite deep.

You can see from the photos how badly the windows were damages.The other window was missing most of the bottom quarter. Surprisingly, the lead for most of the window was in good shape.We did not have to relead except in some areas where wine bottles had torn the leading away. The window frames and sash were also in pretty good shape and will need little restoration other than stripping and painting.  We primed and painted the detail area of the sash and the moulding.

  The next project was the repair of broken and missing pieces in the sanctuary.  I will cover this in another blog.

Stained Glass Restoration Of St. Joseph's Chapel at Santa Teresita

   

These are unphotoshopped images of one set of 80 stained glass windows restored at S. Joseph's Chapel at Santa Teresita in Duarte, California.The left image is before restoration and the right image is after.  We replaced one broken and partially missing piece.  We painted this piece with black matte glass paint( Manufactured by Reusche) to match the original design. The piece was fired in our kiln at 1250 degrees.

In total we replaced nine pieces that were partially missing.  These all required painting to match the originals. All were painted with black paint and were either shaded, painted to depict flowers with shaded background, and in one case a hand.  Approximately twelve pieces were glued using hextel glass epoxy.

Finally, all windows in the lower sanctuary were cleaned with nonionic soap and water. The rotunda has a total of sixteen windows which were cleaned on the outside.  This included extensive cleanup from white silicon layered over the edges for waterproofing.  In most of the windows the silicon covered up to 2 1/2 " of the border. These were cleaned and sealed properly. All windows were checked  and puttied when necessary. At this point we have been called back to restore an additional window  in the convalescent home on the grounds.

The restoration of the windows was part of a total restoration of the hospital, buildings, and chapel at Santa Teresita by Slater Builders of Costa Mesa, California.