The Nativity Of Our Blessed Virgin Mary is a Catholic church in Flagstaff, Arizona. The Church was finished in 1930, and largely built with the hands of the entire congregation. It is made of volcanic rock that was brought from the surrounding hills by truck and in some instances piece by piece. The church has 18 stained glass windows including the magnificent multi section triptych of "The Assumption of Mary" over the entrance.
The Assumption depicts Mary as she is raised into heaven by cherubs. The Apostles mourn her death. Some kneel by her stone sarcophagus while others look upward witnessing the glory of her Assumption. All of the stained glass windows in the church were created and installed by Jesse Earl Fink in late February, or early march of 1930. Mr. Fink worked in Los Angeles at American Glass Company. The American Glass company was responsible for many other commissions including churches in New York city, Phoenix Arizona, Shakey's Pizza Parlor, and Forrest Lawn Cemetery.
Assumption Window
The church is in dire need of restoration. The concrete structure has severe cracks and deterioration.The pink decorative concrete is severely decayed due to a volcanic contaminate in the original concrete mix (silica). However, the concrete substructure and stonework appears to be sound. Some gargoyles are missing, cracked, and or severely damaged, as are other decorative elements. The harsh winters have taken their toll of the magnificent church, yet it stands proud and firm like the pioneer families that erected her. Some years ago the Catholic church decided to move and build a larger church for it's going congregation. This left the Nativity to fend for itself. Funds have been nearly non-existent. However, thanks to an extremely ambitious, persistent, resourceful, and courageous volunteer(she prefers to remain anonymous) work is moving along.
Three years ago I performed a survey of all the windows to determine the condition, and type of restoration needed to preserve the windows for future generations to enjoy. Portions of the Assumption window were the most vulnerable. In addition the windows in the Sacristy had multiple breaks, and one had multiple pieces missing. We determined that the lower left transom of the assumption window be restored immediately as it was in dire danger of falling out. In the future when more funds were available we would work on the sacristy windows.
It took three years but last month we returned to Flagstaff to work on the sacristy windows. The sacristy windows had been dual glazed with protective acrylic. Unfortunately the acrylic was sandwiched against the stained glass leading to the advanced deterioration of the lead came. Two of the windows had multiple broken pieces, and one of the windows was heavily damaged. We repaired two of the windows, but had to bring one back to our Santa Monica studio to totally restore it. We were able to get a very good match on the amber glass using a Bullseye amber, however the olive green was much more challenging. After sending samples out to various manufactures( Wismach Glass Co., Kokomo Glass Co., Bullseye Glass) we settled on dual glazing a gray and olive green glass from Kokomo(many thanks to Cindy and Judy for their terrific customer service). The resulting color was indistinguishable from the original.
Removing window note old acrylic Here's Adamm Removed window note prior repairs to solder breaks in lead came
Completed and installed window(on right) Nice Job Wonder Woman!
Because of costs and timing we shipped the window back to Flagstaff for our noble volunteer to install. I must say she did a fantastic job with only a very short demonstration by myself while I was there. We arranged for a local glass company (Rock Glass) to install 3/8" tempered glass as protection over the two sets of windows. We made sure to leave space for
breathing room top and bottom. The glass was set in aluminum channel with the bottom resting on the steel hinge of the frame. The sides were fastened to the concrete jamb.
Installing 3/8" tempered glass protective glazing exterior glazing finished
If you would like to help with the restoration by donating funds you can get in touch at
http://www.savenativitybvm.com/
The Nativity Restoration Project
c/o The Babbitt Foundation
P.O Box 520
Flagstaff, AZ 86002
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