Stained Glass Conservation Project: Hopewell Church
Hopewell Church is a quaint Baptist Church in the South with a set of three beautiful stained glass windows. Recently, our the Houston Stained Glass team was hired to be part of stained glass conservation efforts for the church. Below, we’ve discussed the project in detail, including the methods we used to preserve the original historic glass as well as the outcome.
Stained Glass Restoration for Storm Damage
We were contacted by the church committee after their stained glass had suffered significant storm damage. The church had been hit by a violent storm with strong, high speed winds. The wind was so intense that it shattered some of the stained glass. Each window was made up of two panels and three out of six of the panels were completely shattered.
We worked with the church to come up with a solution for repairing the stained glass while conserving as much of the original materials as possible. Replacing these windows would have been very costly. Furthermore, because the windows were so old, they were an important part of the church’s architecture and had significant historic value.
The main problem was, however, the original glass was very difficult to match. We searched everywhere but we could not find glass that was a matching profile.
The Solution: Combining New & Old Glass
In the end, we decided that the best solution was to take all the windows apart, then use a combination of both new and old glass to rebuild all six panels. This way, all of the panels would match and have the same colors. This also allowed for the reuse of the original, historic glass.
We removed the panels, rebuilt them in our studio, and reinstalled them back in the church. Because they all matched perfectly, you couldn’t even tell that repairs had been made or that the stained glass had been damaged. The church was very satisfied with this outcome since it was both cost-effective and conservative in terms of historic preservation.
Get More Information
If you would like more information on this project or our stained glass conservation services in general, please contact our Houston team.
Martin Faith
Martin Faith is the founder and owner of Houston Stained Glass. Martin has been cultivating his skills as a stained glass artisan for over 30 years, passing on his knowledge and expertise to his team so that, together, they can create the most beautiful stained glass windows the world has ever seen. Martin's initial education in the trade took place in Glasgow, Scotland, the stained glass capitol of the world. He is an expert in the history of stained glass, its evolution, methods for conservation, and its many different styles and forms, including art deco, prairie, Greene & Greene, art nouveau, Mackintosh, floral, mission, beveled, and contemporary. Over the years, Martin's company has produced thousands of stained glass windows, which includes custom creations made for homes, churches, and commercial buildings located all throughout the Houston metro area.
