- Credibility:
SOUTH LOOP — A $312,000, yearlong restoration of a 115-year-old stained glass window at an historic South Loop church is complete, returning it to its previous glory.
The 16-foot-high by 8.5-foot-wide “Peace” window at the Second Presbyterian Church, 1936 S. Michigan, was designed by Tiffany Studios in 1903.
The window contains more than 7,500 individual pieces of glass, and each had to be separately restored.
“The restoration of this window was a labor-intensive project. There was one hundred years of dirt to clean off thousands of pieces of glass,” said Tom Venturella of Venturella Studio of New York, which did the restoration.
“Pieces of glass were cracked and missing. Each piece of glass had to be delicately cleaned by hand.”
The window came down in June 2017. It was disassembled into 15 sections and driven to New York.
The “Peace” window was donated to the church in honor of Silas B. Cobb, a Chicago pioneer, according to Friends of Historic Second Church, which raised the money for the work from 177 donors over five years.
The window is based on a 13th Century European design, and includes a depiction of an angel holding a banner banner that reads “Peace,” the group said.
Here are some photos of the restoration:
Credit: Friends of Historic Second Church
Credit: Friends of Historic Second Church
Credit: Friends of Historic Second Church
Credit: Friends of Historic Second Church
Credit: Friends of Historic Second Church
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