The project began by B&Z Electric removing the six art-glass under-balcony light fixtures on the south side, and the large narthex fixture consisting of an eight-foot long decorative metal bar from which are suspended seven Arts and Crafts styled metal lanterns. These fixtures were taken to the Archistoric Studio for cleaning, repair and rewiring. The old 1901 cloth covered wiring connecting to the fixtures was pulled out and new wiring was installed. With the large narthex fixture out of the way, painting of the narthex ceiling, walls and decorative plaster ribbing could begin. Painters from National Decorating Service worked over a period of two weeks to clean and restore the narthex to the original colors. Take a look when you next visit the church. The fixtures and the narthex walls shine as they did in 1901. Next up will be the painting of the Narthex tile floor.
The Crown Chandeliers
Among the many unique features of Second Presbyterian Church are its 10 highly distinctive “crown chandeliers,” which are hung from angel brackets high above the south and north balconies. Each of the Arts & Crafts-style chandeliers feature a crown studded by 10 bare light bulbs framed by angel wings. The crown is topped by ten tall finials (or candle tubes) with glass shaded bulbs. The chandeliers are suspended from a decorative iron chain strung with three additional light fixtures. As with most of the church’s distinctive lighting fixtures, the crown chandeliers were designed by architect Howard Van Doren Shaw in 1901, in collaboration with pioneer lighting designer Willy H. Lau.
Last year, thanks to a grant from the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, Friends of Historic Second Church was able to remove one of the chandeliers to see if it was possible to easily rewire and restore the 120-year old fixtures. Rewiring of the church’s many original light fixtures has been a priority of Friends, given the threat that electrical fires have posed to other historic churches. The success of that chandelier pilot project (see Spring 2022 issue of The Herald) convinced the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation to fund a complete restoration and rewiring of the church’s other nine crown chandeliers.
In January, Gilco Scaffolding Co. erected a 35- foot-tall scaffold atop the steel-framed south balcony. The multi-tiered scaffold enabled the electrical contractor, B&Z Electric, to carefully detach and lower the five south chandeliers to the church floor, where they were collected by Archistoric Products for in-studio restoration, including cleaning, repair, and rewiring. With the crown chandeliers removed, B&Z Electric then replaced the cloth-covered 1901-era wiring connecting all five chandeliers with new wiring, as well as an expanded electrical panel that will provide better efficiencies and improved fire safety. Fortunately, the old wiring had been housed in steel conduit, which has made replacement much easier.
In early February, while the chandeliers were being restored, Parma Conservation took advantage of the still-extant scaffolding to carefully clean and repair the five plaster angel brackets that support the chandeliers. (Parma was the firm responsible for last year’s cleaning and restoration of Frederic Clay Bartlett’s “Tree of Life” mural, which dominates the front wall of the sanctuary; see Fall 2022 issue of The Herald.)
One of the unexpected discoveries of the angel bracket restoration effort is that each of the angels, which are situated just below the church’s rose-colored clerestory windows, actually feature different colors of tunic, including yellow, green, blue, and rose. These vivid colors had not been visible for nearly a century due to accumulated dirt and soot. After the restored and rewired chandeliers were reinstalled in late-February, Gilco took down the south balcony scaffolding and reerected it in the north balcony, so that the restoration and rewiring of its crown chandeliers—and angel brackets—can be completed, hopefully by Easter Sunday. Once the crown chandelier project has been completed, our electrical attention will turn to rewiring of the remaining under-balcony light fixtures, as well as the rectilinear chandelier in the church narthex (entry lobby).
Many thanks to the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, as well as to the four companies that assisted in this complex restoration effort.
Photo credit: Thomas Melvin
Oriel Window
Wiss, Janney, Elstner, Associates, Inc (WJE) will perform the investigation. WJE will perform a visual survey on interior and exterior conditions and document with photography and field sketches. An infrared camera may be used to assess possible areas of moisture infiltration. One or two openings may be made in the interior plaster at the ceiling and/or exterior wall to document and review underlying conditions. It may also be necessary to make an opening in the wood floor to review floor framing. WJE will perform water testing, likely with a spray rack or nozzle, to determine sources of water infiltration. Pieces of exterior cladding will likely need to be removed for the analysis; these pieces can be replaced after completion of the work. Any minor repairs – such as applying sealant - that could be performed during the investigation to minimize water infiltration.
Photo credit: Jill Tunier
Tree of Life
This mural, the largest executed in the sanctuary by Frederic Clay Bartlett, presents three key moments from the Old and New Testaments. At the base is the Tree of Life representing the Garden of Eden with its stylized foliage and color palette that sets the tone for the entire artwork. Above the garden is a rainbow, representing God’s promise with Noah after the Great Flood. The top of the mural consists of a procession of angels taken from the Book of Revelation, which follows the line of the massive arch framing the mural, and is set beneath the heavens and a glittery starry night. The mural will be cleaned, repaired and brought back to its original 1903 appearance. Bartlett’s Tree of Life provides the first impression of the church’s magnificent Arts and Crafts interior and its restoration will highlight the significance of this National Historic Landmark church.
This transformational conservation work was accomplished by Parma Conservation, Inc.; National Decorating Service; Archistoric Products, B & Z Electric, and Gilco Scaffolding.
Cleaning of the angel wings revealed over 100 years of dirt and that the wings had been painted another color over Frederic Clay Bartlett’s original design.
Angel robes are white under the varnish and additional layer of paint.
Photo credit of whole Tree of Life Mural: Martin Cheung
St. Paul Preaching at Athens
Section D and Section G Before and After
Section G
Pictured left is Reverend Arthur Mitchell to which the St. Paul Preaching at Athens window is dedicated. It is believed that Rev. Mitchell is the inspiration for St. Paul’s face.
St. Paul’s face was too far damaged to be cleaned and re-painted. An artist has been hired to paint a new head for St. Paul.
Faces before and after cleaning.
This is an exterior shot of one of the faces in the window. The first photo shows the dirty clear backplate of the face once it is out of the leading. The second photo shows the amount dirt that has complied behind the clear face back plate and the last photo shows the clear face backplate totally cleaned.
This shot will give you an idea of just how many plate layers are in this window. These are just some of the layers in place. Achieving the right amount of layers for an artisan to make it what it looks like to a human eye. How? And what makes it even more complicated, all of the pieces in one layer are not all identical shapes. Some of them extend to other neighboring pieces, and some are smaller than the overall shape of the set! This is by far the most complicated window we have ever encountered ~Venturella Studio
Outlined in magenta are on the left hand side are Greek letters that spell Unknown God. The letters have been in-painted. In addition to the letters after cleaning in the second magenta outline are a couple walking to the alter of the Unknown God. The couple was so dirty that no one knew they existed.
Section D
Finished Sections
Jim Murphy re-leads Section D
In this section, the sky does not match the original nor does the highlighted piece that says, "this should match original." The highlighted piece has an interesting back story. It was painted black at some point. Tiffany windows typically have several layers of glass and the piece that would have been the layer behind the black piece is missing. It was never replaced and with the black paint, no one recognized that the back plate was gone. Venturella Studio believes that these repairs were done when the window was moved from First Presbyterian to Second and installed in 1927. To correct these issues, Venturella Studio has found similar pieces to the original Tiffany glass at Kokomo Opalescent Glass. Original Tiffany glass has been out of production for almost 100 years so it is not easy to find exact replacement glass. This happened in the restoration of the Peace Window and is not a rare occurrence in older windows.
Photo showing the Venturella Studio replacement from Kokomo Glass and the original Tiffany.
Jim Murphy getting Section D ready for re-leading.
Glass Above Athens Cleaning.
Tom Venturella and Jim Murphy take apart the glass above the Athens skyline in the stained glass window St. Paul Preaching at Athens. We see that most of the leads holding the glass will be replaced. The glass that is broken has not been trimmed or smoothed down by a grozing iron. The glass if broken from wear and age will have a clean edge to reglue back together making it appear as there never was anything broken. The dirt collects between the glass panels and you see how clean it becomes. Venturella Studios uses a gentle cleaner stronger than windex that does not scratch or harm the glass.
This amber colored piece is a backplate to the steps. Here is was removed. This shows the dirt before cleaning.
Each “section” of the window is taken out of the crate, photographed, and visually inspected before being taken apart piece by piece. At the same time a rubbing of the section is done, much like when as a child you might have gone to the cemetery and used a black crayon to rub a gravestone. This step will be taken for each of the 22 sections of the window.
This panel is in such fragile condition Venturella Studio was unable to put it in the easel for transmitted light photos. They will use the in-situ shots for transmitted light.
The amber backplate piece is in place cleaned and over the steps.
Removal
John Clark removing part of the window.
Tom Venturella and Jim Murphy were back at Second Presbyterian Church in late March disassembling another of the church's monumental Tiffany windows to commence a full restoration. It seems like only yesterday that Friends embarked on the restoration of the Peace Window, the completion of which represented the largest preservation project by Friends since being founded in 2006. During the restoration of The Peace Window, many cast a nervous eye at the St Paul Window, after Peace the window in the most fragile condition. And Friends worried that with so many priceless Tiffany windows in desperate need of restoration, we might not be able to raise enough funds to save them all in time. It was Richard Driehaus who stepped in and kicked off the St. Paul Window fundraising when, during a celebration to mark the completion of the restoration of The Peace Window, he publicly announced his intention to fund a major portion of the project. s. The project was further assisted when a second large gift was received in memory of Mae B. and James D. Hinchliff. Additional donations totaling $142,000 completed the fundraising. In all, generous gifts from 96 donors helped ensure the full funding of the project within just three years of the completion of The Peace Window restoration.
Of course, a project like this involves more than just the restoration of the window itself, additional work will include removal of the window and transportation to NYC, insurance, the temporary window infill, repair of the exterior masonry and brick arch, restoration of the plaster and repainting, reconstruction of the structural steel support frame and installation of protective Houdini glazing at the exterior of the window, amongst other things.
Jim Murphy removing the bottom of St. Paul Preaching at Athens
During the window removal, Tom and Jim made several interesting observations about the St. Paul window.The support frame installed at Second Presbyterian Church is not original. The team discovered evidence that the window as originally installed at First Presbyterian had individual panels stacked one on top of the other and tied together with tie wires. While horizontal saddle bars spanned from jamb to jamb to provided additional support, the lower panels bore much of the weight of the panels above. When the window was installed at Second Presbyterian in 1927, a T bar frame was added to help hold the weight of each panel. A Tiffany frame responds to the scene depicted; structural members are bent to conform to the glass so as not to interrupt the image. The T bar frame at Second Presbyterian is a gridiron with bars cutting across the window, particularly noticeable where one crosses the neck of St Paul. The new structural frame will use bent bars to no longer disrupt the scene. The placement of bars will attempt to replicate the location of original saddle bars, to the extent possible, by investigating for signs of tie wires on the caming which indicate the locations of the original saddle bars.
Within the St. Paul window itself, there is evidence of some glass replacement. The most surprising replacement may be the face of St Paul itself. Other possible replacement glass occurs by Athena’s shield and in a portion of the sky.
We are excited about new discoveries that will be made during the meticulous analysis and restoration of the St Paul window. During the Peace Window restoration, it was quite a thrill to uncover a long-lost Tiffany signature, buried behind the plaster sill. The salvaged piece of mud wasp nest extracted from that window is still in the Friends’ archive. In addition to Tom and Jim from Venturella Studio, the project benefits from the expertise of staff from Wiss, Janey, Elstner, Inc; Bulley Andrews Masonry Restoration, LLC; Kelly Plastering; and John Clark of Wardell Art Glass.
Feasibility Study and Restoration of One Balcony Chandelier - 2022
B & Z Electric to remove and reinstall the light fixture. Then Archistoric, a historic light conservator company based in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood, will clean and repair the fixture and rewire it at their studios. While the chandelier is at the Archistoric Studio, B & Z Electric will examine the condition of the electric wiring and conduit leading to the fixture and then remove the old 1901 cloth and knob wiring and replace it with up-to-standard wiring from the fixture to the electric panel in the balcony. B & Z will also bring that northside electric panel up to code. (This is part of the Fund for Sacred Places electrical work to be paid by that campaign.) They will then reinstall the chandelier. While the scaffolding is in place and before the chandelier is reinstalled, Parma Conservation will examine the angel bracket holding the chandelier, clean it and do such touch-up painting or repair as is necessary. Gilco Scaffolding will erect and remove the scaffolding. This work will provide a blueprint to follow for the restoration of the remaining nine chandeliers.
This project is funded by The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation
Photo credit: Martin Cheung
Under Balcony Lights - 2021
B&Z Electric
New wiring and mount.
In February, as part of a demonstration project, the first of these light fixtures was restored by Archistoric Products, a 98-year-old Chicago company best known for their restoration of light fixtures at the Civic Opera House, the Driehaus Museum, Union Station, and Unity Temple.
In early April, after the fixture was cleaned, stabilized, and rewired, it was reinstalled under the rear (east) balcony, along with a safer and more durable mounting system and new wiring to replace the old cloth wiring inside steel conduit. At the same time, the other two light fixtures under the rear balcony were removed and, following their restoration, they are expected to be reinstalled by this summer. (All of the electrical work is being done by B&Z Electric.)
This light fixture restoration project is being dedicated to the memory of longtime Friends of Historic Second Church docent Karen Oliver, who died unexpectedly in August 2020. Once this initial demonstration phase is completed, fundraising will begin for the restoration and rewiring of the 12 other ceiling fixtures lining the undersides of the north and south balconies
Completed restoration of light.
Bartlett Arch Mural above St. Paul Preaching at Athens (2020)
The Frederic Clay Bartlett mural in the southeast corner of the balcony was cleaned in July. In addition to the expected consolidation of underlying plaster and removal of 100 years of dirt from figures and flora in the mural, there were some surprises. During the course of cleaning some past restorations were discovered. High on the West wall, an angel on plaster had been completely repainted in oils. There are no known records of who completed the restoration or when. Pomegranate motifs directly facing the restored angel were similarly discovered to have been restored. In both cases, repainting was mismatched and rendered crudely. An adjacent composition was traced and transferred to the previously restored/repainted areas. Wherever the tracings overlapped with undamaged areas, they matched precisely. Thanks to a generous grant from The Service Club of Chicago for supporting this work.
Narthex Lunettes (2019)
Originally painted in 1901 by Almini Company, the murals have been compromised by a heavy layer of dirt and grime with decades of airborne pollutants from fossil fuel heating, candles and other airborne accretions. The conservation process consisted of a re-cohesion of the “paint” and/or pigment to the existing plaster, as well as a re-cohesion of the plaster to itself is the aim of this consolidation. Cleaning consisted of the removal of all unoriginal products, dirt, varnish, paints, fills, and/or previous restorations. Holes, gouges, scratches and other losses were compensated with gesso. After these procedures, the murals were varnished. Areas of previous paint loss was color matched and in-painted. The entire painted surface reads homogeneously and was brought back to its best state-of-conservation.
