132-year-old Tiffany window removed from Chicago church for restoration
Crews began work Tuesday restoring another Tiffany window at Second Presbyterian Church in Chicago's South Loop.
The balcony window dates back 132 years, stands more than 16 feet high, and is made up of 12,000 individual pieces of glass. It has been in place since 1893.
After being untouched for over a century, the glass was covered in dirt — making the design difficult to see.
"About 20 years ago, we started Friends of Historic Second Church, which is a separate organization run by people who are not members of the church — most of them," said the Rev. Chesna Hinkley, interim pastor at Second Presbyterian Church, "and they raise money and acquire grants, and find the time and the vendors and the service providers to restore the sanctuary."
Church leaders said the restoration process could take up to a year.
Second Presbyterian Church is located at 1936 S. Michigan Ave. The congregation was organized on June 1, 1842 — only about five years after Chicago was incorporated as a city — with 26 charter members.
The first church building was dedicated in September 1843 at the southeast corner of Clark and Randolph streets — now the site of the Richard J. Daley Center court and office building. Another building, built of limestone containing black bituminous tar deposits, was erected in January 1851 at the northeast corner of Washington Street and Wabash Avenue.
This second church was destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The current building in the South Loop was constructed to replace it between 1872 and 1874, and has been home to the church ever since — having survived a devastating fire that destroyed the interior in 1900.
The church said its building was added to the National Register of Historic Place and designated a Chicago landmark in the 1970s.
Its Tiffany windows are all being restored as part of a preservation project spearheaded by stained glass expert Tom Venturella. Friends of Historic Second Church said three other Tiffany windows — the Peace Window, the window showing St. Paul preaching at Athens, and the Mount of the Holy Cross window — have already been restored.
