THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 17, 1994 TAG: 9409170349
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TERESA ANNAS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines
In 1916, the Christ Church Chronicle reported that yellow paint had been brushed onto the Norfolk church's clear windows:
``This will serve to temper the glare until such time as the stained glass arrives from Munich.''
Eight decades later, one of Ghent's most significant structures is again seeing the light. Renamed Christ & St. Luke's in 1935, the Episcopal church is having its 1910s stained glass windows repaired and restored.
``The leading is weakening. The glass could fall out,'' said Helen Tucker, chair of the stained glass committee.
``Our consultant warned us that a very severe storm would have our glass laying on the floor,'' added the Rev. James Sell.
On Thursday, a team of French specialists began removing nine of the windows. By Tuesday, the stained glass sections should be crated and ready for air freight to France, to be returned and reinstalled in March.
De Pirey & Duchemin, a world-renowned stained glass restoration firm with studios in Paris and Bourges, was hired earlier this year. Chartres Cathedral in France and Marble House in Newport, R.I., are among their prestigious projects.
On Friday morning, the team was removing the sixth window along the upper clerestory section on the church's south side. Golden light poured into the nave for the first time in 78 years, brightening the wooden pews and intricately carved wood and sandstone interior.
Two Frenchmen labored atop high scaffolding, loosening leaded windows from their longtime frame. The windows had been protected from the elements by clear outer windows, but the lack of air flow trapped heat and condensation. These factors weakened the leading, the gray metal strips that connect glass pieces, and could cause the windows to buckle and crack.
The Frenchmen spoke little English, but managed to convey their admiration for the windows. ``It's good quality glass and good painting,'' stressed Gilles Rousvoal, a team member.
Bruno de Pirey said the windows' original makers, Franz Mayer and Company of Munich, were ``famous glass makers, from Germany.'' The Mayer firm still produces stained glass and has a studio in Fairfield, N.J.
The first phase will cost the church about $125,000. The entire project, involving several dozen windows, is expected to take five years and cost as much as $440,000, Tucker said.
The Mayer Company made the windows in 1910. According to church records, numerous windows had to be remade or repaired after a 1915 fire. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN/
French artisan Pascal Pioche helps remove a stained glass window
high in the chapel at Christ & St. Luke's Church in Norfolk. The
church's 1910s stained glass is being repaired and restored.
by CNB