THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, December 21, 1995 TAG: 9512190098
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 05 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAWSON MILLS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
When dealing with things eternal, time matters not.
Work began Dec. 12 to replace the south transept window at First Presbyterian Church, Colonial and Redgate avenues. The new stained glass window, 12 feet wide by 20 feet high, is the last in a series of windows begun in 1928 by the Willet Stained Glass Studios of Philadelphia.
Originally scheduled for installation in September, work was delayed when the artist painting the glass, Nadia Shoukri, had to return to her native Egypt. Upon her return to the United States she had to reduce her work schedule. Even as the installation began, the fifth and final lancet, a major panel comprising a part of the main body of the window, had not been completed or shipped.
The completed window will depict in its lancets and tracery The Creation, with scenes featuring biblical figures from the Old Testament. Its opposite number in the north transept, installed in July, depicts The Resurrection with scenes drawn from the New Testament. Other windows in the series depict biblical and religious scenes, figures and symbols.
The lancets are the major vertical panels comprising the lower portions of the windows. Tracery refers to the variously shaped smaller panels found at the top.
The Willet windows are in a style using vivid and brilliant colors and more detail than was found in the windows they replace. The previous windows, by J&R Lamb Studios of New York, were installed when the sanctuary was constructed in 1911-12 and featured opalescent glass similar to that used by Tiffany. Opalescent glass was popular for church windows around the turn of the century; much of it remains today.
The life expectancy of a stained glass window, according to installer Thomas Hlavecek, who, with his son, Scott, came from Sussex, N.J., to put in the new window, is approximately 80 to 120 years. Older windows, he pointed out, can be restored or replaced.
Hlavacek hoped that the missing lancet would arrive last week so that he would not have to make a second trip to complete the installation on Christmas Eve. If all of the glass arrived in time, he anticipated completing the project by the end of last week.
The senior pastor, Dr. J. Shepherd Russell Jr., visited Willet's studios in Philadelphia about a year before the current project began.
``It's fascinating to see how they're made,'' he recalled. ``Crosby Willet went back to his file and pulled out correspondence going back to the 1920s. It's exciting to me to be a part of the culmination and to think back to the vision people had in the 1920s.''
Willet Studios was founded by William Willet, a leader in the American Gothic movement that brought stained glass to America similar to that found in the great European churches and cathedrals. His son, Henry Lee Willet, continued the business and furnished the first Willet windows to the Norfolk church. On his death, the firm was sold to Houser Art Glass Co., although Crosby Willet, grandson of the founder, continues to serve as president as he had since the '60s. Crosby Willet was responsible for the final two windows.
Only one original Lamb window remains, in the church tower. It is, however, more in the style of the Willet windows than the others that were installed when the church was built. That window is scheduled for a complete restoration, including re-leading, in the near future. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by HUY NGUYEN
Scott Hlavacek of Willet Stained Glass Studios works on replacing a
window at First Presbyterian Church.
by CNB