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By Jaime DeGroot
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Photo by Stacie Freudenberg
This spectacular Victorian-era door light, c. 1884 (64.5" x 24 ") can be seen at the Smith Museum of Stained Glass Windows at Navy Pier. |
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Like kids with kaleidoscopes, we peer through stained glass windows, trying to
see what’s on the other side, twisted and colored with intense hues of green,
indigo and blood red. But in the process, we can’t help but notice the looking
glasses themselves and marvel at their beauty.
Art glass windows are more than they appear. They are Chicago’s history
articulated in colorful shards. Some of the city’s crown jewels include
the glass domes in Marshall Field’s and the Chicago Cultural Center that
were designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany, and the windows in many Chicago churches
and synagogues, such as the Second Presbyterian Church, 1936 S. Michigan Ave.
Stained glass itself is a window into the diversity of this city. The windows
in churches bring to life the saints and stories of the countries from which many
of their parishioners came; commercial windows reveal the history of architecture
and decorative arts styles that made Chicago a world center of stained glass.
“If you consider the architecture of the city its complexion, the windows
are its eyes,” says Jessica Hardel, who restores religious art. She has
found herself looking out these eyes many times as she worked on projects in churches.
The rise, fall and rise of a style
Chicago wasn’t always a city of stained-glass windows. In the mid-nineteenth
century, European immigrants flocked to Chicago, seeking freedom and employment
opportunities. In 1871, the Great Chicago Fire left the city in need of massive
rebuilding at a time when stained glass was becoming popular in the United States.
Many European-trained stained-glass artists opened studios in Chicago to satisfy
this demand. This is why you can find a stained-glass window in just about every
style of home, from Victorian brownstones and graystones to arts-and-crafts bungalows.
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Photo by Stacie Freudenberg
This striking detail is part of a window on the north balcony of the Second Presbyterian Church, 1936 S. Michigan Ave. |
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The popularity of stained glass ebbed in the 1970s, when there was a general lack
of appreciation for styles that were not contemporary. But in the 1980s, stained
glass became popular again. As in the Victorian era, homeowners had an interest
in decorative excess and enough money to afford it, according to Rolf Achilles,
art historian and curator of the Smith Museum of Stained Glass Windows on Navy
Pier. People wanted to have stained glass in their homes, not just in their places
of worship and public buildings.
Everything old is new again
Stained glass is now in a period of restoration and revival in Chicago. People
are paying hundreds and even thousands of dollars to have stained glass windows
installed or refurbished, adding a bit of classical elegance to their homes.
Matthew John, owner of Class Art & Decorative Studio in Chicago, says he has
installed more than 1,000 stained-glass windows during the 40 years he has been
in the business. John’s small studio uses mainly old materials to restore
broken windows and create old-looking new ones.
Churches and businesses are following a similar trend, trying to restore their
much larger and more complicated windows and domes. Projects like the one at St.
James Chapel, 103 E. Chestnut St., take more than 10 years to complete and can
cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
You don’t have to worship there to appreciate the glorious results. Light
filters down in cobalt blues and canary yellows on parishioners, art enthusiasts
and people just walking down the street, bringing back the beauty and the history
of this city’s treasured glass. 
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By Jaime DeGroot
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Photo by Stacie Freudenberg
"The American Flag," 2001 (30" x 40"). The artist, Khaim Pinkhasik, emigrated from Russia in 1980 in pursuit of artistic freedom. This window, displayed in the Smith Museum of Stained Glass Windows, honors American liberty and the victims of Sept. 11. |
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Visitors can find a colorful sampling of old Chicago windows at the end of Navy
Pier in the Smith Museum of Stained Glass Windows. This atypical museum is an
enchanting, 800-foot hall of stained-glass windows. Light filters through the
glass, and classical music plays in the background.
In addition to displaying and preserving windows by well-known designers such
as Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Sullivan, John La Farge and Louis Comfort Tiffany,
the collection showcases the work of lesser-known artists who have not had much
public exposure. You can learn about the influence of Victorian, Munich Style
and Prairie School windows on the architecture of Chicago while peering at art
that invites you to look at it as well as through it.
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