Loss of Painted Glass

I was called out to look at a broken door panel by a landlord.  The flat is in one of the currently less wealthy parts of Glasgow. The request was for a repair or replacement.

The painted glass was broken from the lock across the whole glass in several places.  The options were to make a copy or replace with plain glass.  The landlord decided that it was too expensive for a replacement copy and replaced the window with plain laminated glass.

This door shows that the area was once a prosperous area of the city during its industrial flourishing.  It is not a large flat, probably built in the period 1900-1915. The status of the area at the time it was built is also shown by the stair window that remains.

Although some parts of the window show the deterioration of the paint work, it is still in reasonable condition.  These windows are of a quality that deserves to be preserved, but because they are not in the grander parts of the city, they do not receive the grants to assist in their preservation that are available in those other areas.

This failure to recognise the glass heritage that remains in the poorer areas of the city will lead to the decrease in the variety of glass preserved from the great industrial period of Glasgow.

Vandalism on Historic Windows

I was called out to view and advise on the necessary repairs to an historic window recently.

Right side light undamaged

As I approached the building, I finally knew where the image a photographer had given me years ago as he was cleaning out his files.  He did not remember where the photo was taken other than in Glasgow.

The painted and leaded figure of the right panel.

This pair of windows are almost certainly designed by David Gauld (1865-1936) "an important Scottish artist (in both oils and stained glass), being one of the great innovators within the Glasgow Boys. a painter who designed a number of windows for stained glass firms in the 19th century". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Gauld

He was one of the group of artists known as the "Glasgow Boys" and did most of his stained glass designs for Guthrie and Wells.  These elements make this window one of the important windows from the period in private hands.

Of course, vandals do not question the beauty or importance of the objects they deface or destroy.  In this case the painted figure was left undisturbed, but the lower parts were badly damaged.

Upper part of the damaged section of the left panel

Lower section of the damage

Fortunately, the coloured glass is largely unbroken.  However a large seedy roundel with a green tint is broken and a replacement will have to be made by a company that can reproduce both the colour and the "seedyness" of the original.  Matching the texture and tints of the more common glass will prove difficult too.

It is a window with such a pedigree, that I hope various historical trusts will contribute to the expense of a proper repair.

Historic West Coast House Repairs

Last year I conducted repairs on the windows of an Alexander (Greek) Thomson designed house, and for the last six months or so, I have been involved in repairs and other work on a Lutyens designed house.

The stair windows had some cracks and was producing a lot of condensation.  As the roof was being repaired, the opportunity was taken to have something done about the window.

As you can see the window is awkward to get to so the roofer's scaffolding was essential.  The window panel was bowed with a number of broken lead joints.  The window is also installed directly into the stone, so there were additional breaks in getting them out. The iron work of the opening panel was completely corroded and covered in putty to try to weather proof it.

The decision was taken to re-lead and replace the broken pieces with a very good match of glass made in Poland (locally called Tatra glass). The opening panel was remade to be fixed into the stone.  The weep holes were cleared to disperse the condensation as originally intended.

The resulting finished window appears to be the same as the original.  The repairs are not distinguishable except by close examination.



The house also has a heavy external door that previously was solid.  The owners wanted more light into the hallway behind and proposed opening the wood panels to accept leaded glass.

After looking at some of the leaded window designs around the house a lozenge and diamond design was chosen.  This shows the completed door from the interior.

The door from the exterior still maintains an imposing presence, although softened by the insertion of the four panels.

Aachen Cathedral

A recent tour took me to Aachen where I visited the cathedral (Dom).  This is the most important church for the Carolingian Empire as this is where the Kings were crowned.  The central domed part of the cathedral is the original structure (at least as original as it can be after the destructions of the mid 20th century).  The other parts are additions at different times.  The walk way between the central part of the building and the tower are used when the important artefacts are displayed to the public.

Aachen cathedral from Rathaus

Although the cathedral is near the summit of the steep hill, it is surrounded by the city and ancient town.  You get glimpses of it from various points.

View of the cathedral from one of the squares

View of the side from a square at the side

The cathedral is surrounded by numerous buildings, some of which are part of the ecclesiastical property, such as the treasury.  This is now a museum and repository of the most important artefacts of the cathedral.

Present day cathedral Treasury

The traditional approach to the cathedral is through the gates at the side of the Treasury.

Traditional entrance

The tourist entrance of course is at the side of the tower.  Next to the entrance is a window with unusual stone work.  It seems to represent a sword or a staff lying on its side.  It forms the entrance to a side chapel of significant size that can be seen in front of the tower in the general view of the cathedral.

The surroundings of this window and the one above the tourist entrance show the effects of weaponry upon the side of the building.

Window above the tower entrance

The interior is massive, both in terms of its height and its columns.  It is highly decorated with lavish use of gold leaf, and paintings.

Of course you must remember this is a re-creation of the dome as the shelling of the allies caused the rooves of the cathedral to collapse.  However, a different approach was taken with the windows.  They are as in many German churches, 20th century windows.

Central portion of the nave

 The windows of Aachen cathedral are largely colourful grisaille-like windows, with central narrative windows.  The image below is an example from the left central portion of the nave.

The sides of the nave are richly coloured, but still allows a lot of light into the church because of the extreme height of the windows.

Left side of the nave

Right side of the nave

The chapel at the left side of the tower entrance contains a number of narrative windows, but only one of them can be seen through the glassed in restrictions.  This window seems to contain a number of images from Christ's young life.

One of the side chapel windows

This certainly is one of the great cathedrals, and if you are in western Germany, it is worthwhile to visit.

Brilliant Cut Glass

While being at the house in Bathgate doing the removal and installation of the cloakroom window, I could not help but notice the glass in the front door.

This is the first brilliant cut glass that I have seen (not that there are not others, of course) in a domestic front door.  Upon enquiry, it turns out that this building of three flats was built in the early 1920's by a local foundry owner.  It may be that the wealth available lead to the commissioning of this front door.

It is not only etched with hydrofluoric acid but also white acid (a combination of alkaline and acidic chemicals to give a more pale etched colour).  The white acid effect can be seen in the thin line surrounding the clear brilliant cut lines.

You can also see the effect of the white acid in the paler upper central area of the panel.  This shows the effects of the two acids clearly.  The chemical combination gets its name from the whiter appearance achieved with its use.  It is rarely used nowadays because of its heat-creating reactions and subsequent risk of explosion.

The brilliant cutting can be seen in the six heart-shaped petals at the top of the stylised acanthus leaves and above the fleur-de-lys emblem at their junction.

This lower section of the central panel shows the effect of the brilliant cutting.  The four "cartouches" shown here have lines at the curve, showing the use of different wheels to do the cutting.  The rectangles and circles are relatively easier to cut than the sweeping curves leading to the circles.

The bottom of the door panel is relatively plain, but contains some superb artistry in the brilliant cutting.

In this emblem at the bottom of the door, the cartouche is cut in one sweep of the wheel.  The inner detail is cut with two sweeps of the wheel for the outward flaring shapes and finally the points put in with a "V" shaped wheel.

The side of the panel shows more of the skill of the cutters. Three linked olive shaped areas are cut and polished beside a group of faint cartouches.  Below is a group of three heart-shaped references to honesty seed pods.  But a simple and difficult feat is the straight lines cut all the way around the panel.

The corner again shows the work in creating both curved and straight lines.  They are all incorporated with the acid etched designs in an almost seamless manner.

My admiration for the skill involved in producing this door panel relates to the requirement that the lines and shapes are cut into the glass and then ground repeatedly with finer an finer grits until polished.  And there were no slips!  Secondly, the whole piece of glass (around 120 cm by 80 cm and 8 mm thick) was suspended and balanced by weights to enable the craftsman to manoeuvre the glass over the spinning wheels.

This work deserves to be at the very least listed as an important piece of work and at best incorporated into a museum setting as this work cannot now be reproduced as all the hand skills have been lost and the computer controlled brilliant cutting machines cannot reproduce the curves of this design.