On each side of the Nave at the First Church of Christ Scientist in Concord, there are two large and beautiful transept windows. We began the restoration of the South side this Spring. With over 30 individual panels and tracery elements in each window, this phase is the largest window restoration in the church to date.
The windows were originally designed and fabricated by the John Hardiman studio of Birmingham, England. They are even more stunning in person than images can relay. There are multiple figures depicted throughout but Jesus is the main character in each of the four scenes. According to records, Mary Baker Eddy visited the church just once after its completion with the express purpose of seeing them. It’s said that she sat for a whole hour just looking at them. We can attest to their beauty, and feel fortunate to have seen their artistry up close — in a way that no one has for a long time. One of our favorite panels is the “Healing of the Lepers”. Seeing figures from 100+ years ago, depicted wearing masks, is enough to give you goosebumps.
We were fortunate to have a somewhat stress-free removal, given the age and the brittle condition of the lead. Once back in our studio, we continued the documentation process. There were more flanges than normal due to the variations in glass thickness. But the original lead was completely failing and the windows came apart easily. In the cleaning process, we removed a lot of soot and the glass has brightened up a fair amount.
At this point, we are most of the way through their restoration. Once the church has installed a new protective glazing solution, we’ll be back there to get the windows installed.
