Throughout New England’s incredible housing stock from the late 1800s and early 1900s, there are stunning examples of large-scale, decorative stained glass windows that are almost too precious to grace a regular home. In fact, most were installed by prominent citizens to ensure that they were NOT thought of as regular homes. We’ve had the opportunity to work on two amazing windows of late; one from a house in Swampscott, MA. Another from Portland, ME.

The Swampscott window required a full relead. After removal, we brought them back to the studio to disassemble, clean and completely relead the three main panels. They were then puttied and back in place, ready for the next hundred years in their historic home.

In the case of the Portland window, the strength and condition of the original lead was good enough that we were able to conduct a partial restoration, rather than fully disassembling and releading. We replaced broken pieces, rebuilt the border, reputtied the panels, and restored the original sash to bolster the window’s strength for years to come.