Restoration of Louis Comfort Tiffany-designed window donated by Marshall Field family at Second Presbyterian Church begins

CHICAGO (WLS) — For more than a century, the stained-glass windows inside Second Presbyterian Church in the South Loop have shined, but, over time, their brilliance has faded.

Now, there are efforts to restore the Tiffany windows to their original glory.

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“So, the light coming into the building and the new view of the outside, I think about this metaphor a lot,” interim Pastor Chesna Hinkley said.

On Tuesday, work began to remove the fourth of the nine Tiffany stained-glass windows from the church, so they can be restored.

So far, three have already undergone the process.

The 132-year-old jeweled window was designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany.

Back in the 1890s, wealthy members of the church commissioned the artisan to create memorial windows for their loved ones.

The 1893 window was donated by a member of the Marshall Field family.

The huge balcony window is over 16-feet high, and is bedazzled with over 12,000 individual pieces of glass, shaped like jewels.

Friends of Historic Second Church, the nonprofit group dedicated to preserving the art and architecture of the church, raised the money for the repairs, which could exceed over $700,000.

“We’re excited. This is the fourth one. So, three have been done. That still leaves us a long way to go, we very excited to do each one. They are just, Tiffany’s windows are beautiful,” said Linda Miller, Friends of Historic Second Church president.

The window is just the latest removed for the ongoing restoration project, which first began in 2018.

Over time, dirt and debris have dulled the brilliance of the design, as well as degraded the windows’ structural supports.

Stained-glass conservator Tom Venturella is responsible for bringing the church’s “Peace Window” back to life.

Tuesday afternoon, the jewel window was taken apart piece by piece and carefully packed up for transport to Venturella’s New York studio.

“It’s a very ornate window of jewels and cut glass. It’s non-figurative, but it’s a very beautiful window, very important,” Venturella said.

Second Presbyterian Church was designated a national historic landmark in 2013.

The window restoration should take about 14 months.

The jewel window should be reinstalled by next summer, and organizers are already working on raising money to fund the restoration of another window.