This is the type of project we love to do. The 1910 home, located on Alma Street in Cole Valley, San Francisco, was missing a window. Rather, only the upper part of an existing, paned single hung window remained, while the lower portion had been replaced with a single sheet of clear glass. The client wanted the upper and lower portions to match.

The main challenge in meeting the client's needs was matching to the existing century-old glass consisting of a narrow green border and a field of clear harlequin panes. This required a little sleuth work, adding some extra fun to the project. To match the existing green border, we sourced a near perfect facsimile from Kokomo Opalescent Glass located in Kokomo, Indiana. KOG has been in continuous operation since 1888 and at one point Louis Comfort Tiffany purchased their glass since it offered the imperfections he sought for creating his painterly windows and lamps. More on this history can be found on the KOG website.

Matching the clear panes took a bit more effort. Over time glass gets milky so if we had built the window with new glass or even reconstituted the replacement pane the windows would not have matched. We decided to salvage old glass in similar condition that we lightly sandblasted before cutting it into the harlequin panes.

After building and puttying the window we added patina to the lead, further "aging" the new window. Once installed we knew our sleuth work had paid off: both windows looked as though they were created on the very same day. Most importantly, the client was thrilled. What makes projects like this extra fulfilling is the a-ha moment when we find the right solution. It's one reason we love doing restorations: every project requires an extra level of exploration to help restore the object's original beauty. Please contact us if you have a window that could use new life.

© 2018 Lucas Stained Glass Design + Restoration