An Old Window Gets a New Life

In 1961, Northside Baptist Church was built for its growing congregation in the small south Georgia town of Tifton. A local construction company was hired to design and build the building. A beautiful, huge stained glass window was part of the original design and was installed in the sanctuary during the construction period. Unfortunately, the artist of the window is unknown. 

Original window in sanctuary of Northside Baptist Church. Approximately 20' tall

As huge as this building was, the church outgrew it by 2007. Plans were started for a new and larger building. Experts agreed that a lot of work at great expense needed to be done to repair, renovate, refurbish and update the old buildings. In the end, it was decided that the best decision was to tear down the old buildings and replace them with a newer, updated building. 

Resigned to the impending demolition of the buildings, the family that owned the buildings continued to discuss ideas of how to save the fabulous stained glass window in the church sanctuary. All options lead to dead ends and soon they realized saving the window was going to be impossible. Mrs. Jones, wife of the now deceased owner, never gave up and continued to express concern that something had to be done with the window. It could not be destroyed in the demolition. When demolition started, workers realized that the window could be safely taken down piece by piece. The family was thrilled and had each piece of glass carefully wrapped and boxed for storage. 

After some thought, Mrs. Jones’ grown children decided the stained glass window should be renovated and reconstructed in some manner and given as a gift to their mother for Christmas 2015. This is when I got a call from the client, Joni, about designing and rebuilding a portion of the church stained glass window. Joni and her siblings wanted to preserve this piece of history for their mother. When Joni came to me to discuss this project, I was awed by the beauty of the church window and quite moved that she and her brothers would trust me with such a treasured piece of her family’s history. After we agreed that the finished size of the new window should be 4’ x 4’, I began to reconstruct the bust of Jesus. Then, I picked out the most vivid and rich colored glass from the original window and created a mosaic pattern of color around Jesus’ head. Once the new window was cut, copper wrapped, soldered and zinc framed, Joni and her brothers began to build the light box that would house and frame the window. 

The original stained glass window was in the sanctuary when the first church service was held at Northside Baptist Church on December 24,1961. The new reconstructed and redesigned window was given as a gift to Mrs. Jones fifty-four years later on December 24, 2015. It now hangs in her private home in the specially designed and constructed wooden case with backlights to illuminate the stained glass window for her daily viewing. Hopefully it will bring her great joy and happy memories for years to come.

Renovated and restored window. Reduced to 4' x 4'. Unframed.

Renovated and restored window. Reduced to 4' x 4'. Framed and mounted in light box (with backlighting). Piano hinge on right side allows whole window to swing open so lights can be replaced as needed. 

There is enough glass for other projects which are in the dreaming of and/or designing stages now. I did make one custom designed window from the old church glass for one special lady who was the inspiration and leader in the renovation of the Jesus window. Her window is below. We were both extremely pleased with the final product. I am anxious to see what other pieces we create from this old church glass.

(All photos are my mine)