Stained Glass Window Repair and Cleaning

G. Owen Bonawit designed the twelve-foot foot diameter rose window located at the south end of Rutgers Church’s Sanctuary.  The English Gothic style was chosen for eight trefoil sections encircling a larger quatrefoil center. After a rusted exterior storm unit was removed in fall 2019, the stained and colored glass segments could be cleaned, from a scaffold on the adjacent property.  Mortar joints were repointed at the deep cast stone armature. Caulking was repaired along the perimeter of the twelve foot diameter window, making sure to match adjacent materials.  The brilliant circle can again be seen as it must have looked upon installation in 1925.

The team for this project included Rutgers facility managers, Brend Restoration LLC, Jim Pinto of Northeast Stained Glass, and LFA Architects.  As the Church is part of the Collegiate-West End Historic district, approval for this work was obtained from the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission.

Background: “Rose window” is often used as a generic term for a circular window, but is especially used for those found in churches of the Gothic architectural style which are divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery.

“The arrival of rose windows in the cathedrals is somewhat of a mystery. They appeared quite suddenly around 1200 and within fifty years had diffused right across France. A few appeared in England, Italy, Spain and Germany; but they remain essentially a French phenomenon, and it is around Paris that we find the greatest gems.” - Painton Cowen, Rose Windows. Chronicle Books, 1979