'Back to its 1901 glory': Restoring Tiffany window at Second Presbyterian Church
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A Tiffany window at 19th and Michigan that's has been part of a Presbyterian church since 1902 is in need of a deep cleaning.
CBS 2's Shardaa Gray shows us how crews are taking the window out, piece by piece.
Instead of the sounds of choirs singing inside of Second Presbyterian Church, you'll hear hammering and drilling.
"Our mission is to restore this beautiful national historic landmark church back to its 1901 glory."
Linda Miller, president of Friends of Historic Second Church, is determined to get this Mount of the Holy Cross window cleaned. It's stained glass window that depicts two angels at the bottom of a Colorado Mountain.
The nonprofit organization hired a New York City stained glass studio to restore it.
"My major goal is to get this back to 1902. So when you come in here, you look at this, you're going to be able to see something that somebody from 1902 saw," said studio owner Tom Venturella.
Louis Comfort Tiffany designed the 16 foot high window, that's made up of thousands of pieces of glass. Venturella said to remove the stained glass is a meticulous process.
"The leds on these windows, being as old as they are, they're completely fatigued. They're cracking," Venturella said.
Friends of Historic Second Church said they first restored the Peace Tiffany Window in 2018 and restored the St. Paul window in 2022, last year. Right now, they're working on the Mount of the Holy Cross, which the process to remove it, piece by piece, bring it to New York and then bring it back takes nearly a year.
So how much does it cost to remove this delicate artwork?
"This one is a half a million dollars," Miller said.
All donated by one anonymous donor. Friends of Historic Second Church" said it's the third window to be restored. There are nine Tiffany windows that need to be cleaned. The group hopes donors will help out with the other six.
