Work begins to reinstall latest restored stained-glass window at Second Presbyterian Church of Chicago

Work was under way Tuesday to reinstall a 133-year-old Tiffany stained-glass window inside the historic Second Presbyterian Church of Chicago in the South Loop.

On Tuesday, the artisans involved were discussing their process and everything that went into restoring the piece of history.

The window was designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany, the son of the founder of the iconic Tiffany brand. It is composed of more than 12,000 pieces of glass, with more than 1,000 glass jewels.

The restoration of the monumental window is a part of the continuing mission of Friends of Historic Second Church.

"It's historical and it can't be reproduced. You could never make this again to the quality that it is," said the group's executive director, Andy Pierce.

The window is the fourth to be restored at the church, and the restoration of the Marshall Field window cost $750,000.

More than 200 people donated to the restoration effort, including family foundations.

"This project cost more than the one that we did most recently, because of the increase in steel prices, increase in aluminum prices, as well as the gasoline it took to move the window back and forth across the country for restoration," Pierce said.

The restoration of the Tiffany stained-glass windows at the church is like stepping back into the 19th century for artisan Tom Venturella.

"We're getting to see right now what they did that long ago," he said. "I've got a bit of historian in me, and it's nice to be able to kind of step back in time and just see what happened, and there it is."

Venturella and his partner put in 14 months of painstaking work to restore the window.

"It's a lot of patience and a lot of focusing on the restoration of this particular window that we just finished, which was the Marshall Field window, what they referred to as the Jeweled window," he said.

The window was originally donated in 1927 by Marshall Field, who founded the famed department store.

Piece by piece, crews began putting the restored window back in place on Tuesday, working from top to bottom.

"When you get to look at this window now, you're looking at it as if it was, what 1893, 1894." Venturella said.

Venturella said he and his partner worked day and night to clean the artwork. He said it was the dirtiest window he has worked on in his career. The painstaking cleanup makes a huge difference.

"Filthy also works. It was really, really dark. It was really, really dirty," Venturella said.

The reinstallation of the window is expected to take three to four days. Once it's done, Friends of Historic Second Church promise it will be a stunning revitalization.

Friends of Historic Second Church has finished more than 20 restoration projects at the church, including the narthex, several chandeliers, some of the exterior wooden doors, a "Tree of Life" mural, and more.

The church at 1936 S. Michigan Ave. offers docent-led tours throughout the year to talk about the history of the building and its art.