Halim Time and Glass Museum Saves Tiffany Masterpiece Window from Window Vultures

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Newark, Ohio – The Ascension window, one of L.C. Tiffany’s masterpiece windows, was installed in the Trinity Episcopal Church in Newark Ohio in 1896. The window is made of 27,000 individual glass pieces, 5 layers of glass, and weighs over 3 tons. In 2012, after more than one hundred and fifty years in existence, the church received word it needed to raise $1.2 million dollars to replace massive rotting timbers above the sanctuary that supported the large slate roof. The Church raised half of the money but estimated it would take another decade to raise the full amount, and by that time, the roof would have collapsed. The church had to make the heartbreaking decision to close its doors, and the building is now in the process of being demolished. The contractor who is dismantling the building called Cameel Halim of Halim Time and Glass Museum, who decided to rescue the window on short notice. 

 

Halim only had two hours to wire transfer a strikingly large sum of money to the contractor, or the window would otherwise be sold off to stained glass brokers. Stained glass brokers often break apart glass masterpieces into multiple non-religious pieces to maximize their profits, destroying the original work of art. Halim could not risk this result, and decided to save the window so that the public could enjoy the window in its integrity as the artist intended. 

 

The town of Newark, Ohio, had been wealthy when the church was first built. Affluent citizens such as the Heisey family who operated the A. H. Heisey Company, a producer of fine quality glass tableware and decorative glass figurines among other items, could afford to make large contributions to their churches. The town also had high paying manufacturing jobs that came from large factories like Corning Glass Works, a factory that still exists today. However, due to widespread industrial automation, many of those high paying manufacturing jobs have disappeared for the working families of Newark. The story of Newark, Ohio, is just one saddening example of the decay of small industrial American towns that were once prosperous. 

 

The Halim Time and Glass Museum has been able to save many other unique and magnificent windows that would have otherwise been lost to stained glass brokers who buy the window and take them apart, selling bits and pieces here and there. You can now see some of these windows on display at the Halim Museum of Time and Glass, located at 1560 Oak Avenue in Evanston, Illinois. Visit the museum’s website at www.HalimMuseum.org for hours and information on exhibits and events. The spectacular Ascension window by Tiffany Studios is now undergoing a full restoration and will be installed in the museum within the coming months.