header
home
news
Prairie Creations
residential
about us
contact us
restoration
commercial
Religious Stained Glass
FLLW Art Glass
Church Stained Glass Restoration:

Damaged window
Restored window
Friedens Evangelical Church

Friedens Evangelical Church located in Port Washington Wisconsin is the oldest Protestant church in that city.  The original part of the sanctuary dates back to 1889.

A lightning bolt hit the church the night of July 8, 2002 during a series of thunderstorms.  The resulting fire burned through much of the sanctuary ceiling and severely damaged the sanctuary and the stained-glass windows throughout the sanctuary.

The eighteen stained glass windows show significant biblical passages and have inscriptions written in German. A former pastor characterized the windows as "sermons in glass . . . Each window," he wrote, "has its particular message that speaks to some condition and concern of the human heart."

Oakbrook Esser Studios was given the task of restoring the hand painted windows that could be restored and to recreate the seven stained-glass windows that were too severely damaged in the fire to be saved.
Great care was taken by the highly skilled stained-glass artists and craftsmen at Oakbrook Esser Studios to preserve everything that could be preserved and restored. The next monumental task was replicating the missing components, which included redoing the painting. Our company was aided by a pamphlet the church did in 1954 for the church's centennial, titled, "The windows of our church," which pictured each window and the German inscriptions on the bottom. Our job was to restore and/or re-create each of these windows to their original splendor.

Click to read March 2003 news story covering  Friedens Evangelical Church

Damaged window
Restored window
Friedens Evangelical sanctuary after the fire
The sanctuary after restoration.

Back


SGAA-logo

OAKBROOK ESSER STUDIOS
Dedicated to Excellence to Glass Art
129 E. Wisconsin Ave Oconomowoc, WI 53066

Please call for Appointment before stopping in
Ph 262-567-9310 Fax 262-567-6487
Toll free 800-223-5193
E-mail: info@oakbrookesser.com



Copyright© 2009 Oakbrook-Esser Studios. All Rights Reserved.