GLASS HOUSES/ Historic churches take steps to preserve their

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Dec 6, 2003 | by PAUL ASAY

Stained-glass windows are fireworks frozen, the love child of light and color. For a thousand years, these windows have illuminated places of worship, inspiring the faithful. For some, the windows transcend their glass-and lead construction: They touch on the eternal.

If only they were eternal themselves.

So goes the lament of congregations watching their historic stained glass slowly disintegrate. It's a growing issue in the American West, where countless churches sprang up in the wake of expansion and a religious revival in the late 1800s.

First Congregational Church-United Church of Christ, built in 1888- 89, is one of several prominent Colorado Springs churches constructed in the late 19th century. The church's stained-glass windows are original, and many are showing their age. Across some run dark metal bars, an earlier effort to reinforce them. Some panes are cracked and others discolored - products of earlier, mismatched repair. A few windows bow inward, as if they were balloons being slowly inflated from the outside.

But the biggest problem, according to member Judy Pickle, is the window's spider-web framework of lead.

Craftsmen used pure lead - a common practice in the late 1800s, Pickle says. Pure lead is soft (for a metal), which made it easier to work with than the lead-alloy mix used in Europe's great medieval cathedrals or modern-day stained glass.

But lead has a shorter life span than the alloys, Pickle said, ranging from 75-125 years. Old lead becomes brittle and eventually breaks.

"So we're at the edge," Pickle said. "And we have a few more years before we begin to experience failure."

But saving the church's windows will take time and money. Lots of money.

Restoration will cost several hundred thousand dollars, she said. The congregation hopes to get some money from the state, thanks to the church's placement on the National Register of Historic Places this year. Still, the church must come up with a good portion of the restoration bill.

First Congregational doesn't plan to begin a full restoration for perhaps another eight or 10 years, allowing time to raise money, Pickle said.

Restoration is a very thorough and time-con- suming process, according to Michael Greer, a local stained glass expert who has worked on the windows of several local churches. It's not just a matter of swapping out cracked glass and gluing the lead framework back together.

In historical restoration, every step of the process is documented, original materials are salvaged and, most critically, the restorer does everything with an eye toward the future. The work must be reversible, in case better techniques come along. "If you're talking about an entire church, it could take months or years," said local stained-glass expert Will O'Brien.

Congregations won't be able to watch the process, either. Restoration calls for temporarily removing the windows. In First Congregational's case, workers will replace the windows with painted plywood while the work's being done.

The cost is why many churches opt to restore their windows in patches. Stained glass doesn't all far apart at the same time, Greer said, and restoring the windows in the greatest need makes financial sense.

First Baptist Church, built in 1891, has worked on its windows in spurts since at least 1977, according to architect Dempsey Currie, who has worked on several projects with the church. In 1990, the church installed Lexan, a protective polycarbonate, to the outside of its windows. It replaced an earlier plastic protective sheet.

"It's rather expensive, but it's worth it," said O'Brien, who worked on the project.

The installation wasn't a restoration. Currie says the plastic panels will help keep the windows in good shape.

Most local churches have Lexan or similar polycarbonates covering their stained glass to protect the windows from hail, high winds and rock throwing vandals. Lexan resists yellowing longer than polycarbs of old.

A few other churches have protective Plexiglas - an option that doesn't yellow but can break. And a handful don't protect their windows at all.

Madness? Not really. From the outside, stained glass still looks better without protection. And though Lexan can keep wind off ancient glass, Greer said "it can destroy a window" if not properly installed.

The problem is the air locked between the protective panel and the stained glass. The air, when exposed to the sun, gets hot and cooks the window's lead and glass panes. Once the sun goes down, the sealed air and glass rapidly cool, causing heat stress.

"If it's not vented, it's going to cause the window to bow in, because the lead is soft and the air is expanding," Greer said.

All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church, built in 1892-93, doesn't have to worry about bad venting. Only their large rose windows have Plexiglas panels, with the rest going al fresco. And even without that protection, the windows are apparently in decent shape.

"For 100-year-old stuff, it's pretty good," said Gary Harrison, a local architect and head of the church's building and grounds department.