The Garfield Memorial at Lake View Cemetery was broken into several months ago. Five Garfield-era demi-glass spoons and some other articles were taken from the rotunda, but the real crime was that the intruder broke through the monument's precious and towering Rhode Island stained glass window. The break-in gained national news, and people at Lake View Cemetery and in the community were saddened that such a desecration to the Presidential monument occurred. Calls, letters an emails came in from around the country because of the damage. At the Garfield Memorial, there are 13 towering windows of this type each named after one of the original States and one extra one dedicated to Ohio.
But alas, there is going to be a happy ending: The period spoons were recovered, the Cleveland Heights Police know who the vandal and intruder is (his finger prints are on the spoons) and they are pursuing him. But the really good news is that the window is now being repaired and reconstructed at the Whitney Stained Glass to its original 124-year-old form.
A journey to Whitney Stained Glass studio is like a journey to another era. You step off Cleveland's busy Superior Avenue, enter an old industrial brick building, take a short ride in a manually operated elevator, and step into an open studio space filled with light. Everywhere, craftsmen are busily moving, documenting, disassembling and reassembling stained glass, while the shop dog snores peacefully on the floor.
For thirty years, Whitney Stained Glass has cleaned and repaired stained glass windows from across the region. Whether they come to the shop from churches, monuments, office buildings, or historic homes, the windows always return cleaned and restored to their original luster. Their current big project comes from the James A. Garfield Monument at Lake View Cemetery.
During a recent break-in at the Monument, the stained glass window representing Rhode Island was damaged. One of thirteen windows, representing the original colonies (states), Lake View turned to Whitney Stained Glass to restore the Rhode Island window to its original beauty.
Stained glass window restoration is no easy task. Conservationists begin by making a rubbing of the available portions of the window. Missing pieces are then sketched by hand. The remaining parts of the window are then completely disassembled and cleaned. Missing pieces are replaced, fabricated from historic glass if available. Finally, as the picture is completed, the pieces are joined together using lead filling. The conservationists carefully maintain the window's original dimensions so, when finished, it will fit perfectly into the stone aperture at the Monument.
Please note all the other stained glass windows at the Garfield Monument will be restored over the next several years.