Brooklyn Stained Glass Conservation Center

SUNDAY APRIL 11, 2004

By Joyce Shelby

Daily News Staff Writer

It’s been quite some time since Jesus looked as radiant as He does now at the Lafayette Presbyterian Church in Fort Greene.

Seen standing in the Temple at Jerusalem, His face glows, a halo is visible and His white robe shines.

The scene - taken from the Book of Luke and depicted in a Tiffany stained glass window – has been on view at the Church for more than a Century. But over the years, dirt and pollution took a toll on the treasured window, leaving it dark and harder to appreciate.

But today, for the first Easter in many years, worshipers will be able to admire the window on the second story of the Oxford Street side of the sanctuary.

Last year, the church undertook a project to restore its 13 Tiffany windows, and recently dedicated the first two that have been returned to their former glory.

“Now you can see the depth and the beautiful luminosity,” said David Fraser, executive director of the Brooklyn Stained Glass Conservation Center. His company is overseeing the restoration project.

“The white robe of Christ has five layers of glass. Some are acid etched to give the purple, green and pink hues,” Fraser said.

In addition to the window depicting Jesus speaking in the Temple with the leading teachers of His day, the church restored a window showing Samuel and his Mother Hannah, as described in the First Book of Samuel.

“This is quintessential Tiffany,” said Fraser. “The faces and hands of Hannah and Samuel are painted, and you can see the great drapery in the glass. Tiffany invented that. He was an Artist using glass as his medium.”

Restoring the two windows cost $200,000 said the Church’s Pastor, the Rev. David Dyson. Several foundations and the New York Landmarks Conservancy Sacred Sites Program are helping to pay for what Dyson said will wind up being a multimillion-dollar project.

In addition to the Tiffanys, the church has 20 stained glass windows that also need restoration work.

Through a matching Grant deal in which the Church must raise $50,000 each year, the World Monuments Fund will restore four windows over the next two years.

Restoration and repair work also are being done on the church building, which was constructed in the 1860’s and was a stop on the Underground Railroad.

“But we never think of this church as a museum” said Dyson. “We are an active part of this community. We have always been on the cutting edge of social issues, and we continue in that tradition.”

“We will restore the Church not just for its art and beauty, but for all the groups that use it.” He added. “This is a place of living history”.