Originally a “new” kind of glass which was claimed to supplant medieval patterned grisaille windows filled the sanctuary.
In stained glass, the term grisaille refers to an ornamental non-figurative design painted in black line on colorless glass. Panels or roundels of colored glass against a background of plain glass.
Only a few of these painted stenciled glass windows remain in the building, the sanctuary contains them in the north transept (see below) plus the three rose windows in the three gables.
2013 Window Restoration
The original Gothic windows in the north transept had deteriorated to a state that they had many large cracks, missing glass and a build up of debris on the exterior. It was decided they should be completely removed and historically restored.
In 1894 the rose windows were painted over with dark red paint when the Tiffany windows were put in, because so much light came through them that the Tiffany favrile glass suffered from the light. They are also largely hidden by the tracery elements added to the trusses by the Tiffany Studio.
In 2015, the east gable rose window desperately needed to repaired. The architect and church struggled whether to restore the window to the original 1865 appearance or maintain the “blacked-out” look from the Tiffany installation. We opted to restore to the original 1865, which is why more of the window is now visible.