Tiffany Lantern History

A Unique Masterpiece

The spectacular Tiffany art glass lantern at the Church of the Covenant (COTC) is a unique work of art, with no parallel in any church in America.  Designed by Jacob Adolphus Holzer, the 6-by-17-foot (1.83 by 5.18 meters) bronze, electrified lamp is constructed of art glass and bronze filigree, and features dangling glass spheres suspended from a large gold-colored globe. Below, seven sculpted plaster angels surround a glass mosaic bowl, with an art glass cross hanging beneath.

Attribution and Early History of the “Angel Lamp”

Although no business records exist between the Church and the Tiffany Glass & Decorating Company, church documents, archival news reports, and Tiffany scholars have long identified the piece as the “angel lamp” designed by J. A. Holzer for Louis Comfort Tiffany’s exhibit at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition.  Joseph Huntington White—a wealthy art collector and prominent church member—purchased the lamp and presented it to the Church.  It was installed in 1894 during the Tiffany Glass & Decorating Company’s redecoration of the sanctuary. 1

1894 Photograph of the Tiffany Lantern vs. Exhibit Synopsis Image

In 2010, during a building conditions survey of the Church, architect Lynne Spencer examined the R. M. Upjohn drawings at the Avery Architectural Library at Columbia University. The Avery files included an archival photograph of the church chancel (see right).

Seeking additional information about this image, further research identified a photograph with the same title, copyrighted by J. Foster White—son of Joseph H. White—in the U.S. Copyright Office records from November 1894. 2

The Mystery of the Exhibition Image

The chancel photograph (above) shows the lantern as it appeared shortly after the Tiffany redecoration. However, it did not resolve a question that had long puzzled church members and others when comparing the lantern to an image in a Tiffany publicity brochure from the World’s Columbian Exposition.

Discrepancies Between the Lantern and the Synopsis Illustration

Tiffany Glass & Decorating Company’s A Synopsis of the Exhibit—a promotional publication—described J. A. Holzer’s bronze sanctuary lamp as “probably the largest lamp and most original in design of anything that has been attempted by ecclesiologists in this country.” 3

The photograph in A Synopsis of the Exhibit (see right) appears unusual when compared with the COTC lantern, as well as with photographs from 1894 and 2012. One striking difference is that, in the Synopsis image, the lamps held by the angels feature ornate holders—details that are absent from the lantern as installed in the church. One possibility was that these decorative holders had been removed prior to installation; however, no evidence supported this idea, and the question remained unresolved.

Restoration Raises More Questions (2025)

In January 2025, the lantern underwent a major restoration. Close visual examination by stained glass conservator Roberto Rosa (Serpentio Stained Glass) raised doubts that such ornate lamp holders in the photograph (Exhibit) could have physically fit on the existing lantern, prompting further skepticism about whether the Synopsis image depicted the church’s sanctuary lamp at all.

Evidence of a Precursor Design

While church members and the conservators studied the lantern in detail, parallel research pursued a lead suggesting the existence of a precursor. ⁴ Around the same time, a previously unknown newspaper sketch of a now-lost earlier version came to light.

Reconsidering the Synopsis Photograph

This convergence of evidence reframed the issue as a comparison between two black-and-white images. The emerging theory proposed that the Synopsis photograph does not show J. A. Holzer’s bronze lantern, but rather an earlier Tiffany Glass Company image from 1892 depicting a precursor version in silver.

Tiffany’s Corporate Transition and Marketing Practices

Such a photographic mix-up—using an earlier image of a silver sanctuary lamp to represent a later bronze version—may be linked to the company’s reorganization in 1892, when the Tiffany Glass Company became the Tiffany Glass & Decorating Company. This transition involved structural changes, including shifts in departmental organization and location, which may have contributed to confusion in photographic records. 5

The Dual Role of the Tiffany Studio: Art and Promotion

It also reflects the firm’s operation as both a traditional art studio and a highly effective marketing enterprise. Under Louis Comfort Tiffany’s artistic direction, department heads and craftspeople worked collaboratively, while the company simultaneously promoted its work through strategic use of print media (“Memorials in Glass and Stone”: This pamphlet served as an advertising medium for Tiffany’s Ecclesiastical Department.) Articles placed in newspapers and journals often functioned as sophisticated advertisements. 6

This dual identity—as both studio and marketing machine—is central to understanding the history of the Church of the Covenant lantern.

The Brooklyn Precursor: The “Colossus of Lamps”

The firm’s marketing prowess is evident in a New York Herald article dated March 27, 1892, which featured the precursor to the church’s lantern as part of a display at the Tiffany Glass Company showroom. The article described an enormous 18-foot-high silver sanctuary lamp in highly dramatic terms, calling it the “COLOSSUS OF LAMPS: The Largest and Finest Sanctuary Lamp in the Country for the Church of St. Augustine, in Brooklyn” (“Lost Tiffany Lamps” – description from website 2026) and “a work said to be unique in the history of Christian art… designed in magnificent proportions.” 7  The accompanying black-and-white sketch—reproduced below—likely reflects the type of image once held in the company’s photographic files, many of which have since been lost.

Lost Tiffany Lamps (per St Augustine website 2026)

“Removed from these three altars prior to 1950, presumably due to changing fashions, were hanging votive lamps (1891), original designs by the Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company never to be repeated. It is not known what became of them. The central one over the main altar cost $1,000, a princely sum at the time. It consisted of a circle of seven silver angels facing outwards, their hands outstretched in adoration, holding lights representing the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Under their feet was a base of metal filigree work studded with colored, multi-faceted glass jewels. A basket below, of the same work, contained five lights, representing the five wounds of Christ. Lastly, a large Celtic cross, also of filigree work and enriched with opals dangled below. The lamp measured eighteen feet from top to bottom and provided electric light for the altar. It was described by news accounts as the largest and most handsome lamp in the country and entirely unprecedented in the history of Christian art.”

Designers Behind the Lamp: Woodman, Coleman, and Holzer

Designers working within the Tiffany studio system were rarely recognized publicly. In this publicity piece, however, Edith Woodman Burroughs was credited for the life-size papier-mâché angel sculptures and described as “a pupil of Augustus St. Gaudens,” a detail that linked the Tiffany lamp to the renowned sculptor.

Charles Caryl Coleman, who designed the corona—featuring “metal filigree with panels … an opalescent jeweled fringe, a silver filigree basket inlaid with opalescent glass jewels, and a chain of jewels ending in a silver Celtic cross”—was not named in the Tiffany article. However, did receive full credit for the design in at least two local Brooklyn newspapers.⁸

Holzer’s Role and Recognition at the World’s Columbian Exposition

Jacob Adolphus Holzer played a prominent role within the Tiffany studio system, serving as head of the design department from 1890 to 1896 and as a member of the Board of Directors from 1894 to 1896.⁹ As lead designer, he would have had access to Tiffany’s design files and photographs, including those of the Brooklyn silver lamp, when creating his own bronze art glass lantern.  Holzer was recognized among Tiffany’s top designers in the Synopsis of the Exhibit, where his name appeared beneath what was identified as a photograph of his bronze angel lamp. His sanctuary lamp was later praised by the Committee on Awards at the World’s Columbian Exposition as “a wonderful achievement from any standpoint it may be viewed artistically and technically.” ¹⁰

Misidentification and Image Confusion in Tiffany Records

Yet the photograph reproduced in the Synopsis appears instead to depict the Brooklyn precursor silver lamp, which had been displayed in the New York showroom a few months before its installation at St. Augustine Church in May 1892. The surrounding church furnishings—the three banners and the eagle lectern—closely resemble those seen in other Tiffany photographs and were likely difficult to distinguish within the studio’s image files.

The Spread of the Incorrect Image in Print Media

The photograph published in the Synopsis of the Exhibit (1893), identified as J. A. Holzer’s sanctuary lamp, took on a life of its own. It circulated widely and continued to be reproduced long afterward. One article in a prominent Boston newspaper is particularly significant for the history of the Church of the Covenant lantern, as it demonstrates the Tiffany marketing machine at work—once again using the incorrect image.

The Boston Herald and the “Magnificent Chancel Lamp”

On October 7, 1894, the Boston Herald published an article on the complete Tiffany redecoration of Central Congregational Church. It featured six detailed pen-and-ink sketches, making it the only Boston newspaper account of the project illustrated so extensively.

Like the earlier New York article describing the Brooklyn sanctuary lamp, the Boston Herald piece reads as a form of public relations. Titled “Back Bay Transformation,” it presents what is essentially Tiffany’s narrative: the church was “placed in the hands of Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company of New York” and subsequently transformed into “essentially a new house of worship.”

The Central Church lantern was given special prominence as the “MAGNIFICENT CHANCEL LAMP,” reportedly “admired by all who saw it … in the Tiffany Company’s exhibit at the World’s Fair.” Described as “elegant” and “a most worthy ornament,” the lamp was said to “glorify and beautify the whole interior.” It was credited to J. A. Holzer, who was also noted as having “entire charge of the redecoration of the church.”¹¹

Visual Evidence of Tiffany’s Publicity Machine

The accompanying sketch of the new sanctuary lamp further suggests that the article functioned as a piece of Tiffany marketing. The “Magnificent Chancel Lamp” illustration on the left is virtually identical to both the 1893 photograph in the Synopsis and the 1892 New York Herald sketch. Together, these repeated images provide clear visual evidence of the reach and consistency of Tiffany’s publicity machine.

The contrast between the image in the Boston newspaper and the church photo pictured below is especially telling. The church photo, taken at virtually the same time the article in the Boston Herald was published, shows the lantern as it is today.