Friday, October 22, 2010

One Down (Sixteen to Go)


At one time, the Martin House was graced by seventeen pieces of art glass in the horizontal plane:  skylight and laylight panels in the Bursar's office, living room, unit room pier clusters and main stairway landing.  A few of these pieces have been identified in public and private collections, and a few have shown up on the auction block.  But all have eluded the MHRC's best efforts to return them to the Martin House.  Until now.

Yesterday, the MHRC took possession of a stunning skylight / laylight panel from the three-panel Bursar's office array.  This acquisition was the result of over a decade of patient, careful research and relationship-building by our restoration architect, Ted Lownie.  The panel was loaned from the anonymous owner for the "Windows" exhibition at the Burchfield Penney Art Center in 1999, and it has been high on our "wish list" ever since.  

The importance of this acquisition cannot be overstated;  having just one such example will allow us to perfectly reproduce all the other horizontal art glass for the house with complete accuracy as to the color and type of glass used, as the same palette is shared by all the skylight and laylight panels in the house.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

As they say on the open sea, Huzzah!

EJF said...

Indeed! Three cheers!

EJF said...

Indeed! Three cheers!