In 2019, $75,000 in CPA funding was awarded to the Department of Public Works and The Friends of City Hall to restore 2 stained glass windows and crate and store additional windows for their protection.
The City Hall is an elaborate building known for its Gothic Revival architectural style. It was completed in 1876 and designed by Charles B. Atwood and H.F. Kilburn. It is on the National Register of Historic Places and within the North High Street Historic District. The building houses the city administrative offices and also serves as a downtown gathering space for the Holyoke community in the palatial Ballroom where the the stained glass restoration will take place. The stained glass windows were designed by the celebrated 19th century Boston artist, Samuel West. Through a funding match from the Massachusetts Historic Preservation Fund, up to two windows are expected be restored.
Read the Final Report. See Before & After Images of Windows 9 & 11.
The purpose of this project was to restore and protectively glaze up to three windows (9, 11, and 12), giving 9 and 11 priority. Windows 9 and 11 are large, non-figurative windows located on the northwest side of City Hall, facing High Street. The project was also to remove windows 6, 7 (arched transoms located on the southwest façade above double-hung windows in staircases outside the auditorium), and 13 (located above the main entrance to City Hall on Dwight Street) to storage because of their unstable condition. On October 17, 2019, a windstorm blew out the top of window #3 (a figural window representing Waterpower located on the opposite side of City Hall, in the center of five windows). Bid packages had been issued by that time and so removal of this window was included in the project. Once bids were received, the scope was refined to restore windows 9 and 11 and remove 3, 6, 7 (6 & 7 are arched transoms located on the southwest façade above double-hung windows in staircases outside the auditorium), and 13 (the large Dwight St. facing arch with multiple windows) to storage. Window 12 remains in storage.
On December 12, 2019, Window 3, which had been damaged by recent high winds, was additionally removed by Guarducci Stained Glass Studios of Great Barrington for storage (and eventual restoration) and replaced with Lexan. Two windows (9 and 11) which had already been removed and placed in storage were transported for restoration by Guarducci Stained Glass Studies at their Great Barrington studio and will be reinstalled in Spring of 2020. At that time Windows 6 and 7 (smaller windows) and 13 (the large Dwight St-facing arch with multiple windows) will be removed for protection from further damage and for future restoration. All restoration work will be overseen by Julie Sloan LLC Consultants in Stained Glass, the City's stained glass preservationist. Julie has completed similar projects at Saint Thomas Episcopal Church, New York; H. H. Richardson’s Trinity Church in Boston; Harvard University’s Memorial Hall; Princeton University’s Chapel, and the State Houses of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.
