Stained-glass restoration project at Tarentum church will 'be night and day difference'

Eleven window openings at the 109-year-old Central Presbyterian Church in Tarentum will remain boarded shut for at least six months during a painstaking project to restore the colorful stained glass.

Nine windows and two transoms were removed Wednesday by workers from Pittsburgh Stained Glass Studios, who will begin an extensive effort to dismantle, clean and rebuild the glass in their West End workshop.

“It will be a night-and-day difference,” said David Olshinsky, a stained-glass artist. “Most church ladies stay away from cleaning them because it’s difficult.”

The cost is expected to be about $38,500.

Work will be partially paid through a $10,000 grant from the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation. Money was made available this year through the foundation’s Historic Religious Properties Grant Program.

“This is major,” said Dave Rankin, church director. “This isn’t just cleaning. This is taking them apart, down to the individual pieces.

“People can’t believe how beautiful they are when they come back.”

Work in this phase targets the 11 windows along the front side of the building on Allegheny Street, Rankin said, essentially completing three of the four church walls.

It took two workers to remove and transport the windows, some of which measured 5 by 4 feet.

Glass artist Ralph Mills has been doing the meticulous work since 1981. Just one of the 11 windows removed from Central Presbyterian could take as long as 40 hours to rehabilitate, he said.

It takes more than a shot of Windex, the workers joked.

“We take them out of the frame, make a rubbing, disassemble them, remove the metal channel and get it down to where it’s pieces of raw glass before we clean and rebuild them,” he said.

“After all these years, they are filthy,” Rankin said. “We had one on the side with a blue sky that was practically black. When they come back, the improvement is drastic.”

35 years of fundraising

Windows at the church originally were painted by Italian immigrants. Rankin said efforts to preserve them are expected to cost $335,000 when all eight phases are completed.

Fundraising began 35 years ago, but it took two decades for work to begin.

“We were the longest contact-to-contract project by Pittsburgh Stained Glass,” he said. “We wanted to make sure we had the money to do this properly.”

Three phases remain. That work is expected to top $108,000. It includes restoring the dozen or so windows along the East Fourth Avenue side of the church and two huge skylights on the roof.

When completed, the church will have replaced all 45 windows, including three large exterior picture windows along Third Avenue and one large art window facing Allegheny Street.

The next phase, depending on costs, could begin as soon as next year.

Visitors to the church are many, Rankin said. They come for outreach programs that include the Clothing Closet, free lunches, $1 breakfasts and a concert series.

“Everyone comments on the windows, and the interest is especially renewed when they are newly restored,” Rankin said. “The amount of light is remarkable.”