View other photos of the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament
Client: Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament
Location: Sacramento, California
Glass Installation Date: 2004, 2005
Cost: $482,547
About The Client
The Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament is the seat of the Diocese of Sacramento, which spans 20 counties in Northern California.
Project Overview
As a part of a large $34,000,000 renovation of the entire Cathedral structure, Willet Hauser was selected to remove 8 large transept windows that had been originally designed and fabricated in Innsbruck, Austria. The windows were carefully crated and transported to the Willet Hauser Minnesota studio for a program of Historic Restoration. At the studio, the windows were completely inspected, all panels photographed, cartoon rubbings made, and then completely dismantled. All of the glasses were cleaned, if cracked they were edge-glued with glass conservation glues, and the complete panels releaded with conservation grade lead. Upon completion, the windows were again crated, transported to the site, and reinstalled into the restored frames at the Cathedral.
In the 1960's, the Cathedral had commissioned a series of contemporary windows for the nave clerestory. The feeling of the restoration committee was that the windows were not appropriate for the restored traditional appearance of the interior. They wished to replace them with more traditional appearing windows that would set the desired atmosphere of worship.
In Wisconsin, they located a set of traditional windows in a closed Catholic church that would compliment the architectural style of the building and were similar in style to the Austrian windows of the chancel and transept. They again hired Willet Hauser to inspect the Wisconsin windows to see what adjustments in size and/or shape might be needed Historic Restoration and the transportation and installation of the windows into the Cathedral.
Thus, in a second phase, Willet Hauser inspected the windows, removed them, crated them, and transported them to the Minnesota studio. At the studio, the same craftspeople that restored the Austrian windows now resized and restored these windows. Once completed, the windows were shipped to the Cathedral where they replaced the 60's contemporary windows in the nave clerestory. After removal, the contemporary windows were crated and given to the Cathedral for storage.
See more pictures of the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament windows.
