New life to the stained glass: Crew based in Iowa restoring windows at Spokane’s Our Lady of Lourdes

Stained-glass depictions of biblical scenes that have adorned the walls of Our Lady of Lourdes cathedral in downtown Spokane for decades are now shining a bit more brightly.

A two-member crew from Bovard Studio in Iowa has been working to remove protective plastic sheets that have hung outside the windows for more than 30 years. Heath Nevins and Nick De Ruiter have then been cleaning and restoring the windows, designed by the famed Mayer family of Munich, Germany, the first of which were placed in the church in 1911. They’re using a process known as “releading,” referring to the lead material that holds the stained glass pieces in place.

“The cement mixture that we paint on, fills in the cracks between the lead and the stained glass,” De Ruiter said. “It just strengthens the window, and it also cleans it in the process.”

The work is being funded by a collection at the cathedral, which has stood downtown since the final cornerstone was laid in 1903. The congregation raised a little under $400,000 to repair the “priceless” windows, said the Very Rev. Darrin Connall, rector of Our Lady of Lourdes.

“We really feel that, out of respect for the generation that came before, we be good stewards of what we have,” Connall said.

Stories have been passed down that Jewish workers who helped build the windows for the Mayer Co. died at the hands of the Nazis in World War II, he said.

Terry Gaffney, the plant manager for the cathedral and a member of the parish for more than a decade, pointed to his favorites of the windows before a noon mass on Friday. He’s partial to the scene depicting the Annunciation, when the Virgin Mary is visited by the angel Gabriel, who tells her she’s to be the mother of Jesus Christ, and of the scene in which the Messiah turns water into wine.

When the sun first hits the cathedral in the morning, it illuminates a rose window on the building’s west side that depicts the Nativity.

“One of the first things that pops out is the baby Jesus,” Gaffney said.

De Ruiter said it appeared the plexiglass panels that were installed as part of the restoration work completed in November 1991 on the outside of the windows had done its job protecting the fragile artwork within.

“There’s not a whole lot of stained glass that needs to be repaired here,” De Ruiter said.

The pair have been called to a job for Bovard at a temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Junction, Colorado, but will return next month to finish the restoration work. Bovard, founded in 1971 by Ron Bovard, has a patented framing system using clear laminated glass, like that in a car windshield, that protects the stained glass underneath and allows those on the street to see the designs.

The company has completed work for cathedrals, temples, churches and even private homes, De Ruiter said. The goal is to make the art more vibrant, but also more accessible .

“We try and get the church so that they can see their stained glass again from the outside,” De Ruiter said. “But still have it protected so that people can’t shoot it out, and birds don’t fly into it.”

Connall said the windows are a reminder to the congregation of the beauty in the world, which can turn churchgoers’ eyes to God.

“This is a reminder that there’s a world beyond this one, that this one is not all there is,” Connall said.

The project is expected to resume in August and be completed this fall.