Janelle Russell owns a beautiful heritage home at 270 Douglas Avenue in Saint John. The main entrance is crowned with a Victorian stained glass transom that bears the house numbers in the center. The house color and trim are painted to match the colors in the transom; green and rose. The glass is vintage and the entire panel was showing its age from years of stress (environmental and otherwise); three cracked pieces of glass and multiple cracks in the old lead came.
Janelle contacted me in the winter for a consult on repairs. A full rebuild would be apropos and I was all willing and eager. However, I knew I could not remove the transom myself… wouldn’t even dare! It would weigh on my mind all winter/spring. Then, in early summer 2023, Janelle found Aaron Rasenberg of Archwood Millwork. Aaron specializes in heritage woodworking and was able to remove the window from Janelle’s house and bring it to my studio for renovations.
Once I got the glass out of the frame, it was on to removal of all the old lead and cleaning of each piece of glass. Fortunately, I was able to replace the broken pieces with a very similar glass. Reassembly was slow meticulous work with all those curly ques in the pattern but it all came together nicely with no major gaps in spacing. For extra strength and to prevent future bowing, I soldered two zinc-plated steel rods on the backside.
Once I was finished my work, Aaron retrieved the glass and frame from my studio and took it to his workshop for a proper sealing. Then I would wait for a final photo of the transom back in its original place over the main entrance door.
For many years, this house with its beautiful window has been a grand sentinel on the corner of Douglas Ave. and Bentley St. I’ve noticed it before but now I look EVERY time I drive past. Thank You to Janelle Russell for entrusting me with this heritage jewel and Thank You to Aaron Rasenberg for the manual handling and millwork.
The following is a scrollable gallery showing the restoration of the entrance transom at 270 Douglas Avenue.
nellyglass studio 