What are the opening hours?

Wednesday 1pm - 3pm Saturday 11am - 3pm Sunday 12pm - 1pm

Friends of Historic Second Church

Home
United States
Chicago, IL
Friends of Historic Second Church

The only church in Chicago designated as a National Historic Landmark. Wonderful 1901 arts & crafts interior plus 9 Tiffany windows.
(10)

08/24/2024

William Henry Jackson becomes the first person to photograph Colorado’s elusive Mount of the Holy Cross, providing reliable proof of its existence.

Rumors had abounded for years that a natural cross of snow lay hidden high in the rugged mountains of Colorado. Many claimed to have seen the cross, but others were unable to find it. In August 1873, the photographer William Henry Jackson set out to prove its existence by taking a picture of it. Jackson was an experienced wilderness photographer who had accompanied wagon trains to California in 1866 and was employed as expedition photographer on Ferdinand Hayden’s survey of the Yellowstone region in 1871. Published in popular mass-circulation magazines like Harper’s Weekly, his images became immensely popular and showed Americans a rugged western wilderness that most would never see firsthand.

Jackson had heard rumors of the extraordinary cross of snow that occasionally appeared on the face of a high mountain peak. Jackson led a small party to the supposed site in north central Colorado in the summer of 1873. Jackson found the cross, though there was nothing miraculous about its cause. After thousands of years of erosion, two deep ravines had formed in the steep rocky face of a mountain peak. Intersecting at a 90-degree angle, the ravines sheltered the winter snow from the sun well after the rest of the mountain snow had melted away. For a brief time, a nearly perfect cross of snow appeared on the rock face, though it often melted away later in the summer.

In the pre-dawn hours of this day in 1873, Jackson prepared the heavy camera equipment he had carried up the mountain opposite the cross. He took his photos of the cross just as the first rays of the sun angled low across the crevassed face, emphasizing the lines of the cross. The best of the resulting photos became one of Jackson’s most popular and famous images, and it ended any further doubts about the existence of the Mount of the Holy Cross.

From a History.com post

08/15/2024

Parma Conservation working on the Mount of the Holy Cross mural!

08/14/2024

You know what is the best part of restoration and scaffolding? The views you wouldn't see otherwise! Tomorrow we will show another photo of the mural restoration but until then we'll be shining a light on a heralding angel.

08/13/2024

Mural conservation is well on its way! We’re beginning to see the faces of the Bartlett’s angels once more.

07/26/2024

CBS Spotlight Coverage of Mount of the Holy Cross with interviews from Tom Venturella of Venturella Studio and board president, Linda Miller by CBS correspondant, Shardaa Gray.

07/24/2024

Our beauty Mount of the Holy Cross is back! Venturella Studio is finished and now we have finishing touches left to finish!

07/24/2024

Onlookers watch as Venturella Studio re-installs Mount of the Holy Cross! Come visit us this Friday from 1 pm to 3 pm, Saturday 11 am to 3 pm or Sunday for a 12:15 pm tour right after church!

07/22/2024

The Mount is coming back today! Today is the day!

07/19/2024

Mount of the Holy Cross is on its way back to Chicago from New York!

07/17/2024

We say to always look up even at Second Presbyterian Church. You'll never know what you'll find!

07/12/2024

Remember when St. Paul at Athens returned to Second? We certainly do.....now it's time for another window to return. Mount of the Holy Cross is coming back this month. Can you guess which date? We'll post soon to let you know the exact date!

07/11/2024

You know something is happening when the scaffolding is up and plastic coverings are about…..we’ll make our announcement of the exciting news tomorrow!

03/02/2024

Venturella Studio will be doing a zoom to talk about their glass work with the Art Glass Forum New York on April 9th.

https://www.artglassforumny.org/

03/02/2024

How to clean a very dirty Tiffany stained glass window piece brought to you by Venturella Studio, Troy New York!

02/15/2024

Join Friends and the Victorian Society in America for our next FREE online lecture this Saturday, February 17th at 3pm ET! We will be hearing about the wonderful “Second Presbyterian Church of Chicago: An Arts & Crafts Masterpiece” from Glessner House Executive Director and Curator, Bill Tyre.

If you have not already registered for the lecture, you can do so here:

https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Q1jT6JQiT0uhrisFD5lvkg

About the lecture:

Second Presbyterian Church of Chicago is the only church in the city to be designated a National Historic Landmark. Recognized for its distinctive Arts & Crafts interior designed by architect Howard Van Doren Shaw in 1900, the sanctuary contains significant examples of mural painting, light fixtures, ornamental plaster, carved wood, and stained glass. There are nine windows by Louis Comfort Tiffany, and two by the English designer Edward Burne-Jones for Morris & Co. The interior is largely intact, with the various elements working together to form a Gesamtkunstwerk – a total work of art – the true beauty of which is being revealed through a series of recent projects including the restoration of the massive Tree of Life mural by Frederic Clay Bartlett. Our speaker, Bill Tyre, has served on the board of Friends of Historic Second Church since February 2007, a preservation-based non-profit for which he has researched and written extensively on the history, art and architecture of the church

01/13/2024

We will be closed Saturday, January 13th due to inclement weather. Thank you.

01/13/2024

We are closed tomorrow due to inclement weather! If you have be out and about safe travels.

01/06/2024

We decided to give you an extra day of the 12 days of the Mount of the Holy Cross we bring one of most beautiful before and afters of Section F!

01/05/2024

On the 12th day of the 12th day, we have one last photo of a before and after. While Venturella Studio maintains most of the glass even gluing pieces back together sometimes we must archive the originals and make a copy for the integrity of the piece. Here from Section H, we see that our artist, Indre has replicated one of the angel's faces and arms. Friends has an archive room in the church where the originals will be stored in boxes and preserved for future generations.

01/04/2024

On day 11 of the 12 days of the Mount of the Holy Cross, today we would like to thank Tom Venturella and Jim Murphy of Venturella Studio for all their hard work! We're hoping for a May return of the window. We will keep you all updated! Picture is Jim Murphy working on a panel of the window!

01/03/2024

On day 10 of the 12 days of Mount of the Holy Cross we give you a video from Vimeo of some skiers going down the mountain. See here: https://vimeo.com/423757557

Several years ago at the docent symposium one of our docents, Margaret Grinnell gave a talk on the Mount of the Holy Cross as a research project. She included a video of skiers and we thought we would as well!

Docent training is once a year in the spring and we also have docent help with our videos and encourage research of our sanctuary! If you are interested in becoming a docent please fill out our form and we'll get back to you soon!

Fill out here: https://www.historicsecondchurch.org/docents

01/02/2024

On day 9 of the 12 days of the Mount of the Holy Cross we see all the different hues of glass colors that Tiffany used in just one area. Who knew the variety of glass colors! The last photo in the three show where all the hued colored glass fits. They are sometimes stacked on each 6 pieces deep!

01/01/2024

Happy New's Year Day! As day 8 of our 12 days of the Mount of the Holy Cross starts to creep towards it's ending. We want to remind you what a little cleaning can do even for Tiffany! Have a great holiday everyone! See how we shine! In the photo you see the unclean piece to final.

12/31/2023

On our 7th day of the 12 days of the Mount of the Holy Cross, we wanted to remind you that today is your last day to donate to our Annual Appeal this year! Gifts to the Annual Appeal help fund restoration projects like Mount of the Holy Cross!

To give click here: https://2ndpresbyterianfriends.app.neoncrm.com/np/clients/2ndpresbyterianfriends/donation.jsp?campaign=104

12/30/2023

On the 6th day of the 12 days of the Mount of the Holy Cross let's revisit the history and majesty of the window with architect, board member, and docent Nate Lielasus!

12/29/2023

On the 5th of the 12 days of the Mount of the Holy Cross I bring you the story of the how the mount was first "discovered" and photographed.

In 1873, rumors of a mystical snow cross on the Mount of the Holy Cross in Colorado led geologist Ferdinand Hayden's survey team, led by explorer William Henry Jackson, on a perilous expedition. After a challenging journey, they located and documented the cross, determining its elevation. Jackson's iconic photographs made the mountain famous. The geological explanation involves Precambrian rock and events dating back 1.7 billion years. Over time, erosion has altered the cross's appearance. The mountain's popularity led to its designation as the Holy Cross National Monument in 1929, protecting the area.

To read the whole story go here: https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/benchmarks-august-24-1873-mount-holy-cross-found-photographed-and-mapped/

12/28/2023

Due to the lexan (the outside covering over the glass on the exterior of the building), it would expand and contract during different parts of the season and over many years little critters and dust would be able to sneak in between the covering and the glass. Here we had some wasps make a home. Don't worry they had long moved out before we had taken the window out in March! Tiffany made his window's to last, they just need a little help over the years to keep the glass and leading strong!

12/27/2023

On our 3rd day of the 12 days of the Mount of the Holy Cross we are taking a more in-depth look at the new type of glass uncovered in the Mount of the Holy Cross:

NEW TYPES OF GLASS UNCOVERED IN MOUNT OF THE HOLY CROSS WINDOW
BY WILLIAM TYRE
Tiffany developed many different types of glass that he
incorporated into his windows to provide a variety of effects.
The ongoing restoration work on the Mount of the Holy Cross
window has revealed two types of Tiffany glass that were
previously not thought to have been used at Second
Presbyterian.
Dichroic glass appears as different colors depending on the
lighting and is the result of applying transparent layers of
metallic oxides to the surface of the glass during its production.
For example, a piece of glass may appear green in reflected
light, but orange in transmitted light. This type of glass is used
to form part of the border in the Mount window. Some of the pieces were missing, but fortunately Venturella Studio was
able to find dichroic glass that exactly matches the color range of the original.
Streamer glass incorporates glass strings that are made by taking molten glass, gathering it at the end of an iron rod known as
a punty or pontil, and then rapidly swinging it back and forth to create long, thin strings of glass. These thin strings are then
laid on a steel table known as a marver and the base glass is poured over, resulting in the strings being permanently fused into
the glass. Tiffany used this type of glass to depict twigs, branches, and grass. For the Mount window, strings are broken into
short segments to create the appearance of pine needles in some of the trees, as is seen in the image above.
With the identification of these two types of glass, we can now say that our windows exhibit every major type of glass that
Tiffany produced during his career.

To read more about Friends visit our current newsletter at:
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/58dc103859cc68c3b0a54021/t/6556641ee3e61e11eb08e544/1700160543675/Fall2023+%281%29.pdf

12/26/2023

While you are on you way to shopping today take a moment to catch up! Today is the second day of 12 days of the Mount of the Holy Cross!

12/25/2023

Let's start from the beginning! Welcome to the 12 Days of the Mount of the Holy Cross!

Address

1936 S Michigan Avenue
Chicago, IL
60616

Opening Hours

Wednesday	1pm - 3pm
Saturday	11am - 3pm
Sunday	12pm - 1pm

Website

http://www.historicsecondchurch.org/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Friends of Historic Second Church posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Videos

CBS Spotlight Coverage of Mount of the Holy Cross with interviews from Tom Venturella of Venturella Studio and board president, Linda Miller by CBS correspondant, Shardaa Gray.

The Mount is coming back today! Today is the day!

How to clean a very dirty Tiffany stained glass window piece brought to you by Venturella Studio, Troy New York!

Join Friends and the Victorian Society in America for our next FREE online lecture this Saturday, February 17th at 3pm ET! We will be hearing about the wonderful “Second Presbyterian Church of Chicago: An Arts & Crafts Masterpiece” from Glessner House Executive Director and Curator, Bill Tyre. If you have not already registered for the lecture, you can do so here: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Q1jT6JQiT0uhrisFD5lvkg About the lecture: Second Presbyterian Church of Chicago is the only church in the city to be designated a National Historic Landmark. Recognized for its distinctive Arts & Crafts interior designed by architect Howard Van Doren Shaw in 1900, the sanctuary contains significant examples of mural painting, light fixtures, ornamental plaster, carved wood, and stained glass. There are nine windows by Louis Comfort Tiffany, and two by the English designer Edward Burne-Jones for Morris & Co. The interior is largely intact, with the various elements working together to form a Gesamtkunstwerk – a total work of art – the true beauty of which is being revealed through a series of recent projects including the restoration of the massive Tree of Life mural by Frederic Clay Bartlett. Our speaker, Bill Tyre, has served on the board of Friends of Historic Second Church since February 2007, a preservation-based non-profit for which he has researched and written extensively on the history, art and architecture of the church

On the 6th day of the 12 days of the Mount of the Holy Cross let's revisit the history and majesty of the window with architect, board member, and docent Nate Lielasus!

While you are on you way to shopping today take a moment to catch up! Today is the second day of 12 days of the Mount of the Holy Cross!

Let's start from the beginning! Welcome to the 12 Days of the Mount of the Holy Cross!

If you thought our before and after of St. Paul Preaching at Athens Window was extreme watch as Frederic Clay Bartlett's Tree of Life Mural transforms literally in front of your eyes. Photos and movie by Peter Schoenmann of Parma Conservation

Studio Tour of Archistoric

Tom Stemmen, president of Archistoric takes us through the studio and the work that goes on. To learn more about our Arts and Crafts Chandelier Restoration watch our other videos!

Under the Starry Sky - The Tree of Life: Restoring an Arts and Crafts Masterpiece

William Tyre the Executive Director & Curator of Glessner House speaks of the art and architecture of the Tree of Life Mural

Studio Chat with Tom Venturella and Jim Murphy of Venturella Studio

Join us as we replay our live chat in studio on December 4, 2021 with Venturella Studio speaking on the latest of Tiffany's St. Paul Preaching in Athens restoration.

Arts and Crafts Chandelier Restoration

The team at Archistoric has transformed Second Presbyterian's 1901 Arts and CraftS chandelier from dirty and tired looking to a polished patina. Tom Stemen and Victor Lebron give us the entire restoration process at their studio in Chicago, Illinois.

Tree of Life

Test for Friends

My Test Meeting

My Webinar

Removal of the St. Paul Preaching at Athens Middle Glass Panel

This video is a continuation of the Facebook Live created on March 22nd 2021. This panel took approximately seven hours to remove from start to finish. A big thank you goes out to Venturella Studio and Wardell Art Glass for allowing us to film and be a part of the restoration!

Venturella Studio & Wardell Art remove the St. Paul Preaching at Athens Window

This previously recorded video was a Facebook Live event on March 22nd 2021 while Venturella Studio's Jim and Wardell Art's John Clark removed the St. Paul Preaching at Athens Tiffany stained glass window. We ask the two men questions about the process of removing window, why plaster was over the part of the stained glass and many more restoration questions. Join us for some exciting explanations. For further information of the restoration process of the St. Paul window visit us at historicsecondchurch.org Photo Credit for background photo in thumbnail: Martin Cheung