Update: June 2021-4 windows have been restored and returned to Holyoke City Hall. 3 windows are down for repairs. The thirteen windows in Holyoke’s City Hall were all designed and manufactured by Samuel West of the Ecclesiastical Stained Glass Works, Boston, MA, in ca. 1876, when City Hall was built. In the main auditorium, there are ten windows. Six are figural, representing various aspects of Ho
lyoke’s economy of the period. The other four are decorative. In the hallway in front of the auditorium is a large window with two figures representing the United States. In the hallway in back of the auditorium are two small lunettes above large windows in stairwells. All windows are made of painted antique glass. The condition of all thirteen windows is extremely poor. All of the windows are in danger of failing, particularly in high winds. Previous restoration efforts have done more to hurt the windows than to help them; the craftsmanship of these repairs is of egregiously poor quality. All of the windows will require complete releading. There is great deal of missing glass, especially in window 8, Music, in which a whole section is missing. Some of the missing glass has been replaced with poorly matched and sometimes unpainted glass. Other areas, including the large section of window 8, have been blocked with plywood, cardboard, duct tape, or painters’ blue tape. None of these repairs is appropriate. It is also recommended that when the windows are restored and reinstalled, they be protected on the exterior with laminated glass storm windows in independent wood frames, vented through the frames to the exterior. Restoration and protective glazing of all of the windows in City Hall is estimated to cost upwards of $50,000 per window.
