Tiffany-Glass Fireworks: St. Michael’s Church, Manhattan

Last week I wrote about the stained-glass program at the Judson Memorial Church on Washington Square in Manhattan. In the early 1890s, the polymath artist John La Farge (1835–1919) designed the 15 windows, some rondels with a diameter of six feet and some 15-foot-high narrow verticals. For iridescence and translucence, the Judson windows are hard to match.

This week I’ll focus on the stained glass at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church on 99th Street on the Upper West Side. They’re the work of La Farge’s friend, then hate figure Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848–1933). New York has great Gilded Age church buildings, and St. Michael’s and the Judson Church, both Romanesque Revival and both built in 1891, are two of the very best.

About the Author

Brian T. Allen

Brian T. Allen is National Review’s art critic.

Last week I wrote about the stained-glass program at the Judson Memorial Church on Washington Square in Manhattan. In the early 1890s, the polymath artist John La Farge (1835–1919) designed the 15 windows, some rondels with a diameter of six feet and some 15-foot-high narrow verticals. For iridescence and translucence, the Judson windows are hard to match.

This week I’ll focus on the stained glass at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church on 99th Street on the Upper West Side. They’re the work of La Farge’s friend, then hate figure Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848–1933). New York has great Gilded Age church buildings, and St. Michael’s and the Judson Church, both Romanesque Revival and both built in 1891, are two of the very best.