How the Windows Were Made

The Burnham windows consist of pot-metal glass. The color of each piece arises from the metal oxides contained within the glass. Additional color and detail is applied to the surface by painting it with enamel. The predominant colors of the pieces are blue, red, and yellow. The variable thickness of the pieces and elongate bubbles within them are evidence that they were produced by the "antique" or "muff" glass process. The pieces of glass within each window are numerous and are separated from each other by a network of lead lines.

The windows themselves are long, narrow, and terminate at the top in a pointed Gothic arch, a shape known as a “lancet.” Lancet windows are typical features of medieval Gothic architecture and its various revivals during the 19th and early 20th centuries (Rifkind, 1980; McAlester, 1986) Each of the main floor Burnham windows in Trinity Cathedral is approximately 96 inches high and 32 inches wide and has a moveable, rectangular ventilator at its base, the only part of the window that "opens." The windows are unambiguously identified by Burnham's name appearing in either printed or script form in the lower right hand corner, just above the ventilator. Dates appear in the same location. The ventilators were a source of concern to Dean Emerson, as he relates to Burnham in a letter dated June 28, 1938:

One thing came over me the other day. I notice that in the amber windows that are already there the lower part is fixed so that it can be opened for ventilation. As I think of your windows which you have completed I do not remember that the lower part is made like a panel that can swing open. If all of those windows of the first floor are sealed we will have a great problem of ventilation. Have you thought of that or am I just mistaken?

Burnham’s reply was dated July 5th, 1938:

Concerning ventilators for the aisle windows, I have arranged a ventilator for each lancet in the lower part of each window. They are so arranged that when the ventilators are open, the major figure subject in each window will be complete.

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