|
Brennan
Painting the sky
|  |
|
Brennan
Painting the sky
| |
 Brennan Stained Glass Studio, of Syracuse New York, has recently completed work on it's most exciting commision in the studio's 25 year history.The local studio was awarded the contract to build and install the stained-glass dome ceiling at historic Boldt Castle on Heart Island in Alexandria Bay N.Y. The Thousand Islands Bridge Authority has invested more than $14 million dollars in repairing, rebuilding and completing portions of the castle and it's outbuildings, since they took over ownership of Boldt Castle and the Heart Island properties in 1977. |
|
While much of the money has gone into unseen but vital work, such as roof, foundation and structural repairs needed to save the buildings and make them safe for visitors - in more recent years money has gone to gardens, stonework, interior decoration and other projects more obvious to visitors.
Now that the T.I.B.A. knew what they wanted, they still needed to put the job up for bid. When bids opened last year Brennan's bid was the lowest, coming in $20,000 lower than the next lowest bid. |
Our Stained Glass Studio got the Boldt Castle Dome job!! |
|
Since spring of 2000, Brennan Stained Glass Studio has worked as subcontractor to GEF Restoration of Port Leyden N.Y., the construction firm responsible for most of the island structures' rehabilitation and restoration work. It took months for me to translate Ms. Sloan's ideas into working patterns which could then be used to cut the colored, textured glass. Designs had to be altered and redesigned (by myself) in order to get them to work in a three-dimensional situation. Once final designs were drawn up in the studio, they had to be transferred to wooden molds, mock-ups of the dome's 48 individual glass and lead panels. These 48 sections then provided a work surface on which that particular panel could be built. When construction on the panels was all done, the wooden molds became the packing crates for their panels. Each panel was trucked up to Wellesley Island, to the Boldt Family's Yacht House, where they were ferried across the St. Lawrence River to the bottom of Heart Island. Once safely on Heart Island, each panel had to be hand carried up over 700 steps to the castle's fourth floor, where the 48 sections were re-assembled into the 16 pie-shaped sections of the framework that, when eased into place and held tight with solder and hand-hammered copper clips, would come together to create the brilliant stained-glass dome ceiling that is there now. The dome itself measures 24 feet long by 18 feet wide and is over seven feet high. It is suspended over 80 feet above the castle's main hall showering the newly created Grand Staircase in brilliant hues of color. The dome consists of over 6,000 pieces of hand-cut art glass leaded into 48 individual sections, using over one mile of lead came. From planning and negotiations to the final installation it took nearly a year to complete, with over 3 months spent on artwork and design and an equal amount of time to cut the glass and build the panels. Installation took little more than two weeks. The dome cost $214,000 and was completed in June 2001. |
|
When you are finished with this page, be sure to check out the photo albums, which contain many more pictures of the dome, showing construction shots and detailed close-ups. | |
 |  |
| Thin strips of luan were cut and inserted into each of the 48 individual sections of the frame, in order to replicate exactly the contours of each panel. These were secured with vertical strips, and later, plywood and fiberglass. This provided an exact reproduction of each panel which would later be used to build that panel on. Notice the height of the panels in the photograph on the right. These are some of the lower sections in the dome. |
 |
|  |
| When we settled in for the winter back in the studio, artwork began. Full sized patterns, or cartoons, were drawn up for each of the 48 panels. These were used as templates on which the colored glass could be cut. Later, these patterns were transferred to the wooden forms, which provided a solid platform on which to construct each panel. |
 |
The thousands of individual pieces of hand-cut glass were then joined together using more than a mile of lead came and then soldered at each and every joint to make one solid panel of glass. The panels were then puttied with a special glazing compound and then picked and cleaned (and picked and cleaned again and again) to establish a pleasing natural patina. |
 |
When the panels were all built they were crated and trucked up to the 1000 Islands, where they were ferried across the water to the castle grounds. |
 |
 |
Once the panels were safely on Heart Island, they were loaded onto the back of a tractor, which carried them to the main entrance of the castle. From there they were hand carried up the four flights of stairs to their final resting place in the dome room on the fourth floor of the castle. | |
 |
This picture shows the opening in which we needed to carry each of the 48 panels of leaded glass, plus the heavy, crated case on which it was constructed. The largest panel only made it through this opening by a 1/4 of an inch.
The process of installing all 48 panels of stained and leaded glass took little more than two weeks. Several nights spent at the castle were needed to allow us the ability to work on the dome while noone was underneath the wooden platform on which we worked. This would insure that noone got hurt should anything go wrong. Nothing did. Noone was. |
 |
 |
| Once all of the panels were carefully aligned, adjusted and shimmed, and then soldered and clipped in place, the wooden platform on which we worked was removed. We left one last panel out so that we had an access out of the dome when the last panel was installed. The photograph on the left shows a nice example of the size of the dome when compared to the size of an adult male. Notice also the elaborate plaster motifs hanging just underneath, on the newly finished plaster ceiling of the Main Hall. The photograph on the right shows the large steel beams which support all of the weight of the glass dome ceiling and framework. The glass blocks above the dome protect it from the weather, and not too long ago were the only things you saw when you gazed up from the floor below. | |
|
In the original plans for the castle, provisions were supposed to have been made (although none were ever found) for a continuous flow of water to cascade over the dome, and for electricity to light up the dome at night. The water was never featured, but the lights have been added, providing illumination and constant viewing enjoyment. TODAY... Visitors to the Castle can gaze in awe when they enter the newly restored main hall of the castle with its beautiful Grand Marble Staircase overlooked by the beautiful stained glass dome ceiling - a dream realized that George Boldt could only imagine. |
|
| About The Studio...
...uh, no, nothing about them now. My mouth is shut.
| |
|
|
- N A V I G A T I O N - |
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
  Please Tell a Friend About This Website |
P.O. Box 127 Lycoming, N.Y., 13093  |
|
Copyright © 2001 Touch Me(on the web) and
Douglas J. StJohn
All rights reserved.
http://server101.hypermart.net/ivanoff12/boldt/main.html
This website designed and maintained by
Touch Me(on the web)