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Our Lady of Grace, Dearborn Heights, Michigan

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MSGC : Collections : Window

Window

Building Name: St. John Armenian Church

Studio Name: Loire (Gabriel) Studios

City: Southfield

Window Shape: 2 (rectangle)

Date of Window: 1966

Subject/Title of Window: Decorative Narthex Windows

Brief Description of Subject: Description of windows from Church booklet:
 
"The narthex or Kavit, was generally a large interior space just outside of the main sanctuary entrance. Upon entering this small narthex of St. John's one will see two recessed areas to the left and right. These are illuminated by seven slender ... niche windows with dominant cobalt and blue faceted glass, welcoming worshipers into a simple and cool environment that transitions into a blast of massive colors and decorations in the beautiful nave itself."
 
This description of the outside view refers to the placement of ornaments crowning the narrow windows. It is taken from the book "History of St. John's Armenian Church and the Armenian Apostoloic Society" by Dennis R. Papazian:
 
"The semi-octagonal projecting walls of the narthex between the Church proper and the entrance portico recall the treatment of windows around the base at the Khoragept monastery in Armenia, with shell-shaped ornaments crowning the narrow windows. This combination of motifs was used so skillfully at Khoragept that in many respects it foreshadows the clean, well-proportioned qualities of some of the better twentieth-century buildings."  (I could not locate the Khoragept monastery so I have illustrated this treatment from the Khor Virap monastery in Armenia.)

Height: 63"

Width: 6"

Type of Glass and Technique: Slab or Faceted Glass (Dalle de Verre)

The MSGC is a constantly evolving database. Not all the data that has been collected by volunteers has been sorted and entered. Not every building has been completely documented.

All images in the Index are either born-digital photographs of windows or buildings or are scans of slides, prints, or other published sources. These images have been provided by volunteers and the quality of the material varies widely.

If you have any questions, additions or corrections, or think you can provide better images and are willing to share them, please contact donald20@msu.edu