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Featured Window

Window of the Month
Our Lady of Grace, Dearborn Heights, Michigan

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Window

Building Name: Christ Church Cranbrook

Studio Name: Bonawit (G. Owen) Studios

City: Bloomfield Hills

Window Shape: 6 (gothic arched, more than 2 vertical sections)

Date of Window: 1928

Subject/Title of Window: Clerestory Windows

Brief Description of Subject: The 17 clerestory windows in the nave and chancel are in a grisaille Gothic Revival style, meaning they are composed chiefly of clear glass painted with minute floral detail and highlighted with colored glass. The style originated in thirteenth-century France in the Cistercian orders. The Cistercians did not approve of depicting figures in church ornamentation, in keeping with the First Commandment stricture to make no graven images. They also followed the teachings of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, who strongly criticized the use of decorative figures such as gargoyles, and the extraordinary coloration used in Gothic churches of the period. Grisaille (the old French word for gray) windows are so called because they have a gray or silvery tonality.

The different measurements for widths occur because the windows in the Chancel have only two lights.



Condition of Window: Good

Height: 12'

Width: 5' clerestory, 7' nave

Type of Glass and Technique: Antique or Cathedral Glass, Lead Came

Clerestory Windows
Clerestory Windows
Clerestory Window, exterior
Clerestory Window, exterior

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