Stained-glass dome job not unusual

Editor’s note: This is the first in a four-part series on the Van Wert County Courthouse and its courtroom renovation project.

CINDY WOOD/independent feature writer

“Wow” doesn’t even come close to covering it.

After approximately 40,000 solders, the recently restored stained-glass dome in the Van Wert County Courthouse is complete, and will undoubtedly garner a few gasps from the public during an upcoming open house that will show off the county’s formerly hidden treasure.

Surprisingly, the dome, measuring 30 feet across with a 6½-foot rise, had been completely covered up decades ago.

“When you see this dome, you immediately wonder what they were thinking to have ever covered that up,” Common Pleas Judge Charles Steele said. “You have to wonder how in the world they could have knocked holes in it to run air conditioning and heating vents. I don’t know why they didn’t fix it, instead of covering up something so magnificent.”

Uncovering the dome was the easy part. Reggie Buehrer, owner of Window Creations LLC in Ottoville, was tasked with the much more difficult job of bringing the dome back to its original glory — a process that began with disassembling, treating, and reassembling the 76 total stained glass panels that make up the dome.

Before that could happen, though, Buehrer’s restoration team had to completely replace 13 of the 76 panels, which had been knocked out nearly half a century ago.

“There were some holes that were five-and-a-half feet tall by about three-and-a-half feet wide,” Buehrer said, adding, “They were just gone; so we had to blend in all new glass to fill in for the old. Honestly, it was in pretty bad shape when we started.”

While the scope of the project involved locating and replacing several thousand pieces of glass, it was a typical job for Window Creations, which boasts one of the largest stained glass studios in the nation.

Located nearby in Fort Jennings, the facility encompasses over 13,000 square feet on seven acres. “We’ve been building and restoring stained glass windows for over twenty-three years,” Buehrer said, “so this was a fairly routine job, as far as what we do.”

What might not have been routine was the process of locating very specific glass to replicate the original look of the dome. “Some glasses had to be made from the old formulas that would have been used over one hundred years ago,” Buehrer said, “but we were able to get what we felt was a phenomenal match on the glass. We felt very good about it.”

To restore the dome, each curved panel had to be disassembled before going through three primary cleaning phases. “Every piece was disassembled and reassembled into a new panel basically,” Buehrer said. “It’s the old glass, but it’s been restored, not repaired, and there’s a big difference there.”

During stained glass repair, minor work is completed on the panels, but a full restoration is a much more thorough and complete process. “We basically make it like new again,” Buehrer said. “The glass is still old, but has a new look.”

Moreover, not all the panels are the same size, creating a lengthy process to achieve full restoration. At times, up to eight people were all working on the dome. “We work on six to twelve jobs at a time, so the length of the job can vary,” Buehrer said.

Furthermore, while a house might feature a standard, flat stained-glass window, the panels in the courthouse dome were built on curved forms. “This is definitely a big dome,” Buehrer said. “I’m not exactly sure how many bigger ones there are in the state, but this is one of the bigger ones I’ve seen.”

For Judge Steele, the dome’s restoration has been the culmination of a years-long process to renovate the courthouse, which up until recently was running a heating system original to the building. The restoration also allows residents of the community a chance to experience — and appreciate — the beauty of one of Van Wert County’s architectural gems.

“I think sometimes people do take it for granted when they just walk by it,” Judge Steele said of the courthouse and its newly restored stained-glass dome.

“If you just stop for a second and just stand there and look at how big that building is, and how absolutely amazing the architecture is, you can appreciate it for what it is,” the judge added. “It’s a truly awesome building, if people just take the time to stand there and look at it.”