Marion County Courthouse stained glass restoration foiled by snow
Jan. 19—FAIRMONT — An impending snowstorm delayed the return of the stained glass windows to the barrel vaults of the Marion County Courthouse this week.
The stained glass took a four hour pilgrimage down to Natural Bridge Station, Virginia last July, where Raynal Studios Inc. has been working to restore the windows over the last 5 months.
"Because of the weather, they haven't hauled them here because they're afraid of damage to them, you know, if they happen to be in an accident," Fred C. Young Jr., courthouse maintenance supervisor, said. "So it might be maybe the first, second week in February they should be complete."
The Raynal Studios truck was spotted at the courthouse earlier this week. Young confirmed they began the process of installing the windows back into the barrel vaults last week. However, the windows themselves haven't made the trip back up to Fairmont yet. The restoration project began last June at the courthouse.
The work to restore the stained glass windows in all of the courthouse is being split up into three different phases, Circuit Clerk Belinda Biafore said. To pay for the restoration, the courthouse sought grants and matching funds from the West Virginia Courthouse Improvements Association. Each phase costs roughly $250,000, with the third phase perhaps costing less, Biafore said.
"The biggest thing that the first phase dealt with was safety because we had things falling down on folks," Biafore said. "They just did not want that to happen or anybody to get hurt."
The return of the barrel vault stained glass marks the end of the first phase. Biafore said that the courthouse will need to obtain another $100,000 in matching funds to continue with the second phase of the restoration. The season for that grant application will come in the summertime, around August or September.
Overall, the project will take about three years. The bulk of the work will take place over two years, as restorationists focus on the stained glass itself. The courtroom dome, atrium dome and flat skylights are next.
Previous reporting revealed that the reason for the stained glass restoration was the lead caning which provides a framework for the glass to sit in. The windows are roughly a century old, which is approximately the service life of the lead caning.
"The windows at the courthouse have reached that point and what is going on is the lead caming has lost its flexibility and essentially is failing due to lead metal fatigue," John Raynal, master restorationist from Raynal Studios, said.
However, how fast the stained glass goes back up depends on the weather.
"When we started out, we had great weather," Biafore said with a chuckle. "The last few weeks haven't been so great."
Reach Esteban at efernandez@timeswv.com
