Delaware Doors

St. Mary's in Delaware, Ohio is a grand church with a brick structure in Gothic style.  Its two spires tower over the town.  In 1980 the church was listed in the National Register of Historic places.  Unfortunately, the main doors did not fit in with the rest of the Church.  They were made of glass and steel and resembled storefront doors.  Recently, Henninger's was contacted for a design of for new wood doors with stained glass windows.

Storefront doors before project began

Henninger's design for new doors

Fr. Michael Watson, pastor of St. Mary Church, asked for the new doors to made of solid wood.  The middle double doors should be raised from 7 feet in height to 8 feet in height.  A handicap entrance button was included as well.

The stained glass windows designed for the doors used a pattern in the nave of the church.  Debbie Knopf, one of Henninger's skilled and experienced stained glass artists, handled the fabrication of the windows.  The patterns on the leaded glass windows were hand-painted in black matte.  When complete, they were encapsulated in tempered glass for safety.

Stained glass design

Debbie Knopf, Henninger's stained glass artist

Tim Molnar led Henninger's woodworkers with the building of the solid wood doors.  An expert craftsman with decades of experience, Tim oversaw every facet of the project, from milling and assembly to sanding, staining, and finishing.  Each set of door had a new transom made.  The middle doors had sidelights built.  New jambs were made for all three areas.  To put it simply, this was a big job!

Tim Molnar and woodworking crew

A crew of four of Henninger's service team - Tim Molnar, Natalie Molnar, Jerry Klimo, and Adam Klimo -  installed the doors over the week of June 1, 2015.  New hardware was included with each door.  The stone work on the facade of the church was being restored at the same time as the door installation, adding to the facelift.

Installation crew

Exterior view of finished door

Interior view of finished door

"I am very pleased with the new church doors... how could anyone be unpleased with them?"

- Rev. Michael Watson, pastor

Completed new doors at St. Mary Church in Delaware, Ohio

Replacement of Mary Statue

In the winter of 2014, vandals pushed over the marble Mary statue in front of Our Lady of Peace in Cleveland, shattering the statue into 4 pieces.  Since puzzling the pieces back together was deemed too costly, Henninger's assisted the Church in finding a statue that would replace the damaged statue.  Working with carvers in Carrara, Henninger's and Our Lady of Peace finalized the design and size to create a new statue of Mary, carved out of Carrara marble.

Once completed, the statue was sent via ocean freight and, upon arrival, uncrated and installed - and secured - in front of the Church, where the previous Mary once stood for so many years.  With the new Mary in place, the entrance to Our Lady of Peace is back to looking as it always has, with the kind face of Mary as a welcome to all who visit.

St. John Paul II Statue and Altar

Polish Catholics have a special devotion to St. John Paul II.  After his canonization, Father Lucjan Stowkowski started planning for a statue and altar to honor him. Father Lucjan is the pastor of St. John Cantius Church in Cleveland, a Polish church founded in 1898.  The church is rich with ornate decoration, from large wood altars, to detailed paintings on the walls.  The bar was set very high at St. John Cantius for beautiful religious items.












Fr. Lucjan approached Henninger's for a design for this new statue and altar.  The image above was agreed upon.  The statue was to be 6 feet tall, and the altar was to be 6 feet wide and 3 feet deep.  Both were to be hand carved in white Carrara marble in Italy.  With the help of generous donors, the statue and altar were commissioned and work began in May of 2014.

The following pictures show the design and carving process of these wonderful pieces:

 

The statue's area on the side of the church was renovated while the statue and the altar were getting worked on.  Extra support was needed in the basement to support the weight.  Finally, they were installed in December of 2014.

The finished statue and altar installed in place at St. John Cantius Church:

Sacristy Renovation at St. Christopher Church

In the Spring of 2014, Henninger's Inc. was contacted by St. Christopher Church in Rocky River,
Ohio to look at their outdated and non-functional priests' sacristy.  After some water damage to the sacristy that needed repair and with the renovations that had taken place in the previous years to the Church, the only remaining part of the plant that needed an upgrade was the priests' sacristy.  Because of a lack of space for vestments, a too-small sacristy sink, a dated cabinet that was too deep and a wall that was non-functional, St. Christopher tasked Henninger's with coming up with a design to renovate the cabinetry and transform the sacristy, done in concert with repairing the water damage, re-painting the sacristy, and outfitting the room with new light fixtures to brighten up the space.

In looking at the existing furniture, the determination was made to remove the sink cabinet and replace it with a more functional cabinet with a new granite top, incorporating both a new, larger and more functional sink and an additional vestment case.

In looking at the cabinet that held the liturgical books, linens, paraments, and stoles, the determination was made that the current design was fine, but that replacing the current nicked-up wood top with a granite top would bring the design of the room together as it would more closely match the new vestment case/sink cabinet that would be constructed.

Finally, a wall that provided no additional storage was examined, with a design created to match the paneled doors in the room and the new cabinetry that would be created.

With the designs approved, Henninger's craftsmen went to work fabricating the cabinetry and cutting the new granite tops to fit into the space and accommodate the new sink:

Once all of the furniture was completely constructed and the granite tops were ready for installation, Henninger's went to work repairing all of the water damage in the sacristy, then painted the sacristy to brighten up the room.  When the repairs and painting was complete, Henninger's installers arrived to replace the top on the cabinet that would be staying in place.

With the granite top set, Henninger's crew turned their attention to removing the existing cabinet that would be replaced, then to installing the newly created cabinetry, complete with new sink, a place to "hide" the sacristy fridge, and the extra vestment cabinet.  Once in place, Henninger's matched the stain of the other furniture in the sacristy, waiting until it was in place to ensure a perfect match.

Finally, Henninger's crew went to work installing the newly created cabinet under the statue of the Holy Family, providing the Church with more storage and with a piece of furniture that properly finished the space.

Ultimately, the renovation achieved the goal of providing the Church with a more functional sacristy that was more aesthetically pleasing while incorporating design elements from elsewhere in the Church.  The result was a "new" sacristy that looked as if it had always looked that way - perfectly fitting into the rest of the Church while giving the priests a much more suitable and functional sacristy.

Stained Glass Windows for St. Edward High School Chapel

Henninger's was contacted by St. Edward High School in Lakewood, OH to beautify their school Chapel with stained glass windows.  The Chapel's large clear windows on both sides of the Chapel looked onto a busy street and a parking lot and the school administration felt that stained glass could block the view to the street and the adjoining parking lot while creating a more serene, prayerful place...a space more appropriate for a school Chapel.

Meetings between school officials and Henninger's resulted in the conclusion that the two large windows on each side of the sanctuary should be the first priority with the subjects for the window being Mary and Joseph.  It was decided that the depiction of Mary would be Our Lady of Sorrows, for whom the Brothers of the Holy Cross hold a special devotion and that St. Joseph would be depicted as a guiding father with a teenage Jesus, appropriate for the all boys high school founded by the Brothers of the Holy Cross.

After some color selection for the glass and working through various designs, the final drawing for each window was approved incorporating the idea of movement into the glass to tie all of the glass in the chapel together with the depictions of Mary & Joseph that stayed within the school's mission.  With the sizes finalized, the colors selected, and the glass ordered, the artists at Henninger's went to work on fabricating the windows for the Chapel.

As the first step, Henninger's artists laid out the windows in real-size on the wall by drawing the figures and the shapes of the windows to allow them to cut and paint the glass in the correct sizes.  This process allows the artist to get a sense of the figures in their actual size to work out the specifics of the folds of clothing, the posture of the figures, and the spacing between the subjects.  In a wonderful gesture, the officials at the high school asked if the face of St. Joseph could be modeled after a longtime Brother, who had served at the school in different capacities for nearly 5 decades.  Henninger's was able to draw St. Joseph's face based on old pictures of the Brother and - with the design portion nearly complete - was able to move onto cutting glass.

The glass was laid out on the real-size drawings and cut to size by the stained glass artists, who then moved onto the painting portion, where the figures were brought to life on the glass.

The windows were then built, leaded, cemented, and fitted with bars to strengthen all of the panes of glass before they would make their way into place in the school Chapel.  While the windows were strengthening in Henninger's warehouse, our carpenters went to work building the frames for the Stained Glass panels.  Due to some structural aspects of the window openings, Henninger's carpenters built trim and molding to match the wood in the Chapel as well as to conceal structural steel beams that passed directly through the middle of the large windows on each side of the Sanctuary.  Once all of the rough cutting and staining was done on the frames, and the trim-work and moldings were complete, the Stained Glass was strong enough for installation, so the installation crew went to the Chapel to erect the scaffolding necessary to install the frames and the finished Stained Glass panels.

Once on site, Henninger's crew began to build the frames and move the Stained Glass panels into place up the scaffolding, starting with the upper portions of the St. Joseph side first:

Once the St. Joseph window was in place, the crew went to work on installing the Mary panels on the other side of the Sanctuary:

Once both windows were in place, the crew went to work installing all of the custom trim-work and molding that had been fabricated to fit the space and match the wood already in place in the Chapel.  Once complete, the windows were finished, immediately and completely transforming the environment with prayerful images and soft colors that diffused the activity behind the window and providing a serene space.

With Phase I of the Stained Glass project complete, the sanctuary and the space have been transformed by the presence of the Stained Glass windows, generating more excitement for the Stained Glass that will be fabricated to fill the space behind the crucifix as well as the other windows that will depict various Brothers of the Holy Cross in a style that will match the new windows in the Sanctuary.

The project was a tremendous example of the collaboration between the school and Henninger's artists and craftsmen as the school year begins with the school Chapel transformed into what was imagined for it to be, leading St. Edward High School President Jim Kubacki to write this in appreciation for the collaboration and in anticipation for the rest of the project to be completed:

I just want to thank you and your team for the wonderful stained glass we now have in our Holy Family Chapel.  It is stunning. You have been terrific collaborators as we have tried to develop the vison and message and unify the look for the chapel.  It clearly is Holy Cross and St. Eds as well as great art. Thank you for all your efforts.  I look forward to the day when it is completed.  The Chapel will be our jewel and a daily reminder of why St. Edward High School exists!  Thanks again.