“Paul Before Agrippa” 1902, by Duryea & Potter

Church of Saint Paul and Saint Anthony, UMC

West End Avenue at 86th Street, NYC

This plated opalescent window, the only known extant piece from New York’s essentially forgotten major ecclesiastic design firm, Duryea & Potter, was removed in near total collapse, having been held together by the tight setting and robust saddle bars in the south facade of the church. A unique feature of this window is the presence of several unusual and intricate stained glass mosaic sections, worked into the lead matrix, and visible in Agrippa’s throne. The largest of these sections was meticulously conserved from hundreds of fragments using archival photographs.

The triple plated window of over 1200 pieces of glass was re-leaded in its entirety, before being reinstalled with new vented protection glazing. The quality of the original craftsmanship in this window was astounding, and outstanding.

Special thanks to Julie Sloan for discovering an informative advertisement in an April 1903 edition of “The Churchman” magazine, which identified the makers and also provided some historical context for the firm and its relationship to the broader industry.

Conservation in 2023