The “Three Graces” stairwell window, found in Gabriola mansion and created by Bloomfield & Sons Studio. | Photo courtesy of Vancouver Heritage Foundation
“[British Columbia’s early European settlers] didn’t have brick and stone, so they built with wood. When they built churches they wanted to give them a sense of permanence and a sense of beauty [found in] their former homeland, so memorial windows and windows that told stories of the Bible were a comfort to people,” explains architectural historian and author Jim Wolf.
Wolf’s childhood fascination with old buildings blossomed into a passion for local history and heritage conservation. Today, Wolf is a senior planner for the City of Burnaby and manages its heritage program. Wolf’s love for stained glass began with a 1978 exhibition at the Museum of Vancouver called Rainbows in Our Walls, which delved into the stories of the local artisans who created this beautiful, yet underappreciated, artwork.
From medieval France to Vancouver, BC
Stained glass is one of the most ancient of architectural arts. With humble beginnings in medieval France, it spread across Europe and then the world. The basic idea was to colour glass by painting and firing them to portray images, connecting all the pieces using lead. The nature of the craft demands cooperation between architect, millworkers, and carpenters to coordinate designs, sizes, and colours.
Stained glass arrived in Vancouver along with European settlers in the late Victorian period, says Wolf. While the first buildings in Vancouver were crude, settlers wanted a reminder of home in their places of worship, jumpstarting the demand for stained glass in British Columbia. It was also during this time that stained glass began to escape the confines of churches and creep into the decorative schemes for homes, banks, bars, and restaurants. The Henry Bloomfield & Sons Studio, founded by Henry Bloomfield in 1890, was the first stained glass studio in western Canada.
Residential stained glass
Samuel Maclure, the first architect to be born and raised in BC, was also an artist, though he had little formal training. He loved the local flora and fauna of the province, and wanted to feature native materials and scenery in his buildings.
Wolf explains that Maclure’s chance to make his mark came in 1900, when sugar magnate B.T. Rogers contracted a mansion in Vancouver he called “Gabriola.” Maclure approached James and Charles Bloomfield, Henry Bloomfield’s sons, to commission a magnificent set of window designs for the mansion, incorporating images of sea urchins, seaweed, fireweed, and skunk cabbage.
In the 1970s, the mansion became an apartment building, and then a restaurant (called “Hy’s mansion” and later “Romano’s Macaroni Grill”) and currently has a pending agreement to once again become a residential building. The original stained glass is still preserved and protected to this day, and was recently the focus of a public tour offered through the Vancouver Heritage Foundation.
“There isn’t anything like it in BC,” says Wolf. “It’s a moment in time where architects and designers came together to create something truly of this place.”
Stained glass in churches
For those looking for another spectacular example of stained glass in Vancouver, Wolf recommends Christ Church Cathedral in downtown Vancouver, which houses a mix of local and imported glass dating back to the turn of the century. Over time, memorial windows have been commissioned by prominent families for loved ones who have died, creating beautiful stained-glass tributes to familiar names. One great example is the memorial window for Grace E. Ceperley (Ceperley also has a playground bearing her name in Stanley Park). Designed by F. Louis Tait from Bogardus & Wickens Studio, the window showcases locally made stained glass emulating English Arts & Crafts style.
New panes and restorations
“Stained glass is an art that has never really died out. We’re not really at the end of its story, just in a different chapter,” says Wolf.
Stained glass is more commonly known today as art glass, a general term for any glass created for use in architecture. Today, there are artists working both in traditional and modern styles of art glass, and some who work solely on restoring Vancouver’s historical stained glass. As Wolf explains, a great deal of glass in Vancouver was made at the turn of the century and now requires conservation. This has led to the emergence of an entire industry devoted to taking care of old glass, as well as creating new art glass.
“I think the magic of stained glass and what drew me to it in the beginning is the way that glass interacts with light and place. I think no one who has seen a stained glass window quite forgets that feeling of sunshine through its coloured panes,” says Wolf.
A recent Vancouver Heritage Foundation tour of Vancouver’s historic stained glass led by Jim Wolf was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. For any future rescheduled stained glass tours or online events, go to www.vancouverheritagefoundation.org.
