It’s probably a combination of a Catholic boyhood and college summers spent window washing, but for whatever reason there’s a soft spot in my heart for stained glass windows. Who doesn’t like the colored shadows of sacred images? If, however, you’re not the religious sort, no worries; there’s plenty of stained glass transoms in the city, giving addresses in an aesthetically pleasing way. Whatever the case, we’ve got a few suggestions for any Baltimore stained-glass-o-philes out there.
St Alphonsus Church, home of the only Latin Mass in Baltimore, is currently restoring their stained glass windows to their original nineteenth-century splendor. As the Sun first reported at the February 1845 opening, “[the glass is] so traced as to render the effect very fine.” And who can argue with Victorian critics? The project is still in progress, but promises to be lovely upon completion.
If you’re interested in those decorative transoms that seem to be above so many rowhouse doorways these days, there are a few places you can find them around the city. We’re partial to a few, namely Daniel Herman Stained Glass (1601 Guilford Avenue # 2S), Terraza Stained Glass (1412 Woodall Street), and Vintage Stained Glass . These are craftsmen, they can help you design what you want, even if you’re not too sure yourself.
Finally, for the DIYers and crafty types who want to try their hand at making their own windows, there’s The Glass Key in Jessup (8610 Washington Boulevard). They carry a full line of stained glass materials and tools, and, thankfully, offer a full line of classes for beginners like us. We appreciate that, if only because it’s virtually guaranteed that our first five (or more) tries are going to come out as lumpy, disfigured pieces of glass . And also because once we get good we’re not going to waste our time on anything lame like flowers or clowns, but only design super-cool stuff like stained glass rocket ships full of werewolves. That’s just how we roll.