Good Heavens! Salvaged Tiffany Church Windows Sell for $252,000

Two massive Tiffany windows from a Philadelphia church, which were rescued from imminent demolition when purchased by a curious antique dealer for $6,000, recently sold for $252,000 at auction at Freeman’s. The two rose-shaped stained-glass windows were covered in grime after sitting virtually untouched for 118 years in the old St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia when Paul Brown, an antique dealer from Lancaster, PA, discovered the windows on Facebook Marketplace.

The church, which is being refurbished under new ownership, didn’t know what it had, and neither did Brown until he reached out to Freeman’s in Philadelphia asking for advice on how to repair the windows. That’s when the auction house informed him of his treasures. Freeman’s discovered that the leaded glass was crafted for St. Paul’s in the early 1900s by Tiffany Studios, famous for its glasswork and lamps. The auction house believes it’s also possible that John Wanamaker, of the famous and influential Philadelphia department store, had a role in commissioning the windows; his name was included in St. Paul’s entry on Tiffany’s commission list.

“Great things show up everywhere,” said Tim Andreadis, the director of decorative arts and design at Freeman’s. “A lot of these treasures are hidden in plain sight. All around us.”

Both radial windows contain a spectacular kaleidoscope of color with cooler hues of yellow and green at the center and warmer purple and navy tones at the border. The central quatrefoil on one contains a golden crown, representing Christ, while the other boasts a white dove mid-flight for the Holy Spirit.

Before the sale, the Tiffany windows were shipped to an upstate New York firm which spent three months cleaning and restoring them to their original heavenly state.

St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, Circa 1909. Image courtesy of the Library Company of Philadelphia.

Tiffany Studios Rose Windows for St. Paul’s Presbyterian, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, circa 1904, sold for $252,000 at Freeman’s. The windows were set to be demolished before being discovered by an antique dealer and purchased for $6,000. Photo: Freeman’s