See over 100 Tiffany stained glass windows at St. Luke’s Church in Dubuque, Iowa.
Louis Tiffany was a master with glass. While most stained glass artists were painting pieces of glass, Tiffany was embedding the color within the glass. In 1881, he was asked to create stained glass for Mark Twain’s home. A year later, he was asked by President Arthur to decorate several rooms in the White House.
In 1893, he exhibited at the World’s Columbian Exposition (the very first world’s fair) in Chicago. In attendance was a group from St. Luke’s United Methodist Church in Dubuque, Iowa. The congregation was in the process of building a new church and Tiffany’s work caught their eye. They made arrangements to purchase 5 large stained glass windows for the construction of their new church. Over time, the congregation continued to purchase additional works from Tiffany.
Today, St. Luke’s United Methodist Church houses over 100 Tiffany stained glass windows and it is the 5th largest collection of Tiffany’s stained glassworks in the world.
During most weekdays, they have open viewing times and there are selected dates and times when live guided tours are available. Check their website for details: https://www.stlukesdbq.org/tours
Location: 1199 Main Street, Dubuque, Iowa 52001
Website: https://www.stlukesdbq.org
During our tour, one of the church members offered to play the organ – and we gladly accepted. The organ is original and was installed when the church opened in 1896. It’s a 3 manual organ with over 1,000 pipes. In 1992, the organ was completely restored. Only four individuals are trained to play the organ, so this was quite a treat for our group!
According to our tour guide, even the bathrooms have Tiffany windows!
Tiffany’s windows were all created in New York and then individual sections of the windows were shipped to Dubuque by railroad. Tiffany’s workers came to Dubuque to install the windows – but Tiffany himself never visited the church.
The Angel Among The Lilies (1896) is also one of the first installations when the church was built. The Richardson family provided funds for its creation in honor of their daughter who died at the age of 18. Interesting note: No photographs or descriptions of their daughter were ever sent to Tiffany – but when the window was installed, the family noticed that the angel’s face looks like their deceased 18 yr old daughter Harriet.
All photos by Brian Abeling / Iowa Road Trip
Hi Brian – The Job window is above the balcony, not the choir loft. The choir area is to the right of the altar (if you are looking at the altar) and the window in it is “David Set Singers Before the Lord”, installed in 1931. Tiffany himself died in 1933. Also, we have about 120 windows altogether, including the ones in the clerestory, attic and bell tower. Only nine are picture windows – the rest are patterned glass windows, some with medallions. Everything above the basement – whether it’s a bathroom, office, classroom or kitchenette, has a window with Tiffany glass in it. The exception is one patterned glass Tiffany window in the sanctuary that was replaced by a small modern stained glass picture window in 1969.
In 1879, Louis C. Tiffany formed L.C. Tiffany & Associated Artists, an interior design or “decorative arts” firm – that is what he did Mark Twain’s home and the White House under. He did not form Tiffany Glass and Decorating company until 1892 and then register it as a trademark until 1894. After’s Tiffany’s death in 1933, his former employees created a studio to completed any outstanding commissions, but did not accept any new ones, and closed completely by 1936.
St. Luke’s collections has three signficances: 1) It’s size; 2) it basically spans the entire length of the Tiffany Glass and Decorating company, from the first display at the 1892 “Columbia Exposition” (The exposition opened in October 1892, ie “Columbus Day”, but spanned into 1893 so it became known as the “1893 World’s Fair”); and 3) because our windows span almost the entire lifetime of the Tiffany Glass and Decorating company, we have all the different stamps / trademarks used by the company on various windows from the various times they were installed. Best, RRS Stewart, Historian, St. Luke’s United Methodist Church.