Illuminate

I thought for the week of Thanksgiving that a post of some of the spectacular windows at 612 Stuart Street might be fun to see. Being that most of us are out celebrating the holiday with friends, family and even complete strangers, this will be a “picture post.” Even my time this week has run short! I hope this will illustrate some of the wonderful beauty that illuminates through the walls spilling into the inner spaces that we will soon call home.

Tom Pecor from the Glass Haus told me that many windows in places of worship tell stories. Stories told in the form of pictures. This was done years ago because most folks in congregations were unable to read. So thus born the picture book, only told through the windows that brought light to the main congregation area. The following windows, some from the original structure built in 1873 and others installed in 1910 within the new addition, illustrate a combination of both leaded glass windows and those painted by artists that tell the story of the Christian faith.

This is the upper window that faces the west. There are two of these in the building, both hand painted with three main sections and seven subsections. This window runs completly from the main level up to and through the second level. In the late 1920s a loft was added to accommodate more people. This covered the very center of the main window.

The lower half of the large windows were made of painted, textured glass with the center pictures pulling from various stories of faith.

This type of window continues throughout the newer addition in smaller corner windows and the windows that appear in stairwells.

Window lights that appear over the west and north entrances are also similar.

In the original [1873] building, the pulpit or alter area windows are made of leaded glass in pattern shapes. These windows are not painted but made from various colored glass cut and embedded between lead.

This runs true to the double windows that appear in the bell tower, soon to house Arketype’s library…

…and in what was once the original main congregational hall, main level and loft. One can see that the windows bottom and top, work together in design and form.

Coming up next, S P A C E, “The final frontier?” As Captain Kirk and the Starship Enterprise explore one type of it, we shall explore another.

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

Paul Meinke

P.S. I took several more pictures today, Sunday, while down at the building removing a door window with Kurt Anderson. Will update this page again tomorrow with new pics!

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Lit…

 

Shaft of light through east window.

On September 23, at approximately 4:02 in the morning, the sun passed over the celestial equator in a southern movement providing the same amount of light and darkness to the northern hemisphere. This also marked the first day of autumn. Then, about 90 days thereafter we experience the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. This day will last nine hours and twenty minutes, giving us a total of 14 hours and forty minutes of darkness, roughly.

As human beings, we have lived throughout history thrusting light up into the heavens during the nighttime hours. Whether by simple fire or modern energy we have looked to light as a source of comfort and warmth as well as safety and hope, as in the narrow beams that stretched to the heavens from Ground Zero after 9/11.

Tonight at 5:30, 175 watts of light per fixture times 9 fixtures will be switched on and tested to see how it will illuminate the north and west walls of 612 Stuart Street. That’s 1,575 watts of power streaming up and onto the 133-year-old building–beaming through this November 17 day, brightening the streets of Monroe Avenue and announcing itself as another jewel in the Navarino Neighborhood.

Light comes in many forms on 612 Stuart Street!

 

 

“Overture hit the lights, this is it, the night of nights, and oh what

heights we’ll hit, so on with show-this is it!”

612 Stuart Street…dull…?

Northwest corner, oh my!

Looking east from the park…

…and let’s not forget the front doors!

Can we talk?! Is this not just wonderful? Such wonderful light, such a beautiful building. The first time in 133 years it has been lit at night!

Paul Meinke

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Change

Steve Motl and Jim Rivett review ceiling options in the old part of the church

I have a terrible habit of ordering the same thing depending on which restaurant I visit. For example, every time I eat at Noodles I habitually order the Indonesian Noodles with Peanut Sauce. As dull and uninteresting as this may sound there is, for me, a sense of comfort in the idea that my experience will not change and, basically, I really don’t need to think at all when placing my order, another calming factor. No change, no surprises—just reassuring consistency.

Although no change and its predictability can be a nice occurrence, real change can challenge us in very positive ways. It can bring on the emotion of excitement, a feeling of newness, and fresh, awe-struck loveliness. Take for example getting a new car, new glasses, or just simply a new outfit.

Looking west at one of two large stained glass windows that

span both the main level and loft.

612 Stuart Street is a big, emotionally charged change for Arketype. Just yesterday while moving through the space, I felt exhilarated. Every pocket of space seemed filled with workers installing electrical, heating, and cooling ducts, building new walls, patching old ones, and drilling holes in the terrazzo flooring.

They have been installing new electrical lines and, today, are filling and paving the parking lot behind the building. We have a new drain installed in the center of the lot, and downspouts on the south side of the building have been connected to the street storm sewer drain.

Orginal leaded glass windows in oak wood entry doors.

I met with Tom from The Glass Haus. We are having the windows in the entrance doors returned to the original cut glass and leaded windows, something The Glass Haus is very good at. The doors themselves are being taken down a week from this coming Monday and shipped to Oshkosh for full restoration. Craftsmen will strip the solid oak then give the doors a bleach bath, the whole nine yards. Then they will be stained a burnt amber color with coats of lacquer applied to them. This is when we hope to have the new windows installed.

A newly punched hole through the second level allows one to see

the west wall stained glass window.

Tom was impressed with the stained glass windows throughout the building and as overwhelmed by their vivid color and painted detail as I was when I first saw them. This transformation for him brought a sense of excitement and hopefulness that the building was going to be kept intact and the windows preserved. He also looked at the original light fixtures, which are currently being rewired and painted. Hopefully, we will be able to install new glass to replace the plastic panels that were in place when we removed them from the ceiling.

Change. And no change.

We’ve received more letters that speak to the fact that “no change” is a good thing. Mrs. Thielke writes:

“I just want to commend you on your reconstruction of the Grace
Presbyterian Church. In today’s so-called ‘throw-away’ society, it is a joy to see some cases of preservation. Congratulations and best wishes on your company’s decision.”

Thanks, Mrs. Thielke, for making time to remind us that our undertaking is a rewarding one, not only to us, but to the community as well.

Change, charged with emotion, is a very powerful thing—even when it’s directed at a “no-change” restoration mission.

Paul Meinke

Visit Arketype at http://arketypeinc.com

Time!

I was curious to know just what was happening in the world 133 years ago when they placed the last brick, secured the cornerstone, and positioned the pews at 612 Stuart Street before the congregation’s first assembly.

This is what I found.

Remington and Sons started production on the first practical typewriter. Ulysses S. Grant began his second term as president of the United States. Custer encountered his first clash with the Sioux Nation near the Tongue River in which only one man was killed on each side. That September, the New York Stock Exchange crashed, triggering the great panic of 1873. Coors Brewing Company opened its doors in Golden Colorado, Heineken Brewery opened its doors in Amsterdam, and The Bold Look of Kohler began production in Kohler, Wisconsin.

New York’s Central Park was officially completed including the installation of the Bethesda Fountain, designed by Emma Stebbins, the first woman to receive a significant art commission in New York City. This famous statue/fountain appeared at the opening of the play and the movie “Angels in America” by Tony Kushner and was the starting point in the first episode of “The Amazing Race.”

Also in 1873, Julies Vern published “Around the World in 80 Days” not to be confused with “Around the World in 80 Dates,” by Jennifer Cox, released 132 years later. A must-read too!

Emily Post was born and would become America’s very own etiquette guru, as was Alberto Santos-Dumont, aviation pioneer who rivaled the Wrights in competition. He would become Brazil’s celebrated father of aviation recognizing his attempt to fly a heavier than air machine in Paris, France.

Other notes of interest during this decade…Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone—“Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you!”—and Thomas Edison introduced the invention of the light bulb and phonograph.

Whewwwwww! That’s a lot of happenings in 1873! But back to the present!

Received a note today from a Marguerite Lussenden, Green Bay, who writes, “Thanks! You really brightened my day!” A member of Grace for over 50 years, her card tells, “…how hurt the last members were to have to give up and close the church. Now I’ll smile when I go by it instead of wanting to cry.” Thanks Marguerite! And yes, when we are open for business please stop by for a personal tour!

Ms. Lussenden recently read an article in the business section of the Green Bay Press Gazette at the following link:

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006611030623

That’s it. I’m off to document the stained glass windows in photographs. Jim Rivett, my business partner, has been researching stained glass windows at the Smith Museum on Navy Pier in downtown Chicago today. He wants to send a record of our windows down to them for evaluation.

Visit Arketype at http://arketypeinc.com

It's Begun.

Location: 612 Stuart Street, Green Bay, Wisconsin

Building Type: Grace Presbyterian Church

Project: Building Adaptive Re-Use for the new home of Arketype Inc.

Last night I awoke, restless, at 3 a.m., and stared at the ceiling in my bedroom wondering over the many details…had we considered lighting in the library, the former bell tower room? Mental note…ask Steve our project coordinator about this when we meet tomorrow afternoon to discuss countertops and the existing signage on Monroe Avenue.

Then my mind raced about like a steel ball trapped inside a pinball game called “Convert the Church.” The steely ball bounced off double bumpers scoring 500 points for each stained glass window saved or uncovered. Then up to the collection basket it shot where it continuously scored 1 point for each linear foot of maple flooring we saved from the risers in the congregation hall. Bells ringing, lights flashing, numbers totaling over 6,240 points before the ball shot up and out, bouncing off the inside glass top, BANG. It then went screaming down the sloping platform, past the antiquated stoves in the kitchen basement, the pipe organ and hundreds of pews nobody wanted, past four out-of-tune pianos, one small electric organ, and a plethora of custom Grace Presbyterian dishware. It then zipped beyond my unreachable franticly flipping flippers and into the dark hole at the bottom of the pinball machine titled “The Bank.”

Final total for the round…156,240 points.

My heart pounding, breath deepening, the words of my Guru entered my darkening mind. “Stay in the present Paul,” she would say, and “Breath.” But it’s very hard to stay in the present when everything you’re doing today affects everything you might be doing in the future. And that future is just two and half months away.

Paul Meinke

Check out what else we are up at:

http://arketypeinc.com

Construction – Week 1

Here’s a couple of photos taken during the first week of renovation at the new building. If you’d like to check out more photos, please visit our ongoing digital album at flickr.com. We’ll be updating our blog on a weekly basis, so check back and see the new building progess.