Stained Glass - Table of Contents

Willet Studios Windows in Western New York
Willet Hauser Architectural Glass - Official Website

Creation window detail, 1950 (Westminster Presbyterian Church)

Creation window detail, 1950  (Westminster Presbyterian Church)

Praise window detail, 1967  (Westminster Presbyterian Church)

Praise window detail, 1967  (Westminster Presbyterian Church)

Willet Studios
Began with founder William Willet, an artist and leader in the American Gothic Movement, in 1898. Working with noted architect Ralph Adams Cram, William created traditional designs that rivaled the works found in the finest European Cathedrals. William's son, Henry Lee Willet, took over the studio after his father's death. In 1965, E. Crosby Willet, the son of Henry Lee Willet, became the President of Willet Studios.

"William Willet laid the foundation for a new twentieth century [Gothic] revival when he founded his studio in Philadelphia in 1898. He designed windows of painted, richly colored antique glass with his figures reflecting a full-figured Renaissance influence that was the taste of the times. His wife, Anne Lee Willet, who ran the studio for a time after his death, assisted him in his work. His son, Henry Willet, was also a Gothic revivalist, but his preference was for small, jewel-like, early French windows." - The Stained Glass Association of America: History of Stained Glass

Some of the places one can find Willet stained glass windows are The Church Center at the United Nations, New York City; The National Cathedral, Washington DC; St. Mary's Cathedral, San Francisco; and Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York City; and Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, California.

In addition Willet windows are part of the collection of the Smithsonian Institute of Washington, DC, and the Corning Glass Museum of Corning, NY.

In Buffalo, in addition to windows listed below, Willet windows can be found in Church of the Good Shepherd and the First Presbyterian Church Chapel.

Willet Hauser Architectural Glass
In 1977, Willet Studios became a division of the Hauser Art Glass Company. In 2005, the company changed its name to Willet Hauser Architectural Glass.

For more information about the history of Willet Studios, see Willet Hauser Architectural Glass: Willet Studios.

Installations in Buffalo and Western New York

Courtesy of E. Crosby Willet, according to records of the Willet Hauser Studios, the following are the installations in Buffalo:

In Western New York:

The search for the mysterious qualities of medieval pot-metal glass in the United States was diverted somewhat by the enormous popularity of two glass artists, John La Farge and Louis Comfort Tiffany. Both were painters of considerable stature who experimented with making opalescent glass, a milky glass of mixed streaky colors. Pictorially their work was stunning.

Still, at least two other glass artists of the same era, Charles J. Connick of Boston and William Willet of Philadelphia, and the architect Ralph Adams Cran rallied against opalescent windows and strongly advocated the return to pot-metal glass of the Middle Ages for the making of stained glass windows.

- Discovering Stained Glass in Detroit, by Nola Huse Tutag. Detroit: Wayne State U. Press, 1987, p. 12

See also: Page 152 of Discovering Stained Glass in Detroit, by Nola Huse Tutag (Table of Contents at the bottom of the page): "The Willet Stained Glass Studios"

On Buffalo Architecture and History Website:

On other Websites:

Photos and their arrangement © 2009 Chuck LaChiusa
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