The Historic Winnipeg Hotel Restoration

We were very excited to receive the phone call to come and remove the only known original stained glass window from the historic Winnipeg Hotel circa 1881 at the corner of Main and St. Mary’s. The building developer who had recently bought the hotel wanted to ensure this piece was not damaged while they prepared plans to renovate the hotel, which would require demolishing portions of the interior to determine the structural integrity of the building. Once we safely removed and transported the window to our studio, we assessed the overall state of the window and developed a plan to fully restore this very unique piece back to its former glory. It was decided that all the original glass would be reclaimed and any pieces that were cracked ( there were over 30 broken pieces!) would be edge glued back together together using a museum quality epoxy. Miraculously we only had to replace two pieces of glass that were missing outright and thanks to our extensive glass inventory we were able to match these pieces very closely. After carefully cleaning the glass, next we reassembled the glass using new lead came, rejuvenating the structure of the window for another 100 plus years. The last step was refinishing the original fir wood frame, which the window will be installed back into. This required carefully stripping 100 years of paint and stain off the frame. We then filled any blemishes and sanded the frame smooth in preparation for a stain finish that perfectly compliments this one of a kind Winnipeg treasure