One of the most important aspects of restoring The Queen is her windows.
I have had a few different people come and look at them.
I get a lot of different reactions.
Most people who walk through the door immediately assume I will REPLACE all of the windows.
WHAT???
GOOD HEAVENS….Nooooo!
Seriously…I want to RESTORE them!
I know it will be a huge challenge, but I want to keep what I feel is one of the most historically significant parts of The Queen.
In all fairness the large front window will have to be replaced because it is not original. It will be finely crafted to match the dining room window.
This beautiful, original window was hiding behind a 6 feet thick wall of cypress shrubs that blocked out all light in the dining room
on the side of the house.
I am grateful its still intact and is in pretty good condition.
Sometime in the 1950’s the front window was replaced with true divided light grid windows that echoed the window style upstairs.
Very pretty but not what The Queen would have sported back in her reign!
Then in 1976, the Sansinena Explosion happened and blew out the front window as well as several others.
It was replaced with the current window which is merely a HUGE piece of plate glass.
This is a photo from 1987 when the house underwent the biggest restoration
Unfortunately, it fell into disrepair when they sold it.
I have been worrying about finding the perfect person to repair the Queens 123 year old windows.
I certainly don’t have the ability to do this myself.
Her windows have seen a LOT of history throughout the years
Who am I to just get rid of them?
Replace them?
NO!
NOT GONNA HAPPEN!
OK, truthfully…
They are quite a MESS!
Some are hanging together by some mysterious, unseen force of nature
or maybe that’s gunk and dirt?
This particular window has a couple of 2 x 4’s holding up the bottom sash of the upper window so the glass doesn’t fall out
Along came Walter.
He is a very creative painter, woodworker and artist,
who LOVES old houses and has a lot of experience in preserving these fine old pieces of history.
He quickly got to work removing the old windows so they can be repaired.
It’s really quite a sight to see just how massive these old windows are.
I ADORE them!
Victorian By The Bay Window Restoration The Widows Walk, San Pedro, CA 2
So…I came home one day to this:
My heart skipped a beat. It actually HURT a little!
It’s very disconcerting to see this gaping hole in The Queen
As well as all of the other gaping holes now in the upstairs.
It’s hard to watch the house look worse and worse
More run down as the weeks slowly pass by.
But I am confident that my dear Queen will be whole again.
Sadly, bit by bit, we are losing the old glass in her windows.
It’s very old.
Glass back then was also very thin, much thinner than what we use now.
No one has ever properly repaired or maintained her windows.
It pains me to know that, what were once the lenses of her vigilant, watchful eyes
are now rebelling against this travesty of restoration.
With every violation of her sacred bones, she is fighting back with all her might.
The tender, brittle glass, pops and cracks
The sound, a painful, melancholic song.
Walter understands her.
He very kindly secures the gaping openings with heavy plastic and wood too keep the elements out.
Walter has been very busy
Working hard to give the Queen back a bit of her dignity
Look at the mess these were in!
The old mortise and tenon joints were a bit rotten
Ingenious way of dealing with the rot
as only small parts of the wood were rotten
Here are the window parts all sanded down, see the holes where the pulleys go?
Same window, repaired and reassembled, looking at the bottom sill edge.
Amazing!
I am confident that Walter will be able to set the Queen’s heart at ease.
She is surely feeling a bit lost and violated right now.
I can’t wait until the day she is reunited with her original, restored windows.
Stay tuned for a gallery of photos showing all of the windows in their fading glory and the process of them being restored!
More next time on windows, HVAC, electrical
All that fun stuff!
Go an check out the Cool Master Bedroom idea.
Thank you for stopping by!
