None
Thursday, 23 December 2010

Coloured glass sourced and manufactured in the United States will be installed in The University of Western Australia's historic Winthrop Hall soon - almost a year after the original glass was damaged by the destructive hail storm of March, 2010.

The glass restoration project involved the University's Building Services team as well as Ronald Bodycoat, an expert heritage architect, and Chris Rumble, a stained glass specialist.

After the storm, much of the broken glass in the eight big windows on the badly affected north side of the hall was removed and replaced with Perspex.  Over the next few days, Winthrop Hall will be covered by scaffolding while the Perspex and remaining glass are removed.

Meanwhile, the new glass will arrive in Brisbane from the US.  It will then be transported by road to Mr Rumble's Creative Art Glass studio in Bayswater.  By February 14 the new glass panels, matching the originals, will have been made and installed and the hall ready for general use.

Mr Bodycoat, who has overseen restoration and repairs on many of the University's historic buildings over the past decade, said it had been a privilege and a delight to be involved in the Winthrop Hall project.

"Winthrop Hall is one of the State's iconic buildings," he said.  "It is a wonderful example of Mediterranean architecture, characterised by the use of stone, round-headed arches, pitched, tiled roofs, towers, decorations and covered walkways."

Winthrop Hall was designed by Conrad Sayce (who worked in the Melbourne firm of Rodney Alsop).  His was one of more than 20 entries in a 1926 competition for the design of the hall and the University's Hackett buildings - all of which suffered damage in the storm.

Mr Bodycoat said because the original glass was about 80 years old and had deepened in colour in the sunlight, particularly on the north side, the decision was made to replace all the glass.

Mr Rumble said the glass company Wissmach in the US was one of the last in the world still manufacturing cathedral glass of the kind found in Winthrop Hall.  The original glass was made by Chance Brothers in Birmingham in 1935 - a firm no longer in existence.

In keeping with Sayce's drawings, Mr Rumble ordered the five different colours for the main frames - bronzes, burgundies, violets and lemons - and the two amber shades for the borders.  Once the glass arrives in his studio, it will be cut, fitted into the cames (the lead channelling), inspected, cleaned and polished before being installed into the hall throughout January.

When Winthrop Hall is repaired, work will begin on the stained glass windows of the University's Senate Room.

Media references

Chris Rumble (Creative Art Glass)  (+61 8)  9471 7555
Janine MacDonald (UWA Public Affairs)  (+61 8)  6488 5563  /  (+61 4) 32 637 716

Tags

Channels
Arts and Culture — Business and Industry — Events — International — Media Statements — University News