Stained Glass Treasures Found in Unexpected Places

A luncheon for new board members took me to a local restaurant I'd never been to before. What a great surprise I found inside! The entire décor was designed around many salvaged architectural antiques, among them a great many stained and leaded glass windows!

Purchased by David Ullery and his wife in 1997, the professionally designed interior of The Appletree restaurant made use of many items in the collection of the original owner who was also a builder. Mr. Ullery was kind enough to allow me to photograph the panels and also spent time to talk about the various items and where they had come from. The restaurant is a great example of the creative reuse of these items and their utilization gives a great ambiance to the place.

There are more items in the restaurant than I can post here, but these should help give you an idea of the variety. This picture shows the detail in the leaded panels in the vestibule doors with the front door panels showing in the background.




The bar area has used former church windows along the back wall.



















As you can see, these are backlit and here's a close up the detail. These panels use a variety of colors of opalescent glass. I've noticed that the circular "God's Eye" motif is found in many church windows.






















Found at the back of the bar itself is this panel featuring a dove. As the story goes, this panel was in a chapel inside a house in Chicago at the time the home was purchased by Hugh Heffner. Because Mr. Hefner didn't want to continue to use the space as a chapel, this panel came up for sale and found its way to The Appletree. Who knows? : ) Notice the many jewels used in this panel.






















Down the aisle of the dining area is another divided section featuring this great set of opalescent panels. Notice the wider lead used to emphasize the Greek Key design used.

This experience shows that you just never know where you'll encounter stained glass treasures. When you have the opportunity take a closer look to see what you can learn.

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