Sunday, May 15, 2011

Page 14: Saint's Hot Shop


I had been under the assumption that Saint worked in Washington during the cathedral project. I was shocked to discover that his home, studio and hot shop depicted in the photographs from the National Cathedral archives were actually located less than 1/2 mile away from Bryn Athyn Cathedral and that the buildings were still in existence! 


The letterhead from Lawrence Saint’s studio read: “Washington National Cathedral, Department of Stained Glass, Huntington Valley, PA”. All the glass for Saint’s windows at the National Cathedral had been made within walking distance of the Bryn Athyn Glassworks. I made one final connection – David Smith, the Swedish glass blower from Bryn Athyn lived in a house that backed up to Lawrence Saint’s own property. Is it possible that the success of Saint’s glass was due in part to conversations which occurred between two Swedish glass blowers (David Smith and Gus Erikson) over the back fence?

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