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 Upon entering the Cadet Chapel, one feels immediately the coldness inherent
in this typical Gothic Cathedral; but more overpowering is the warmth
emanating from the blaze of color that the magnificent Willet Studio
stained glass windows provide.
 These historic treasures celebrate
the theme of martial Christianity. The mesmerizing sanctuary window
depicts Old Testament battles and ready soldier-martyrs. In the
Apocalypse Window, memorializing graduates who fell in World War
I, Christ and his followers storm forth into righteous battle against
the four horsemen, Famine, Conquest, War and Death.
A newly restored
and recamed (releaded) lower side isle window with new bronze
frames.
Here and there,
amid the embattled Christian heroes and warlike prophets is a painted
face so benign or hands so sensitive that the observer, rather
the participant, is reminded that the history of the Academy is more
than righteous military campaigns or devotion to abstractions like
duty, honor and country. It is also a history of individuals intimate
with God and deeply devoted to their fellow man. Nowhere is this
more evident than in the class windows in the nave, clerestory,and
transepts. These intricate colored windows, representing each graduating
class from 1802 to 1976, are a rich tribute to the history of individuals
who have passed through the Academy.
Inevitably, the process of
history has brought with it deterioration of the stained glass
and stone. For almost a century, the windows and stone had suffered the
injuries of time. Old perimeter sealant had contracted, expanded and hardened,
with the ruthless Hudson valley freeze-thaw cycles, exerting
enough pressure to fracture seraphs’ wings and
shatter prophets’ jaws. The came or channeled lead which held the
glass, had corroded and thinned because of the accumulation of
years of acid air pollution, and had become brittle and broken, especially
at the stress points. Some of the panels had begun to sag from
their frames or to bulge. The grouting compound, which held the intricate
pieces of glass into the lead channel, had hardened, cracked and
fallen out. Even more recently fabricated panels had caked-on filth.
In some places, the painted emulsion was flaking off, and the faces
and hands had begun to fade.
The Washington Window
in the mess hall also underwent restoration in 1994.
In this case, the craftsmen first erected uniquely
designed 75 ft. scaffold towers spanning the buttresses between the clerestory
windows, then enclosing the towers so that they could work
in any weather. Perched high above the walkway beneath, they cut away the
hardened urethane perimeter sealants from the stone joint on the outside
and removed one whole window. Their extensive experience with
cutting stone enabled them to extract the fragile leaded panels from their
tenacious mortar and stone settings without causing the thin
painted glass to shatter. The craftsmen encased the panels in specially
designed crates and transported them to Preservation Trades
Company for restoration.
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