Around the turn of the 20th century, the son of famed jeweler Charles Lewis Tiffany popularized modern stained glass designs in the U.S., known as Tiffany Glass.
During this time, the unmistakable mosaic-looking glass was installed across North America in churches, universities, museums, train stations and even a Macy’s in Chicago.
A trained painter turned interior designer and then design director of Tiffany & Co., the creator of Tiffany Glass, Louis Comfort Tiffany, was uniquely poised to mix art with consumer and commercial goods. His glass style was not only found as stained glass windows, but also mosaic tables and, famously, lamps.
Traditional stained glass artists would use clear glass that was then painted to create imagery. Tiffany used opalescent glass of many different colors and textures and purposefully left imperfections in the glass to give it extra character. This created the distinct look admirers are familiar with today.
In Cleveland, art and history lovers are lucky to have a handful of places to view the glass for free to this day.
Wade Memorial Chapel
Built in 1901, the Wade Memorial Chapel at Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland Heights is the best known spot to view Tiffany Glass in the region. The interior is completely designed by Tiffany, with mosaic tiles on the wall and stained glass windows in his distinctive style.
According to Lake View Cemetery, it is one of the only remaining structures in the world that was 100% designed by Tiffany. There is no cost to visit the chapel and see the historic artwork. “It’s really a community asset,” Lake View Cemetery President Katharine Goss told Signal Cleveland.
Visitors are welcome at the Wade Memorial Chapel 10 a.m.-4 p.m., but entry may be delayed if there is a funeral service.
According to Goss, funeral services are usually quick, and she encourages visitors to take a stroll around the cemetery and come back to the chapel so they don’t miss out on seeing the glass.
Old Stone Church
Perhaps the oldest piece of Tiffany Glass in Cleveland is fittingly found at one of the oldest churches in the city.
Old Stone Church on Public Square was founded as The First Presbyterian Church of Cleveland in 1820. Sixty-five years later, one of the founding members of the church passed away. In memorial, his family commissioned Tiffany to create what now is one of the four Tiffany Glass windows in the church.
The public is welcome in the church for service at 10 a.m. every Sunday morning.
Other days and times, the main church doors are closed and visitors have to ring the doorbell of the office door on Ontario Street to enter the sanctuary.
Liberty Hill Baptist Church
This is one of eight stained-glass windows created by Tiffany Studios for the Euclid Avenue Temple in the early 1900s. Credit: Jeff Haynes / Signal Cleveland 
The Tiffany windows created for Anshe Chesed more than 100 years ago still provide sunlight and inspiration for worshipers at Liberty Hill Baptist Church. Credit: Jeff Haynes / Signal Cleveland 
The windows do not use “figural represenation” but, rather, draw on different periods of Jewish history. Credit: Jeff Haynes / Signal Cleveland 
Tiffany Studios also created the tile mosaic that today sits above the church’s baptismal pool. Credit: Jeff Haynes / Signal Cleveland
Today at 8205 Euclid Ave. near the Cleveland Clinic stands Liberty Hill Baptist Church, which has had a congregation in Cleveland for 106 years. However, the unique Moorish Revival and Romanesque Revival style structure was originally built by Anshe Chesed, Cleveland’s oldest Jewish Congregation. Until 1956, it was called Euclid Avenue Temple.
While Anshe Chesed now worships in Beachwood, Tiffany Glass commissioned by the congregation still lives in their original temple. There are eight stained-glass windows around the church made by the famed glass artist along with a tiled mosaic on the wall.
Cleveland Museum of Art
There is an entire section of the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA)— section 209 — dedicated to Tiffany Glass. There, visitors will find lamps and vases in the unique Tiffany style along with the main attraction, the Hinds House Window.
The Hinds House, home to industrialist Howell Hinds, was built in 1898 on Overlook Road. Before being demolished in 1930, multiple Tiffany Glass windows graced the home. One of the windows was gifted to CMA by Hinds’ daughter in 1966.
The CMA is always free to visit and is open Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and Wednesday and Friday from 10 a.m.-9 p.m. The museum is closed on Mondays.
The Tiffany Glass Section 209 can be found on the second floor of the original 1916 building, among the American art.
Research for this story revealed that Cleveland’s connection to Tiffany Glass is rarely discussed. In fact, on the Tiffany Glass Wikipedia page, Lake View Cemetery is the only location listed in Cleveland. Perhaps this story will be used to cite an update.
Did we miss any other spots to find the iconic glass? Let us know at [email protected].
