FEATURE Image: Reformation and the 18th century missions of Methodist founder John Wesley, detail of Willet stained- glass window, Trinity United Methodist Church, 1024 Lake Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois. March 2017. Author’s photograph.
Trinity UMC, Wilmette. March 2017. Author’s photograph. 4.38mb DSC_0634 (1).
Architecture of Trinity United Methodist Church, Wilmette.
The Ashlar limestone church has stood on a prominent triangular corner of Lake and Wilmette Avenues for nearly 100 years. In the late American Gothic Revival style that flourished in the first third of the 20th century, the church displays in my photo its key ecclesiastical architectural features of (1) pointed‑arch windows with stone tracery, (2) tall bell tower with louvered openings, (3) buttress‑like vertical stonework emphasizing height, (4) a steep slate roof and (5) stained‑glass windows set in deep stone. Designed by Granger & Bollenbacher, the church building completed in 1929 is designed to feel ancient, monumental, and rooted in medieval Christian tradition — exactly what Methodist congregations of the era wanted. Trinity UMC stands out on the North Shore because it is scaled to frame its narrative, more medieval stained glass and not for grandeur comparative to its neighbors such as Christ Church (Episcopal) in Winnetka designed by Bertram Goodhue, or for crisp academic lines such as First Presbyterian in Wilmette designed by Coolidge & Hodgdon, among others. Of Gothic Revival churches built between 1900–1935. Trinity fits squarely into that movement, but with its own personality, specifically its didactic windows. The building was erected when the congregation outgrew its earlier 1908 Romanesque brick church. The church’s current Gothic Revival building, designed by Chicago architects Granger and Bollenbacher, reflects inspiration from European cathedrals. Construction began in the late 1920s, but the 1929 Stock Market Crash halted many of the planned interior details. The stained- glass windows, including the prominent façade window, were designed and installed by Henry Lee Willet in 1954.
Founding History and Its “Home Alone” Legacy.
Trinity United Methodist Church in Wilmette is one of the North Shore’s oldest congregations, with a history that stretches back to the 19th century. Founded on March 24, 1874, the church originally bore the name First Methodist Episcopal Church of Wilmette. Over the decades, it evolved through several identities — Wilmette Parish Methodist Church (1930–1968), Trinity Church of the North Shore (1968–1989), and finally Trinity United Methodist Church of Wilmette, the name it carries today. The church’s historic bell — once used to call worshippers, toll for local deaths, and warn the village of fires — now sits on display near the parking lot.
While its spiritual and community roles define its core identity, Trinity United Methodist Church is also widely recognized for its unexpected place in American pop culture. The church’s exterior appears in two memorable scenes in the 1990 Christmas classic “Home Alone.” In the film, directed by John Hughes, young Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) first spots the church while fleeing the burglars and hides in the Nativity scene on the lawn. Later, Kevin approaches the church at night, drawn by the sound of the choir singing “O Holy Night.” These moments set the stage for one of the film’s most emotional sequences — Kevin’s conversation with Old Man Marley — though that interior scene was filmed at Grace Episcopal Church in Oak Park. Securing permission to film at Trinity was not straightforward. When Twentieth Century Fox approached the Village of Wilmette in early 1990, the Village Board narrowly approved the request in a 4–3 vote after discussion and date changes. Filming took place in late winter of that year, and the church’s brief but iconic appearance has since become a point of local pride. Today, Trinity embraces this connection, often noting that to many visitors, it is simply “the Home Alone church.”
More than a movie landmark, Trinity United Methodist Church in Wilmette remains a vibrant congregation committed to worship, music, community service, and hospitality — a place where history, faith, and a touch of Hollywood intersect on the corner of Lake and Wilmette Avenues.
Trinity UMC, Wilmette. March 2017. Author’s photograph. 3.40mb DSC_0635 (1)
How the architecture relates to the stained‑glass program.
The stained glass was created by Henry Lee Willett of Willett Stained Glass Studios in Philadelphia, one of the leading American studios of the mid‑20th century. The major façade window, dated February 14, 1954, shows Willett’s signature use of rich blues, jewel‑tone reds, elongated Gothic figures, and clear narrative panels. Its scale and design were chosen for narrative clarity, while the church’s deep window wells intensify color saturation and create a natural shadow‑frame that draws the eye toward the visual telling of Scripture — a hallmark of Methodist stained‑glass design. While Trinity’s windows feel sacred and are tall enough to make a visual statement, they are also narrow enough to keep scenes readable and, like most narrative stained-glass windows, arranged in story cycles. The church’s façade and nave proportions create a natural processional reading of the windows, allowing each panel — and the entire cycle together — to unfold as a coherent theological arc. Methodist churches of the 1920s often used architecture to shape a catechetical journey, with the Gothic style providing both a sense of transcendence and a visual link to the continuity of the church across the millennia. The building and the glass tell the same story: God speaks, calls, teaches, transforms.
The sanctuary speaks in the familiar Gothic vocabulary. A procession of rounded arches line the nave arcade, a testament to the congregation’s former Romanesque church building, with Gothic pointed-arch stained -glass windows above guiding the eye forward. Above them, a ribbed or groin‑vaulted ceiling lifts the gaze upward into a sense of height and devotion that feels almost instinctive. Tall, narrow stained‑glass windows reinforce this vertical pull, their proportions echoing centuries of Gothic design stretching the light into color. Stone columns with simple capitals mark each step of the nave, guiding you along the long central aisle toward the chancel. This is Gothic interpreted through the American 1920s–30s lens—lighter, more vertical, devotional rather than medieval.
Trinity UMC, Wilmette. March 2017. Author’s photograph. 3.89mb DSC_0657 (1)
The space warms into Methodist Gothic. Dark wood pews, wooden chancel furnishings, a prominent pulpit or lectern, and a central cross create an interior that feels both sacred and approachable. The materials and layout quietly affirm the Methodist emphasis on Scripture, preaching, and congregational participation.
Overhead, hanging lantern chandeliers complete the atmosphere. Their medieval‑inspired metalwork casts a warm glow that softens the stone and wood. Evenly spaced along the nave, they reinforce the processional rhythm, drawing the eye—and the worshipper—toward the chancel and the unfolding narrative held in glass and architecture. Gothic in form, Methodist in function, Willett in storytelling, and 1920s–30s American in craftsmanship, including acoustics shaped for congregational singing, the interior of Trinity UMC is a space designed to make worship feel like a journey: from the world outside, through the nave, toward the light of the chancel and the story told in glass.
How Methodist theology shaped 20th‑century stained glass.
Methodist stained glass in the early–mid 1900s has a distinctive character shaped by Methodist convictions about Scripture, preaching, and discipleship. Because windows were expected to teach, almost every Methodist window cycle from this era functions as a visual sermon. Their imagery is intentionally accessible, with a strong Biblical orientation and a clear narrative movement through salvation history.
Methodists understand themselves as heirs of the Old Testament, followers of Jesus, children of the Reformation, and participants in the church’s ongoing renewal. As a result, their stained‑glass programs blend Old Testament, New Testament, and Reformation themes. Typical cycles include scenes of the prophets, episodes from the Life of Christ, and depictions of key Reformers such as Martin Luther (1483-1546), William Tyndale (c. 1494-1536), and Methodist founder John Wesley (1703-1791).
Trinity UMC, Wilmette. March 2017. Author’s photograph. 5.29mb DSC_0655 (1)
Façade window: Jesus Calling the First Disciples.
Trinity UMC, Wilmette. March 2017. Author’s photograph. 7.65mb DSC_0649 (2)
A foundational moment in the Gospels — and a favorite subject in mid‑20th‑century Methodist stained glass — is Jesus calling the first disciples. In this scene, Jesus summons fishermen from their boats with the words, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
The boat anchors the story in the Sea of Galilee, while the iconography makes the identification unmistakable. Jesus is shown with a cruciform halo and red and blue garments, signaling his dual nature. His authoritative, summoning gesture directs attention to the haloed figures of Peter, Andrew, James, and John, who look up toward him in response to the call.
At the bottom of the façade window are four scenes from the life of the Reformers. At LEFT is Martin Luther nailing his 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church (All Saints’ Church) in Wittenberg, Germany, on October 31, 1517, that sparked the Reformation. At the bottom right of the panel is a white rose with a red heart and black cross. That is Luther’s personal emblem, designed in 1530 and used on his letters and publications. He is wearing scholarly robes in the colors of deep red, green, and brown that Willett often used for Reformers.
At LEFT CENTER is the burning at the stake of William Tyndale in 1536 whose crime was translating the Bible into English for the ordinary people. Tyndale believed Scripture should be accessible to ordinary people and died for that conviction. The Reformation’s gift is to take the Bible out of the hands of the elite and place it into the hands of the people.
At CENTER RIGHT is John Wesley, founder of Methodism, preaching in the open air to Native Americans — specifically the Muscogee (Creek) people —during his mission to the Georgia colony between 1735 to 1737 which, after his return to England, accelerated the Methodist Movement which Wesley founded at Oxford in 1729. Wesley began preaching in the open air, embracing traveling ministry and forming societies as he did in America. By 1739, he built the first Methodist meeting house in Bristol, England.
At RIGHT John Wesley preaching to early American settlers. Wesley served as Anglican pastor of Christ Church in Savannah, Georgia, where he introduced strict spiritual disciplines. His time was marked by conflict, including a failed romantic relationship, and backlash from residents against his strictness, causing him to return to England heartbroken and disillusioned after only two years.
Methodist stained glass seeks to be beautiful where clarity is key. The style tends to bold outlines, well delineated figures and readable gestures with minimal abstraction.
Trinity UMC, Wilmette. March 2017. Author’s photograph. 5.20mb DSC_0645 (1)
Traditional enough to feel sacred – Modern enough to feel fresh – narrative enough to teach – artistic enough to inspire: Why Willett Studios was chosen.
Trinity UMC, Wilmette. March 2017. Author’s photograph. 3.95mb DSC_0664 (2)
This Willet window is a Life of Christ triptych, arranged in the traditional Methodist/Willett narrative pattern.
At the left, the window shows the ministry of compassion: a haloed Christ blessing or forgiving a kneeling woman, possibly inspired by the woman who washed his feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. Willett often preferred such non‑specific healing scenes, using them to emphasize Christ’s compassion rather than tie the image to a single Gospel episode.
At the center, Christ stands elevated and alone in Willett’s characteristic depiction of Christ the Teacher — sometimes also read as Christ the Good Shepherd when paired with lamb symbolism above. He bears the cruciform halo (reserved only for Jesus) and wears red and blue robes to signify his dual nature as God and Man. His arms extend slightly in a gesture of blessing and invitation.
At the right, the scene shifts to Christ’s agony in the garden before his betrayal and arrest, capturing the moment of solitary struggle that precedes the Passion.
“Do all the good you can.”
Taken together, these panels proclaim a unified message: Christ at the center of the Christian life, the one who heals, restores, and calls disciples to follow. The sequence echoes the Methodist conviction embodied in the familiar motto: “Do all the good you can.”
Trinity UMC, Wilmette. March 2017. Author’s photograph. 4.12.mb DSC_0637 (1)
Feature image: Frank J. Baker House, Frank Lloyd Wright, 1909, Wilmette, Illinois. Frank J. Baker (1864–1922) was a driving force in Wilmette’s early growth — a sharp‑minded engineer and influential executive with the North Shore Electric Company and Commonwealth Edison who helped bring electricity to the North Shore. He is most remembered for the remarkable 1909 Frank J. Baker House, a Prairie‑style landmark designed for him by Frank Lloyd Wright. A civic leader as well as an innovator, Baker co‑founded the First National Bank of Wilmette. He died in his Wright‑designed home just a week before Christmas in 1922 at 58 years old. December 2017. 99% 7.20mb DSC_0560. Author’s photograph.
The Frank J. Baker House, situated at 507 Lake Avenue in Wilmette, Illinois, is a 4,800‑square‑foot residence that stands as a significant example of Frank Lloyd Wright’s evolving Prairie School vocabulary. Designed in 1909, the house incorporates five bedrooms, three and a half bathrooms, and three fireplaces, yet its architectural importance lies less in its programmatic elements than in its role within Wright’s broader experimentation with spatial organization and structural expression during this period.
By the first decade of the twentieth century, Wright had begun to move beyond the predominantly single‑story Prairie houses of the late 1890s, exploring the potential of vertically layered two-story domestic space. The Baker House reflects this transitional moment through its T‑shaped floor plan—a configuration Wright employed in several contemporaneous works, including the Isabel Roberts House (below) built the previous year in River Forest, Illinois.
Isabel Roberts House, 603 Edgewood Place, River Forest, Illinois, 1908, Frank Lloyd Wright. It was remodeled in the 1950s. 69% 7.99 mb Author’s photograph.
The T‑plan allowed Wright to choreograph circulation along a dominant longitudinal axis while creating subsidiary wings that modulated privacy, light, and spatial hierarchy. In the Baker House, this plan form becomes a mechanism for integrating interior volumes with the surrounding landscape, reinforcing the Prairie School’s emphasis on horizontality and environmental continuity.
The exterior composition demonstrates Wright’s mature command of Prairie Style principles: a pronounced horizontal orientation, low‑pitched rooflines, and deeply cantilevered overhangs that visually anchor the structure to its site. These elements work in concert to diminish the building’s vertical massing, producing the characteristic “sheltering” effect that Wright associated with Midwestern domestic architecture.
Frank Lloyd Wright in 1903, likely a self-portrait. Public Domain.In 1909 42-year-old Frank Lloyd Wright reportedly personally brought the plans to Baker in Wilmette by horseback. Public domain. see – New owners to breathe life into 1909 Wright home – Wednesday Journal – retrieved March 30, 2026.
The two‑story living room is the spatial and symbolic core of the house. Its brick fireplace—an archetypal Wrightian hearth—functions as both a literal and conceptual center, organizing the surrounding spaces and reinforcing Wright’s belief in the fireplace as the spiritual heart of the home. The sloped ceiling and continuous band of leaded‑glass windows along the north wall create a dynamic interplay of light and volume, while the vertical expansion of the room contrasts deliberately with the home’s otherwise horizontal emphasis. Few surviving Wright houses retain this particular combination of a T‑shaped plan and a two‑story principal interior, making the Baker House an important artifact in understanding Wright’s spatial experimentation.
The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 8, 1974, acknowledging its architectural significance. A comprehensive restoration initiated in 2020 under new ownership has sought to preserve both the material integrity and the spatial logic of Wright’s original design.
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie‑style design features strong horizontal porches framing a two‑story diamond‑leaded glass window wall in the living room. The home includes five large bedrooms, three‑and‑a‑half bathrooms, and three fireplaces. The second level offers a primary suite with en‑suite bath, fireplace, and private porch, plus two additional en‑suite bedrooms, two more bedrooms, and a sitting room. The kitchen and breakfast room overlook the expansive yard. Wright designed the home’s 1922 addition. Public Domain.
Interior Analysis.
Upon entry, the visitor encounters a twenty‑two‑foot dining room articulated with diamond‑patterned leaded‑glass windows, a pitched ceiling, and extensive wood trim. This space exemplifies Wright’s strategy of compressing and releasing volume: the relatively intimate proportions of the dining room heighten the dramatic expansion experienced upon entering the adjacent living room.
The main‑floor kitchen, accompanied by a modest breakfast nook, reflects Wright’s early efforts to modernize domestic workspaces by integrating them more fluidly into the overall plan. The living room, by contrast, adopts a quasi‑ecclesiastical spatial character. Its cantilevered ceiling, which extends into a loft above, creates a sense of upward movement unusual in Prairie houses. The continuous horizontal and vertical window bands dissolve the boundary between interior and exterior, a hallmark of Wright’s belief that architecture should mediate rather than separate human habitation from the natural environment.
At the center of the home stands the principal brick fireplace, accompanied by an overhead balcony that provides an elevated vantage point and reinforces the vertical layering of the space. On the second floor, the master bedroom includes one of the home’s three fireplaces and a private enclosed balcony, further demonstrating Wright’s interest in creating intimate, retreat‑like upper‑level spaces within an otherwise horizontally oriented composition.
Feature Image: December 2015. Main Entrance, Metropolitan Tower (1924), Chicago. 4.89 mb DSC_0963 (1). Author’s photograph.
Located at 310 South Michigan Avenue on the southwest corner of Jackson Boulevard, Metropolitan Tower originally served as corporate headquarters for S.W. Straus and Co., a banking and investment firm. The building was erected in 1924 by Graham, Anderson, Probst & White in their signature classical style. The architectural firm was one of the largest in the first half of the twentieth century and went on to build Chicago’s Civic Opera Building in 1929. Founded in 1912, the firm was the successor to D. H. Burnham & Co. by way of partner, Ernest R. Graham (1868-1936), and Burnham’s sons, Hubert and Daniel Jr. Five years later the Burnhams left to form their own firm (Burnham Brothers) and Graham partnered with others of the firm’s members: William Peirce Anderson (1870-1924), Edward Mathias Probst (1870-1942), and Howard Judson White (1870-1936). No expense was spared for the Straus Building’s interior, though of the original lobby’s opulence all that remains are the elaborate bronze elevator doors. The entrance’s coffered bronze doors by Italian sculptor Leo Lentelli (1879-1961) were destroyed. see – Saliga, Pauline A., editor, The Sky’s The Limit A Century of Chicago Skyscrapers, Rizzoli New York, 1990, p. 117.
Ernest R. Graham (1868-1936).
William Peirce Anderson (1870-1924).
Edward Mathias Probst (1870-1942).
Howard Judson White (1870-1936).
Leo Lentelli (1879-1961). The Italian sculptor created the original main entrance doors for Metropolitan Tower that were later destroyed. Public Domain.
The 30-floor classical-style Straus Building was renamed over the years for other of its famous inhabitants including Continental National Insurance Co. and Britannica Center for Encyclopedia Britannica. Metropolitan Tower was the first building in Chicago that took advantage of the new 1923 zoning ordinance for skyscrapers that allowed buildings taller than 260 feet (30 or more floors) with the necessary setbacks. Metropolitan Tower’s required setbacks begin at the 21st floor on which sits a nine-story tower until there is a second setback and then the final two stories. Crowned by a stepped pyramid and possessed of a powerful beacon that opened in 1924, the building is Chicago’s first Michigan Avenue skyscraper.
Unused for years, the building’s 1,500-pound carillon bells were restored in 1979 for Pope John Paul II’s visit to Chicago. Just steps from Metropolitan Tower, the papal visit included an outdoor mass in Grant Park on October 5, 1979, which attracted over one million attendees, the largest gathering ever in Grant Park history up to that time. see – CBS Chicago Vault: Pope John Paul II enthralls Chicagoans on 1979 visit – CBS Chicago – retrieved March 18, 2026.
At one time, the thirtieth floor was the Straus Tower Observatory, which was open to the public for viewing the city in all four directions. see – Home | Metropolitan Tower – retrieved February 24, 2026. Home to the Continental National Insurance Company soon after it was built, this iconic skyscraper is located within Chicago’s Landmark Historic Michigan Boulevard District. The glass “beehive” supported by four bison figures at the top of the building held the blue light of a four-direction beacon. The ensemble, symbolizing industry, strength, and thrift, saw its beacon, signifying global reach, permanently shut down in 1934 following the financial failure of the S.W. Straus and Company during the Great Depression. The building was converted to residential condominiums in 2007. see – Metropolitan Tower | Powered by Baird & Warner– retrieved February 24, 2026; AIA Guide to Chicago, 2nd Edition, Alice Sinkevitch, Harcourt, Inc., Orlando, 2004, page 42.
Feature Image: December 2015. Beaux-Arts elevator bank (1907). Congress Plaza Hotel, Chicago. 6.20 mb DSC_0617 (1). Author’s photograph.
The initial North Tower was built in 1893 during The World’s Columbian Exposition, held in Chicago from May 1 to October 31, 1893. It was built by famed developer R.H. Southgate and designed by Clinton J. Warren (1860-1938), a leading young hotel designer in the city. Warren moved to Chicago from Massachusetts in 1879 and the next year joined the firm of Burnham and Root. When he left the firm in 1886 to start his own firm he designed a long list of Chicago hotels. These included The Virginia Hotel (1889–1890), a ten-story building on the northwest corner of Ohio and Rush Streets, The Metropole Hotel (1891) an eight-story building on the southwest corner of Michigan Avenue and 23rd Street, The Plaza Hotel (1891–1992) at 1553 N. Clark Street at the southeast corner of Clark and North Avenue, The Lexington Hotel (1892) at 22nd and Michigan Avenue and The Auditorium Annex/Congress Hotel at 504 S. Michigan Avenue (1893), which is today The Congress Plaza Hotel. By 1900 Warren returned to Boston, Massachusetts, and died in San Diego, California, in 1938, by then his active years as an architect in Chicago obscured. His obituary in the New York Times failed to mention Warren’s training with Daniel Burnham, his influence on Chicago architecture by way of numerous prominent buildings over two decades in the city nor his work’s association to Al Capone by way of the gangster’s moving his headquarters to the Lexington Hotel in 1928 until 1931. Warren’s NYT obituary reads in full: “Clinton J. Warren SAN DIEGO, Calif., March 17 (AP). – Clinton J. Warren, architect, who designed buildings in Europe, Mexico and Eastern United States, died at his home here last night at the age of 80. Mr. Warren formerly lived in Winchester, Mass. His widow and two sons, Clinton Jay Jr. of San Francisco and John of New York, survive.” see – TimesMachine: March 18, 1938 – NYTimes.com and The Chicago Hotels of Architect Clinton J. Warren – Owlcation – retrieved February 22, 2026.
December 2015. Beaux-Arts elevator bank, 504 S. Michigan Avenue (1907), Chicago. 3.99mb DSC_0958 (2). Author’s photograph.
Originally named the Auditorium Annex it opened in 1893 to swarms of tourists and has remained open in this role continuously since to today (and is famous for its ghost hauntings). The Auditorium Annex became the closest major hotel at the time to two large train stations: Dearborn Station and Illinois Central Station both five blocks away. It was also the southernmost major hotel in Downtown Chicago and just a block and a half away from the elevated train station that took visitors to the World’s Columbian Exposition fairgrounds in Jackson Park. The gold elevator bank, featuring ornate gilded, Beaux-Arts styling, is located within the South Tower of the Congress Plaza Hotel, added between 1902 and 1907 designed by architects Holabird & Roche. see – Holabird & Roche. See- Chicago Landmarks – Architect Details – retrieved February 22, 2026.
William Holabird (1854-1923) and Martin Roche (1855-1927) of the architectural firm of Holabird & Roche that designed the South Tower of today’s Congress Plaza Hotel between 1902 and 1907. Public Domain.
This addition includes a luxurious banquet hall called the “Gold Room.” By 1908, the hotel had over 1,000 guest rooms and, in 1911, changed its name to the Congress Hotel inspired by its location on Congress Parkway (today’s Ida B. Wells Drive) and across from Grant Park. Several U.S. presidents have stayed in the Congress Hotel and could have used these golden elevators including Teddy Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Warren Harding, and Calvin Coolidge. See – Congress Plaza Hotel History | Congress Plaza Hotel – retrieved February 22, 2026.
ROSA LEE: I LOVE YOU, YOU KNOW? EVERY NIGHT WHEN I SAY MY PRAYERS AND I THANK THE LORD FOR HIS BLESSINGS AND HIS TENDER MERCIES TO ME, YOU AND SONNY HEAD THE LIST. Tender Mercies – 11. “Blessings and Tender Mercies” – retrieved February 16, 2026.
Robert Duvall died February 15, 2026, at his home in Middleburg, Virginia, at 95 it was announced February 16. In Tender Mercies, a 1983 American drama film set in Texas, Robert Duvall played washed-up country singer Mac Sledge in a performance that won that year’s Academy Award for Best Actor. In this scene, Duvall’s friend, Wilford Brimley, played Harry, Mac’s former manager, and Tess Harper played a widow named Rosa Lee who develops feelings for Mac. Coming off a bitter break up with his wife Dixie Lee, a superstar country singer, who won’t let her ex-alcoholic husband near herself or their grown daughter, Mac, a once legendary country music star in his own right, lives and works quietly at a gas station operated by Rosa Lee who lives with her young son. As Mac tries to rebuild both his career and life on the Texas badlands, he finds he has keener, if less flashy, success with the latter. Nominated for 5 Academy Awards, Tender Mercies also won Oscar for Best Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen (Horton Foote). In his 60-year film career, Duvall made scores of films, receiving seven Academy Award nominations in the process. Duvall also received four Golden Globe Awards. From his film debut in 1962 as Boo Radley in To Kill A Mockingbird, Duvall appeared in some of the most iconic feature films of his era and in iconic roles both on screen and behind the camera as producer, writer and director. Notable film titles include: True Grit (1969), M*A*S*H (1970), The Godfather (1972), The Godfather Part II (1974), The Conversation (1974), Apocalypse Now (1979), The Great Santini (1979), Tender Mercies (1983), The Natural (1984), The Apostle (1997), Open Range (2003), and Wild Horses (2015). At 91 years old, Duvall’s final film, The Pale Blue Eye, was released 60 years after his first, in 2022.
Robert Duvall played Lieutenant Colonel William “Bill” Kilgore in Apocalypse Now, a 1979 war film directed by Francis (Ford) Coppola. Commanding the 1st Battalion, 9th Air Cavalry Regiment during the Vietnam War, Kilgore is depicted as an adrenaline-fueled “gung-ho” officer who embodies the insanity of the war. (6) Apocalypse Now UHD (1979) – Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore (1/11) | 4K Clips – YouTube – retrieved February 16, 2026.
Based on the 1969 novel by Mario Puzo, Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather (1972) is one of the greatest films of all time. Robert Duvall plays cool-headed Tom Hagen, the Irish-German consigliere and lawyer for the Corleone crime family. Since youth Hagen was unofficially adopted into the New York-based Italian American family by the Godfather, Vito Corleone. Hagen is dispatched to Hollywood by the Godfather to secure a film role for Johnny Fontaine, a singer and Vito’s godson, and produced by Jack Woltz (John Marley). When Woltz refuses Tom Hagen’s first offer for Johnny to star in his picture, and Tom Hagen returns to New York, the Godfather makes the reluctant film producer a second offer he can’t refuse.
Feature Image: October 2015. Chicago. 5.85mb DSCN1452 (1). Author’s photograph.
October 2016. Chicago 4.90mb DSC_0104 (1)
Chicago skyline from Museum Campus promontory (Northerly Island).
October 2015. Chicago. 5.85mb DSCN1452 (1). Author’s photograph.
Wacker Drive and Wabash Avenue looking east, Chicago. From left: Trump International Hotel and Tower, Adrian Smith, architect (2009). Trump Tower Chicago is a 98-story skyscraper at 401 N Wabash Ave, completed in 2009. Rising 1,389 feet with its spire, it includes 486 condos, a 339-room hotel, and ranks as the 4th tallest building in the United States.
401 N Michigan Avenue (Equitable Building), Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, architect (1965/Facelift 1992/Renovation 2016). The plaza (Pioneer Court) of the Miesian 401 N. Michigan draws over 22,000 pedestrians daily from busy Michigan Avenue. Apple’s global flagship store shares the plaza that provides immediate access to the Riverwalk via the Spanish Steps. see – 401 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60611 – Office for Lease | LoopNet – retrieved February 13, 2026.
360 N. Michigan Avenue (London Guarantee & Accident Building), Alfred S. Alschuler, architect (1923).
85 E. Wacker Drive (London House).
75 E. Wacker (formerly Lincoln Tower, originally Mather Tower), Herbert Hugh Riddle, architect (1928) and Harry Weese & Assocs. (Renovation/1983).
71 E. Wacker Drive (The Royal Sonesta Chicago Downtown, formerly Executive House Hotel), Milton Schwartz, architect (1959). 71 E. Wacker Drive is the first high-rise hotel in Chicago since the Great Depression. see – Executive House Hotel, 71 E. Wacker, Chicago – retrieved February 13, 2026.
May 2015. Chicago. 99% 7.92mb DSC_0468. Author’s photograph.
Michigan Avenue and Van Buren Street looking west on Van Buren, Chicago. Left: Chicago Club, 81. E. Van Buren, Granger & Bollenbacher, architect (1929).
Right: CNA Center (333 S. Wabash Avenue), Graham, Anderson, Probst, architect (1972).
Near background: 333 S. State, DePaul Center (formerly Goldblatt’s, originally Rothschild & Co. Store), Holabird & Roche, architect (1912), renovation 1993.
Far background: Fisher Building (343 S. Dearborn Street), D.H. Burnham & Co., architect (1896) and Northern Addition, Peter J. Weber, architect (1907). Restoration and adaptive Reuse, 2001.
October 2015. Chicago. 4.28mb DSC_0061 (1) Author’s photograph.
Adams and Dearborn Streets looking north along Dearborn, Chicago. Left: 55 Xerox Center, 55 West Monroe, Chicago, Helmut Jahn, architect (1977-1980). Behind (partially hidden): Chase Tower (originally First National Bank of Chicago), Perkins & Will; C.F. Murphy Assocs. (1969).
Background: 2 N. State/1 N. Dearborn Streets (originally, Boston Store), Holabird & Roche (1906; 1917), renovation (2001).
November 2015. Chicago. 3.77mb DSC_0384 (1). Author’s photograph.
Halsted Street between Adams Street and Jackson Boulevard looking east, Chicago. Union Station Tower (MidAmerica Commodity Exchange), Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, architect (1971). Willis Tower (originally, Sears Tower), Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, architect (1974).
December 2015. Chicago. 2.40mb DSC_0577 (2). Author’s photograph.
Balbo and Wabash Avenues looking north on Wabash. Left: (with Columbia College wall sign) 33 Ida B. Wells Drive building, Alfred S. Alschuler, architect, (1925/1926). DePaul University College of Law, 25 E. Jackson and, beyond, 230 S. Wabash, a 21-story building built in 1910.
Center: Trump International Hotel and Tower, Adrian Smith, architect (2009).
At right: Roosevelt University: Auditorium Building, Adler & Sullivan, architect (1887-1889) and The Wabash Building, a 32-story zigzagging glass structure, Christopher Groesbeck, AIA, architect (2012). CNA Center (333 S. Wabash Avenue), Graham, Anderson, Probst, architect (1972).
December 2015. Chicago 3.60mb DSC_0986 (2)
From left: Old Colony Building, 407 S. Dearborn Street, Holabird & Roche, architect (1894), Chicago Metropolitan Correctional Center, 71 W. Van Buren Street, Harry Weese & Associates (1975), Fisher Building, 342 S. Dearborn Street, D.H. Burnham, architect (1896) and Northern Addition, Peter Weber, architect (1907) and Sears Tower, 233 S. Wacker Drive, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, architect (1974).
July 2016. Chicago 5.33mb DSC_0743 (1)
Lincoln Park looking over South Pond towards downtown. At left: (partial view) Water Tower Place, 845 N. Michigan Avenue, Loebl, Schlossman & Hackl, architect (1976); John Hancock Building, 875 N. Michigan Avenue, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, architect (1969); 900 North Michigan Avenue, Kohn Pedersen Fox, architect (1989); Park Tower, 800 N. Michigan Avenue, Lucien LaGrange & Assoc., architect (2000); The Aon Center (formerly, Amoco Building; originally, Standard Oil Building), 200 E. Randolph Street, Edward Durell Stone; Perkins & Will, architects (1973); Trump International Hotel and Tower, Adrian Smith, architect (2009); At right: James House, 1560 North Sandburg Terrace, Solomon Cordwell Buenz, architect (1971).
July 2016. Chicago. 3.28 mb DSC_0045 (1)
Looking north on Wabash Avenue from Randolph Street, the Chicago elevated train follows a north-south route along Wabash Avenue and has been part of downtown since the late 1890’s. The “Kemper” sign is on the relatively dull modernist Kemper Building, now One East Wacker, Shaw, Metz & Assoc., architect (1962). Followed by 35 East Wacker Drive (formerly Pure Oil Building; originally, Jewelers Building) with its distinctive dome, Glaver & Dinkelberg; Thielbar & Fugard, Assoc. Archs., architect (1926). Partial view is Trump Tower.
September 2016. Chicago.3.89mb DSC_0740 (1)
Right to left: The 233 E. Wacker Drive building (known as Columbus Plaza) in Chicago is 48-story apartment building, Fujikawa Conterato Lohan and Associates, architect (1978-1980). The 111 E. Wacker Drive building (known as One Illinois Center) in Chicago, is a 30-story Modernist building featuring bronze anodized aluminum and dark-tinted glass, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in association with Joseph Fujikawa, architect (1967-1970). The Swissôtel Chicago at 323 E. Wacker Drive, is a 45-story, triangular, all-glass luxury hotel, Harry Weese and Associates, architect (1989). The 345 E. Wacker Drive building (known as Coast at Lakeshore East) in Chicago is a 40-story residential apartment tower, bKL Architecture LLC, architect (2013).
September 2016. Chicago. 4.93mb DSC_0745 (1)
From the Riverwalk looking north along N. St. Clair Street: at right, the 27-story spandrel glass and metal panel 633 N. St Clair St. building, Loebl Schlossman [later; Dart] & Hackl, architect (1991). At left, the 63-story pinkish, rose-hued Swedish granite 161 Chicago Avenue East building (known as Olympia Centre) is a mixed-use retail, office, and residential skyscraper, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, architect (1984-85). At right, the 74-story gray marble facade Water Tower Place, the first vertical shopping center on Michigan Avenue (8 floors), also includes the Ritz-Carlton hotel, luxury condos, and office space, Edward D. Dart (Loebl Schlossman Bennett and Dart), architect (1975). The John Hancock Center—now officially 875 North Michigan Avenue—is a 100‑story, tapered mixed‑use skyscraper known for its iconic X‑bracing. Often described as a “vertical city,” it is considered one of the first major mixed‑use skyscrapers in the world and includes office space (floors 13–41), about 700 condominiums (floors 44–92), and the highest indoor swimming pool in North America on the 44th floor. Its 94th‑floor observation deck offers panoramic views of Chicago and Lake Michigan. Bruce Graham of the firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, architect (1969). It was engineered by Fazlur Rahman Khan, who pioneered the tubular structural system used in the tower.
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The Carbide and Carbon Building rises from 230 N. Michigan Avenue in Chicago like a gleaming Art Deco toast to the Jazz Age, Burnham Brothers, architect (1929). The 37‑story tower is instantly recognizable: its base wrapped in polished black granite, its shaft clad in deep green terra cotta, and its crown shimmering with 24‑karat gold leaf. Legend has it the architects shaped the building to resemble a champagne bottle — a fitting symbol for a city that never stopped celebrating its own ambition.
Feature Image: Two apostles, detail, Institution of the Eucharist window, F.X. Zettler, 1907-1910, St. Edmund Church. Author’s photograph. September 2015.
By 1910 F.X. Zettler’s mastery of the “Munich Style” – characterized by detailed scenes and vibrant colors on glass – made his German company one of the most popular designers in late 19th century and early 20th century American churches. These windows are religious paintings that are pedagogical as well as sacred images. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that Christ is “really present” in the Eucharist (a Greek word, eucharistia,that means “Thanksgiving”) and that his sacrifice on the cross on Calvary is repeated at every Mass as Christ gives His Body and Blood under the appearance or species of bread and wine in Holy Communion as food for eternal life. As parishes offer school children their first holy communion, Christ’s pose evokes that same event for the apostles. Accounts of the Institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper are in Luke 22, Mark 14, Matthew 26, and its significance explicated in John 6. It is recounted in Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, 11. Author’s photograph. September 2015.
Four apostles, detail, Institution of the Eucharist window, F.X. Zettler, 1907-1910, St. Edmund Church. Author’s photograph. September 2015.
In 2022, owing to continuously declining numbers in the church, St. Edmund Church at 188 S. Oak Park Avenue, Oak Park, IL, located close to the heart of its suburban downtown, was combined with another historic Oak Park parish, Ascension Church, at 808 S. East Avenue, about one mile to the south. Founded by Archbishop James Quigley (1854-1915) in June 1907, St. Edmund was the first Catholic parish in the village and one of the 75 new parishes founded by Quigley during his tenure between 1903 and 1915. James Quigley’s successor was Cardinal George Mundelein (1872-1939) who founded 80 more new parishes during his administration. Trying to fit into the longstanding predominantly Protestant community, St. Edmund was built in generous cooperation with its leading citizens and designed in a refined English neo-Gothic style. Evoking a low-profile parish country church, this kind of Catholic footprint would be imitated in other prosperous Chicago suburbs with strong Protestant roots well into the 20th century so to discreetly integrate into the community.
Most Rev. James Quigley, Archbishop of Chicago (1903-1915). In 1907 Archbishop Quigley traveled by car to Oak Park to attend the opening. Public domain.
Since the mid-1980s reports from 2022 indicate a reduction by the Archdiocese of Chicago of more than 100 parishes from its nearly 450 parishes due to declining attendance and financial problems, of which St. Edmund is another example. It remains fortunate that this beautiful church building continues to exist and be used for worship. The English neo-Gothic style church was designed by prolific Chicago church architect Henry Schlacks (1867-1938) and dedicated in May 1910. The art glass windows were executed by the F.X. Zettler Studios of the Royal Bavarian Art Institute in Munich. Zettler also made mosaics such as at St. Anthony Church in Bridgeport also designed by Schlacks and consolidated first with All Saints parish and then both closed and combined with St. Mary of Perpetual Help. St. Edmund Church has undergone various mid-20th century redecorations that included the addition of paintings and marble upgrades for its altar, pulpit, and baptismal font designed by Chicago-based DaPrato Rigali founded in 1860. Exterior changes to the building were also made in the 1950’s replacing the church’s original red tiles for the roof and steeple to, respectively, slate and steel coverings.
St. Edmund Church, Oak Park, Illinois, dedicated in 1910, was designed in the late 19th century English neo-Gothic style. The later school (right), opened in 1917, was designed in the French neo-Gothic style. Both are the work of architect Henry Schlacks (1867-1938). Author’s photograph. September 2015.
St. Edmund Church, Oak Park, Illinois, part of the nave, transept and apse, south view. Author’s photograph. September 2015.
St. Edmund Church and school have been a work in progress. The school, a flamboyant neo-Gothic structure designed by Henry Schlacks, opened in 1917. During the post-war baby boom, additions to it were built in 1948 and 1959. In June 2016 the school closed. When the parish was young and growing with Catholic families, it purchased an architecturally significant private home in 1929 for the nuns who staffed the school. With post-Vatican II declining vocations of nuns and school enrollment, the convent was sold in the 1980’s. A 2000 renovation of the church included cleaning and restoring the stained-glass windows that portray scenes from the New Testament. In other Chicago churches with Zettler windows, such as, in St. Stanislaus Kosta Church in West Town, there are themes of the Rosary, while St. Adalbert, a Polish parish in Pilsen since closed by the archdiocese and sold for condo development, it was historic saints of Poland. Henry Zimach of HPZA was the architect of the St. Edmund renovation. In its first 49 years the church was led by one pastor: successful fundraiser Msgr. John H. Code. The next 49 years saw 6 pastors until the church had to combine with a nearby parish. Of the $100,000 construction cost for the church, one donor (Mrs. Mary Mulveil) donated half of it. From an operating expenses viewpoint this elite donor model is how even today some Catholic parishes across the Chicago region stay open. In 2026 one leading Catholic parish published tithing information that showed 95% of registered families do not tithe one dime and about a dozen families donate annually between $15,000 and $25,000 each. With pews half full, one can conclude that non-tithing families might not be at Sunday Mass either. With the Vatican discouraging any “pressure” on anyone, there’s little to no outreach by the parish to the vast majority of its wayward flock as long as apparently the affluent pay their church bills. Of course, if things really get untenable, the bishop then can simply decide to close one more parish.
Mid-20th century redecorations at St. Edmund Church included the addition of paintings and marble upgrades for its altar, pulpit, and baptismal font. Author’s photograph. September 2015.
These are religious paintings as they serve to teach the viewer by depicting scenes from the earthly episodes of Christ. But they are also sacred images, pure iconography, as they invite the viewer to contemplate and pray to those persons existing in the spiritual and heavenly domain with whom they are surrounded. Further, as Zettler’s stained glass are some of this church setting’s most spectacular art, they play a key role in aiding in worship. Individually and taken together, the gloriously colorful and drawn illuminating images accompany worshipers as they place them in the visual presence of the Trinity, the Blessed Mother, and the angels and saints and carry them upwards into their presence as they participate in the sacraments.
The Zettler windows in St. Edmund in Oak Park fill the church interior with the colorful light of glorious art that is both pedagogical and iconographical of the Biblical Catholic faith. Author’s photograph. September 2015.
German Art Glass.
Jesus healing the blind man (above, detail). This window presents healing stories such as found in John 9 (healing the blind man from birth), Mark 8 (healing a blind man at Bethsaida) and healings of two blind men in Matthew 9. The figure of a woman bending down to have her hair touching Jesus’ feet evokes Luke’s gospel (chapter 7) of the sinful woman who washes Jesus’ feet with her hair. The man at right carried by two others alludes to Jesus’s healing miracle of a man who could not walk found in Mark 2 and Luke 5. Author’s photograph. September 2015.
Zettler window of Jesus’s ministry of healing miracles. Author’s photograph. September 2015.
Zettler Window of Jesus calming the storm found in Luke 8, Matthew 8, Mark 4, and John 6. The event demonstrates the God-Man’s authority over nature. Author’s photograph. September 2015.
Nativity window found in Matthew and Luke. A dog in the lower left corner is one of many such animals scattered throughout Zettler’s windows in St. Edmund Church. Author’s photograph. September 2015.
The flight into Egypt window. Recounted in Matthew 2, the story relates how the Holy Family—Mary, Joseph, and infant Jesus—flee to Egypt to escape King Herod, who ordered the killing of young children to eliminate the prophesied King of the Jews. Joseph, warned by an angel in a dream, swiftly carried his family to Egypt, where they stayed until Herod’s death, fulfilling prophecy and symbolizing Christ’s presence in a world of darkness. The episode has long been a popular subject in Christian art, and Zettler depicts the episode focusing on the Holy Family’s determination under angelic protection. In popular piety, the event is one of the “seven sorrows” of Mary which she pondered in her heart. Author’s photograph. September 2015.
Jesus calls Himself the Good Shepherd in John 10. A half-circle stained- glass window depicting Jesus as The Good Shepherd greets visitors above a street entrance door into St. Edmund Church. Author’s photograph. September 2015.
WHO IS ST. EDMUND OF CANTERBURY?
Nuremberg chronicles, Edmund, Archbishop of Canterbury (1493). Public Domain.
St. Edmund church in Oak Park, Illinois, is named for English saint Edmund of Canterbury (c. 1174–1240). Son of Edmund Rich, Edmund is also known as Edmund of Abingdon where he was born and who was made Archbishop of Canterbury in 1233 by Pope Gregory IX (1227-1241). History speaks of his parents as being practicing Catholics with his mother more fastidious and his father more laconic. Edmund, taking after his mother growing up, was considered a bit of a sanctimonious prig. Around the age of puberty, Edmund dedicated himself to the Blessed Mother and took a vow of perpetual chastity. When this vow of purity was later challenged by a young woman Edmund vigorously fought her back sufficiently that, as the young woman recalled, he called her “an offending Eve.” Edmund was educated in Paris but, starting around 1200, returned to Oxford to teach mathematics and philosophy in the circle of Stephen Langton (c. 1150–1228). In Edmund’s time, Langton was an influential English cardinal and Archbishop of Canterbury who participated in the political issues of his day including the Magna Carta crisis in 1215. Edmund is remembered at Oxford for building a Lady’s chapel with funds from his teaching stipend and passing much of his free time in prayer. The site where Edmund lived and taught became an academic hall at Oxford in his lifetime (1236) and remains today part of the college of St Edmund Hall (aka Teddy Hall), claimed to be the oldest surviving academic society to house and educate undergraduates in any university in the world. Notable alumni of St Edmund Hall include, at the time of posting, current British prime minister Keir Starmer.
Author’s photograph. September 2015.
Edmund studied theology between 1205 and 1210 and spent a year with the Augustinian canons of Merton Priory. Afterwards he became a priest and doctor of theology and would take frequent retreats at Reading Abbey in this period. Around 1219 and for the next 12 years the eloquent, learned and virtuous Edmund financed his education by serving as treasurer for Salisbury Cathedral, preached the Sixth Crusade in 1227 (a crusade which led to a shared Christian-Muslim governance situation in Jerusalem) and garnered several influential English friends.
In a mid-14th century manuscript, Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor (left) meets al-Kamil Muhammad al-Malik (right), whose negotiations led to shared Christian-Muslim governance in Jerusalem during the Sixth Crusade. Vatican Library. Public Domain.
In 1233, the 59-year-old was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by Pope Gregory IX though the Canterbury chapter recommended several other candidates first. Accepting the position reluctantly, Edmund, consecrated on April 2, 1234, fought for independence of the English church from any foreign influence and this led to an episcopal tenure characterized by incessant and unseemly brawls with King Henry III and the papal delegation as the archbishop admonished the king for a government of baronial favoritism. Threatening the king with excommunication, the crown backed down temporarily but harbored enduring antipathy towards Edmund and looked for relief in Rome. In favor of strict discipline and truthful justice in civil and ecclesial government and life, coupled to a strong stance against any encroachment on the English church, including jealousy for his authorial rights to be enforced by litigation when necessary, the possibly soft spoken but clearly combative Edmund made for a very unpopular figure among the powerful and eventually led to his forced resignation in 1240. In 1236, with the object of freeing himself from Edmund’s control, the king requested a sympathetic legate from the pope who arrived to insult and contradict everything of importance Edmund chose to do and say in relation to current issues – from the marriage of Simon de Montfort and Henry’s sister Eleanor that Edmund found invalid, to Edmund’s own cathedral priests and monks who were opposed to Edmund’s rule. Edmund reacted to the opposition erratically, excommunicating at will, all of which was ignored by the pope who let his legate’s, and not Edmund’s, decisions stand which favored the king. Edmund was left to complain that the discipline of his national church was being undermined by the flaccid standards of world politics. Before thinking to resign, Edmund went to Rome in December 1237 to plead his cause in person before the pope. But already Henry III’s exactions and usurpations were backed up by the papal legate and Edmund’s mission was futile. Edmund returned to England in August 1238 where he was made to heel. Edmund resigned in 1240.
Abbey of Pontigny, France, view from south.The Cistercian abbey of Pontigny was a refuge for England’s persecuted archbishops, including Stephen Langton (c. 1150–1228), and Saints Thomas Becket (1120-1170) and Edmund of Canterbury (c. 1174–1240). Author’s photograph, September 1993.
At that juncture, Edmund set out for the Cistercian Abbey at Pontigny southeast of Paris in France, which had been a refuge for Edmund’s predecessors, Stephen Langton and Thomas Becket (1120-1170). The archbishop’s health soon gave way and, though Edmund decided to return to England, he died en route at Soisy-Buoy in the house of the Augustinian Canons on November 16, 1240.
Abbey church of Pontigny, north aisle, 12th century. Here, at Pontigny, St. Edmund of Canterbury led the life of a simple monk. Author’s photograph. September 1993.
Edmund’s remains were returned to the Abbey of Pontigny where he was buried and lies in state today in a reliquary above the high altar. Miracles were soon reported at Edmund’s tomb leading to his canonization by Pope Innocent IV in December 1246, making Edmund one of the fastest English saints to be canonized. When Blanche of Castile (1188 –1252) and King Louis of France (1214-1270) visited Pontigny, Edmund’s body was exhumed and shown to be incorrupt. His relics survived the French Revolution and when his tomb was opened again in 1849 his body, still incorrupt, had one arm found detached. This major relic was sent to the United States, where it is enshrined today on Enders Island off the coast of Mystic, Connecticut, inside the chapel of Our Lady of the Assumption at St. Edmund’s Retreat, run by the Society of Saint Edmund founded at Pontigny in 1843. Edmund’s life was one of self-sacrifice and devotion to others. From boyhood he practiced austerity and asceticism, fasting, and spending his nights in prayer and meditation. St. Edmund of Canterbury’s feast day is November 16.
St. Edmund of Canterbury, detail from the Westminster Psalter, mid-13th century, British Library. Public domain.
The Story of F.X. Zettler’s Royal Bavarian Art Institute.
About 100 miles south of Munich, Germany, was the home base of popular and well-regarded stained-glass studios such as Franz Mayer & Company and Zettler of which St. Edmund has a full coterie presented in this post. These photographs were shot by me in September 2015.
Franz Xavier Zettler was born in Munich, Germany in 1841 and worked as an ecclesial artist, founding his stained-glass design company after 1870, until his death in 1916. When he married Anna Mayer, Zettler married into another family of artisans, following a long tradition of artisans doing so. In 1848 Joseph Gabriel Mayer (1808-83) founded the Establishment for Architecture, Sculpture, and Painting (“Institute of Christian Art”) under the patronage of King Ludwig I of Bavaria (1786-1868). With royal commissions in Germany for the massive Cologne and Regensburg Gothic cathedrals as well as the Mariahilfkirche in Munich (Vorstadt Au) – the first German neo-Gothic church whose foundation was laid in 1831 – Mayer directed his son Franz Borgias Mayer, and son-in-law F. X. Zettler, to expand the establishment by including a division for stained glass in 1870.
King Ludwig I of Bavaria in Coronation Regalia (König Ludwig I. von Bayern im Krönungsornat) by Joseph Karl Stieler (1781-1858), 1826, oil on canvas, 96 x 67.3 in., Neue Pinakothek, Munich. see – Sammlung | König Ludwig I. von Bayern im Krönungsornat – retrieved January 14, 2026. Public domain.
Zettler’s company, the Bayerische Hofglasmalerei, enjoyed quick success with his award-winning windows displayed at the 1873 International Exhibition in Vienna. By 1882 Zettler’s firm was decreed as the “Royal Bavarian Art Establishment” by King Ludwig II (1845-1886). Almost immediately, these Munich and Austrian stained-glass companies had a profound relationship with immigrant Catholic churches in the United States as Zettler and the others, provided high quality glasswork that was familiar with Catholic piety and themes.
König Ludwig II. von Bayern als Hubertusritter (King Ludwig II of Bavaria as a Knight of Hubertus), Ferdinand Piloty d. J. (1828-1895), 1879, oil on canvas, 217,5 x 132,5 cm, Neue Pinakothek, Munich. See – Sammlung | König Ludwig II. von Bayern als Hubertusritter – retrieved January 14, 2026. Public domain.
After the Great Chicago Fire in 1871, these stained-glass companies sent representatives to Chicago to sell them on various stained-glass patterns from which to choose in a rebuild or renovation. Before the turn of the 2oth century, these large studios had set up branch offices in America, including Zettler’s, that catered to a booming church-building industry hungry for traditional pious art that had been the Catholic tradition since Ravenna and only slowed in the life of the church following Vatican II’s radical turn. Chicago and its environs particularly became a great center for this traditional German and Austrian made stained glass until just before the Great Depression. From the 1870s to the 1920s, Chicago became the most influential center of Catholic culture in the United States with German and Austrian stained glass, such as the Zettler windows in Saint Edmund Church in Oak Park, having the strongest reach. After 20 years, the predominance of these European glass companies was finally challenged in the last decade of the 19th century by an American company. Though Zettler won a top prize at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933) gained notoriety with a display of his designed comprehensive collection in Art Nouveau style of jewelry, pottery, paintings, art glass, leaded-glass windows, lamps, and other decorative interiors that continued to gain in popularity, including in houses of worship, right up to World War II. A steep tariff imposed on imported stained glass in the United States after 1894 impacted some international art purchases though Catholic churches in particular continued to turn to German and Austrian glass for their workmanship and pious imagery taken from the Middle Ages and Renaissance. At some financial cost pastors believed that such traditional art aided their mostly immigrant congregation of professional and industrial factory-workers and their families in worship.
Zettler Studios was innovative in the perfection of the “Munich style” of windows, in which religious scenes were created in a process of painting and melting large sheets of glass in kiln heat. Zettler was also inspired by the German Romantic Nazarene art movement of the early 19th century whose artists rejected Neoclassicism to revive spiritual and religious-focused art of the Italian Renaissance. In Zettler’s array of religious figures depicted in stained glass windows his team used Italian Renaissance art principles of three-point perspective and line drawing that evoked realism in gestures, expressions and various garb.
Jesus gives the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven to Simon Peter. Author’s photograph. September 2015. Jesus asks, “Who do the people say I am?” leads to Peter’s confession of faith in Jesus as the Christ. it took place at Caesarea Philippi, a new city established by Philip the Tetrarch and was a Gentile community. The gospel writers usually show a lack of understanding of geography, but Matthew was better than Mark and in this incident the location is explicit and about a day’s journey on foot from Capernaum on the Galilee Sea where the disciples were first called. At this juncture in his mission Jesus lays down a challenge to his disciples and asks: Who am I? The story also appears in Mark and Luke and, again, there are differences with Matthew’s account. in Matthew Jesus calls himself by the title “son of man” (Mark and Luke have no title at that point) and Matthew adds Jeremiah to their common list of figures like John the Baptist and Elijah (Zeffirelli adds Ezekiel) that the people think Jesus is. it is “Simon Peter” that answers for the group: “You are the messiah.” Once again Matthew reflects a higher Christology, adding: “The son of the living God,” though the simpler statement is likely the original. These next verses are not in Mark or Luke. Jesus attributes Simon Peter’s confession to divine revelation (“for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my heavenly father”). Jesus Christ then elects Simon Peter to a new commission of authority with a new name. There is no other verse in the New Testament that explains Peter’s name change. It is clear Peter is the rock upon which the church is built as his commission from Christ. What is its precise or working sense as that foundation is mysterious. Peter is the rock because as representative and mouthpiece of the disciples he has gathered up and articulated their faith as a group. Jesus makes a bold claim that the group he has formed, the church, will endure as long as there is faith among them that he is the Messiah and that by that enduring faith “the gates of Sheol (the biblical abode of death) shall not prevail against it.” Giving Peter the keys at the establishment of the church following his confession of faith as representative of the disciples echoes Isaiah 22 and is a sure sign of royal power and authority that Jesus confers on Peter. This, as Jesus himself journeys to Jerusalem to his condemnation and crucifixion. Peter evokes the master of the palace, the highest officer in the Israelite royal court. The office of Peter is not as a caretaker or underling but master of the church (ecclesia) and the kingdom of heaven that scholars say here carries a similar meaning. Jesus bestows broad authority to Peter to “bind and loose” which is an obscure phrase with no biblical background but found in the role of rabbis who could impose and remove. Peter’s special position in the church is also made clear from other passages in the gospels as well as Acts of the Apostles. This confession of faith and charge of authority is followed by an instruction on the suffering of the Messiah, making this a crisis moment in the gospel narrative. Following miracles and wonders, the Suffering Messiah was entirely foreign to the Judaism of New Testament times and Matthew, Luke and Mark (the Synoptics) here briefly relate some of the early great disillusionment in the minds of the disciples at this point about the teacher which was never fully remedied until after the resurrection.
Keys of the Kingdom window, detail. Author’s photograph. September 2015.
Jesus at the wedding feast of Cana (John 2). On the prompting of his mother, Jesus performed his first miracle of changing water into wine. The Blessed Mother was the primary catalyst in starting her son Jesus, living a hidden life for 30 years, to begin his public ministry. Author’s photograph. September 2015.
The Prodigal Son window. One of Jesus’ greatest parables, Luke 15 tells the story about a rebellious younger brother and son who demands from his father his share of the inheritance and proceeds to squander it on “riotous living” (Luke 15:13). He returns home destitute, asking only to be a servant in his father’s house, and finds instead that he is awaited, joyfully welcomed, and forgiven by his father, symbolizing God’s boundless love and restoration for repentant sinners. This is contrasted by the antagonist in the story – the self-righteous older brother who resents the celebration. He deems his repentant younger brother as an unredeemable trespasser and whose condemnation extends to this older brother’s envy of the prodigal’s special reception. The father reminds the older brother that “‘You are here with me always. Everything I have is yours” (Luke 15:31) and that it is right to especially celebrate the prodigal son’s return. For the father explains: “Your brother was dead and has come to life again. He was lost and has been found” (Luke 15: 32). Jesus’s parable teaches about sin, grace, and redemption, and the importance of unconditionally celebrating the return of the lost. Author’s photograph. September 2015.
The Jerome Biblical Commentary, edited by Raymond E. Brown, S.S., Joseph A Fitzmeyer, S.J., and Roland E. Murphy, O. Carm., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968.
Feature Image: The 1965 Ford Galaxie 500 features a distinctive full-width grille with vertically stacked dual headlights. Available in various body styles, including hardtops and convertibles, the model was part of an all-new design for full-size Fords, highlighting crisp lines and engines that included V8 options such as the 352 cubic inch “Thunderbird Special.” Author’s photograph. April 2016. 3.34mb DSC_0471 (1).
In 1960, 44-year-old Robert McNamara was the new president of Ford Motor Company. In his career at Ford, McNamara was an executive who thought like and fought for the ordinary consumer. Unlike other car industry execs, McNamara was passionate about providing a highly affordable and great car for the ordinary American man and woman. McNamara was ahead of his time and actually might have been more useful or successful in the 1970’s when the introduction of emissions standards and fuel economy made weight and design more significant to meet government mandates. The Falcon was McNamara’s brainchild. Its average price point of $2,100 (about $23,000 today) fulfilled McNamara’s vision for a great American utilitarian car for the masses and it became a bestseller. The middling Ford Fairlane had an average base MSRP of less than $2,300. Next up the lower priced chain of Ford car models was Ford Galaxie. At a little over $2,700 MSRP ($29,500 today) Galaxie was a full-size Ford sedan throughout its production run.
“Meet the aristocrats of the low-priced field“—ad tag line in 1960 for Ford Galaxie.
1965 Ford Galaxie (above). With a classic full-size body, the Ford Galaxie 500 was available with various engines, including a high-performance 427 cubic inch V8. Options included a 3-speed automatic or 4-speed manual transmission. The spacious interior was known for its large bench seats. Author’s photograph. April 2016. 4.32 mb DSC_0468 (1).
1964 Ford Galaxie 500XL (above). This full-size American car was a top choice in its era combining luxury features and power. The 2-door hardtop coupe could be equipped with a V8 engine, known for robust performance. Between the Custom and the LTD (the XL was discontinued after 1970), the Galaxie remained slotted as the mid-range full-size Ford into the 1970s.“FORD GALAXIE HDR” by abux_77 is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.
On November 9, 1960, Robert McNamara (1916-2009) became the youngest president in Ford Motor Company history and the first from outside the Ford family since 1906. One month on the job, McNamara was contacted on December 8, 1960, by president-elect John F. Kennedy’s transition team and offered the job of US Secretary of Defense. Though McNamara’s first reaction was that he wasn’t qualified for the defense job, he finally accepted and became the youngest defense secretary in US history up to that time. McNamara’s compensation at Ford was $3 million a year. At the Defense Department he made $25,000 a year. See – Our Vietnam The War 1954–1975, A.J. Langguth, 2000, Simon & Schuster, pp. 42-43 and McNamara At War: A New History, P. Taubman and W. Taubman, 2025, W.W. Norton, p. 120. PHOTO: “Robert McNamara” by DoDEA Communications is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
In addition to a shiny nameplate, Galaxie included cloth/vinyl bench seating, chrome exterior trim on all windows and body sides and an aluminum rear quarter covering with upgrades available. Under McNamara, Ford took a heavy risk in 1960 when it introduced a totally revamped design on its bestseller compact Falcon as well as its line of full-sized cars. Fords were lighter and sleeker, with a body no longer sculpted but molded from fender to bumper trimmed in chrome. And for the first time in Ford history the full width grill had its headlights inset at each end instead of above. This design choice continued throughout Galaxie’s second generation into 1964.
By 1974, things were very much changed. The Mustang II was that year’s Motor Trend Car of the Year – and it was Galaxie’s last model year. The Galaxie had essentially been co-opted by what started in 1965 as its highest trim level: namely Ford LTD. Strictly Galaxie production had, in fact, fallen from its peak in 1963 of nearly 650,000 vehicles to under 120,000 in 1974.
SOURCES: J. “Kelly” Flory, Jr., American Cars, 1960 to 1965, McFarland & Company, Inc., pp. 41-45; J. “Kelly” Flory, Jr., American Cars, 1973 to1980, McFarland & Company, Inc., pp. 178-179.
This explanatory article may be periodically updated.
Feature image: July 2016. Chicago Skyway Toll Bridge, 95th St. & S. Baltimore Ave 4.03mb DSC_0774 (1). Author’s photograph.
This photograph of the Chicago Skyway Toll Bridge (also known as the “Skyway”) is at the exact point where it spans the Calumet River and Calumet Harbor, a major harbor for industrial ships. Built by the City of Chicago in 1958 this massive steel undergirding is part of the 7.8 miles long expressway toll road that connects Chicago’s Dan Ryan freeway on the South Side to the Indiana Toll Road. The main feature of the Skyway is this half-mile long steel truss bridge known as the “High Bridge” whose maximum vertical clearance allowing ships and objects to pass safely underneath is 125 feet or about 10-12 building stories. The Chicago Skyway truss is primarily made of rolled and built-up steel beams for incredible weight-bearing strength, durability and functionality.
July 2016. Chicago Skyway. 95th St. & Baltimore Ave 4.05 mb DSC_0772 (1) Author’s photograph.
The Skyway was operated and maintained by the City of Chicago until January 2005 when Skyway Concession Company, LLC assumed its operations under a 99-year operating lease. The lease agreement between Skyway and the City of Chicago was the first privatization of an existing toll road in the United States. In February 2016, Skyway was purchased by three Canadian Pension Funds (OMERS Infrastructure, CPP Investment Board, and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan) and in December 2022 global toll road operator Atlas Arteria Group based in Australia, acquired 66.67% stake in the Skyway with OTPP retaining the rest. see – The Skyway – Chicago Skyway – retrieved December 19, 2025. While exact current figures go up and down, best estimates put daily vehicular traffic on the Chicago Skyway, both cars and trucks, at between 40,000 and 50,000 per day. see – FHWA – Center for Innovative Finance Support – Value Capture – Case Studies: Hays County, Texas Transportation Reinvestment Zones – retrieved December 19, 2025.
July 2016. Chicago Skyway. 95th St. & Baltimore Ave 4.93mb DSC_0765 (1). Author’s photograph. July 2016. Chicago Skyway. 95th St. & Baltimore Ave 2.21mb DSC_0764 (1). Author’s photograph. July 2016. Chicago Skyway. 95th St. & Baltimore Ave 5.13mb DSC_0769 (1). Author’s photograph.
In the 1950’s, American cars were noted for their V-8 engines, chrome, and tailfins of one kind or another. The late 1950’s was also marked by a recession which began in 1957 and continued into 1958 that led to a drop in car production in that period by nearly a third. “What is good for General Motors is good for America” could be true in 1950’s America when it was said, attributable to a 1953 Senate hearing, but its converse was also clearly the situation in the last years of that decade.
“From the Progress of the Past – the Promise of the Future.”
This was the tag line for General Motors that was celebrating its 50th anniversary in 1958. Many cars were painted golden to mark the “Golden Milestone.” It was the same year that the full-size Biscayne model made its first appearance. All Chevrolets in 1958 underwent an all-new “Sculptutamic Styling” that included the “gull wing” style fenders and twin taillights in the back of the Chevy Biscayne. The gull wing back extended along the body side to a “v” dip or gap. Another subtle styling addition was the quarter panel bulge between the rear wheel opening and the rear bumper. The Biscayne series replaced the Chevy 210 where the interior was made more colorful and instrumentation had a horizontal bias that, by 1959, was designed to be within easy sight of the driver. In 1958 Chevy introduced the X- shaped frame chassis and full coil suspension that provided greater stability that included 6-cylindar and V8 models, the 283 CID V8 replacing the 265 CID V8, with an optional 348 CID.
“Dollars never went further or bought longer lasting pride than in Chevrolet’s new Biscayneseries for ’59.”
In 1959 General Motors – emulating a Chrysler corporate revamp in 1957 – redesigned the bodies of its entire fleet line so that many interior parts and some exterior parts were interchangeable on cars. In the process Chevy reshuffled their brands so that the Impala, that was a luxury option on the Bel Air in its first year in 1958, became Chevy’s own top-of-the-line brand in 1959. The Bel Air took the place of the Biscayne and the Biscayne in 1959 replaced the budget-priced Delray that was discontinued. Chevy Biscayne was produced in its second generation over two model years (1959 and 1960) and would be produced in five generations whose last model year was 1975.
The 1959 Chevy: a.k.a. “Batmobile.”
In 1959 the most remarkable design change was an enlarged windshield and rear window on all cars for greater driver visibility of the road and a “flat top roof.” The bodyside was characterized, at the front, by a slight crease at the turn signal which joined a gentle, sloping bodyside curve. The tail fin started at the rear of the front door that carried to the slightly higher back-end splaying in a “v” shape above the “teardrop”-shaped taillights. The design of the 1959 Chevrolet later came to be known as the “Batmobile” for its body design affinities, particularly the wing-shaped tailfins, and that was featured in the Caped Crusaders’ custom built “bat motif” vehicle during the popular ABC “Batman” TV series in 1966 to 1968.
Batmobile, rear view. With its ‘bat motif” wing-shaped tail fins, the 1959 Chevys, including the Biscayne, shared similarities with the Caped Crusaders’ custom built vehicle. PHOTO: “Batmobile, rear view” by KWH703 is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
Drag racing footage of what looks like a 1960 Chevy Biscayne. The Biscayne was introduced as a full-sized Chevrolet model in 1958 in tandem that year with the top-of-the-line luxury Impala. They joined the Bel Air which has been offered since 1950. These cars constituted about 85% of all Chevy sales in 1960. The Biscayne was the slightly lowest price model with a Biscayne 2-door hardtop like this one setting back the American consumer $2230 BASE MSRP (less than $25,000 in 2025) and weighing about 3500 pounds.https://youtube.com/shorts/7oJPm104q0Y?si=ytYL4v1ruWa2jDTx – retrieved November 30, 2025.
The Feature Image 1959 Biscayne represented over a quarter of all Chevy sales that year. Its main competition was the Ford Custom 300, Plymouth Savoy, and Rambler. The Biscayne featured nylon and vinyl upholstery, cloth headliner, dual sun visors, color-keyed floor coverings, two-spoke steering wheel, stainless steel trim on the windshield and rear window, tail fins, small hubcaps, and 7.50 x 14 BSW tires. In 1959 the average price of a Chevy Biscayne was $2, 383 ($26,597.88).
SOURCES:
J. “Kelly” Flory, Jr., American Cars, 1946-1958, McFarland & Company, Inc. pp. 855-857, 866-867, 870-871, 949.
J. “Kelly” Flory, Jr., American Cars, 1960-1965, McFarland & Company, Inc. pp. 23-24, 26.
This explanatory article may be periodically updated.
