25 Years Later: A Look at Louis Comfort Tiffany Chapel

©Charles Hosmer Morse Museum

In the mid 20th century, Jeannette Genuis McKean—founder of the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum—and her husband, Hugh, embarked on a journey to recover Louis Comfort Tiffany’s Tiffany Chapel from the designer’s estate at Laurelton Hall, which had been overtaken by fire. The McKeans hoped to preserve the architectural integrity of the chapel, which was first exhibited at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. They found it in ruins and began the process of transporting the columns to Winter Park, and over the next few decades, acquired the chapel’s lead-glass windows, altar and baptismal font. In 1997, the chapel was restored using period accounts, photographs and drawings, and in 1999, opened to the public at the Morse Museum. For the 25th anniversary of the installation it’s been reunited with “Fathers of the Church,” an 800-pound mosaic that was originally exhibited with the chapel. morsemuseum.org