Those Strange Stained-Glass Windows…
Those strange stained-glass windows in Central Square are now ours. In our Farm Market, we have two beautiful, vintage, stained glass windows. In fact, these windows have a very unique history. Here is their story.
These stained glass windows resided at 415-425 Massachusetts Avenue in Central Square at the Quest Building for 25 years until it was torn down in 2016 to make room for the Mass + Main Project. The windows were created by stained glass artist, Lyn Hovey and commissioned by the late Dr. Richard Fennell. Hovey designed and created them and Fennell was a Cambridge entrepreneur/businessman and owner of a company called Bioran, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
In the late 1980s, Fennell received criticism that Bioran created an industrial pall over the neighborhood by overtaking the old Central Square Cinemas that had formed the backbone of the community for years. To address this, Fennell commissioned Hovey to create the windows as a gift of public art for the community. Fennell put no restrictions on Hovey as to a theme. So, Hovey used his knowledge of the neighborhood and created windows depicting the variety of small business owners found in Central Square such as the local florists, the neighborhood market, and the Pharmacist. Hovey also used his knowledge of the strong West Indian presence to depict the diversity in this multi-cultural neighborhood. The images were derived from Hovey’s imagination.
With luck on our side, in 2018 we managed to stumble upon these stained glass windows when reviewing an ad on Craigslist. Realizing their beauty and historical value, we purchased them to bring life to our Farm Market. We were able to make contact with Mr. Hovey, who now owns 3 glass studios, including one in Guatemala. Within 30 minutes of emailing him to say that we were in possession of the windows, and to our great surprise, he called us back. He explained that the windows had been made as a labor of love, and that he had hoped they would be salvaged and end up with someone who would treat them with love and respect - which we did!
Today, you can find two of the original five we purchased in the Farm Market.