You know the feeling of suddenly finding that missing ring
or long-lost jacket, after so long that you almost forgot about it? A few of
the historic windows in West Baden Springs Hotel are that kind of happy
discovery.
Our Walk With the Historian series has been highlighting
interesting sights and stories within West Baden Springs Hotel, and in Part 2
today, we lead off with the curious case of the stained glass windows that
adorn the outer edge of the hotel lobby. Resort historian Jeff Lane knows this
story well. Because in this case, he was actually part of history.
The stained glass windows and arched lunettes above them
were not original to the hotel; rather a feature that the Jesuits added in the
late 1930s when they operated a seminary here after the hotel closed to guests.
Several decades later when the hotel was abandoned, the arched windows were
stolen. And they may still be missing, were it not for a serendipitous
discovery that Jeff stumbled upon.
This was back in about 1997. Jeff and a couple friends were
in Louisville browsing through a salvage store. We’ll let him pick up the story
from there.
“I looked down next to a fireplace surround and there’s an arched
window. Now, we knew all eight of these windows had been removed at one point,
because the hotel wasn’t closely guarded like it should have been. I recognized
the window since there was a drawing of one of the windows on one of our
historical society brochures. The windows were all in very good condition.”
Only four of the original eight windows were there. One of
Jeff’s friends told him he should inform the store’s owner about the
significance of the windows. But Jeff knew if he did, the windows would be gone
by the next day once the secret was out on what they were and how valuable they
are. So instead, Jeff made a call up to Cook Group, which at the time had
recently purchased and begun investing in West Baden Springs Hotel’s
restoration.
First thing on the following Monday morning, Cook team
members visited the salvage store and bought the four arched windows. It’s
still uncertain what became of the other four. But four copies were made to
replenish the full supply of stained glass beauty in the lobby.
There’s one way to discern which one of the windows is an
original.
“The way you can tell is this: It’s in the hands. It all has
to do with the figure in the center,” Jeff says of the angels in the center of
each arched window.
One of the windows with blue embellishments in the arched
portion has an angel in the center with hands crossed, right over left. That’s
the original. The other three original “blue” windows are still missing, and
their copies that were created feature the hands clasped together instead.
Three of the four “red” windows are originals with the angel’s
hands clasped, and the one new red window that needed to be copied was created
in the same style.
Safe to say, Jeff forever has bragging rights to preserving
a slice of West Baden history — and maybe an awesome story to tell on the West Baden
Historian Tours that are still going on through the end of March. If
that weren’t enough, Jeff also got a personal thank-you from Bill and Gayle
Cook of the Cook Group, showing their gratitude for his alert discovery.
“I received a Christmas card that Christmas from the Cooks,
and Mrs. Cook had written a little note and she said, Thanks again for that Kentucky find.”
The Sinclair Coat of
Arms
These days, you might think it’s just another architectural
accent. If you even see it at all.
Outside the lobby entrance — which is a path less traveled
these days, since guests 100 years ago would’ve entered here whereas the main
entrance today is on the opposite side of the building — is a personal touch
from the family that owned the hotel in the early 20th Century. Look
down and you’ll find it.
“The Sinclair family was from Scotland, and this was their
coat of arms which they had placed here once this veranda actually had a floor
and columns and once it looked the way it does today,” Jeff explains, as the
veranda didn’t come until several years after the hotel was originally built. Completed
in 1921, the porch and veranda were the last major improvements the Sinclair
family made to the building during their ownership tenure.
Part of the crest is crafted with Rookwood pottery — the same
material used on the decorative fireplace inside the atrium. And in case you’re
not up on your romance languages and are wondering about “Aspera Virtus” at the
bottom of the crest: “The words in Latin
basically mean ‘rugged valor,’ or strength in adversity,” Jeff says.
We’ve got one last installment set for our Walk With the
Historian series at West Baden — check back next Friday when we go inside the
old barbershop, show you what you might not see walking the guestroom hallways,
and point out a few hidden details inside the atrium.
When Jeff points it out on tour, he’ll sometimes joke that
the Sinclairs were Indiana University fans, because of the tridents within the
crest. (IU’s basketball team was a solid 15-6 in 1921 when the crest was
created, so you never know.) But it’s just another way the Sinclair fingerprint
is on the hotel all these years later, and for years to come.
The hotel's lobby entrance and veranda in the 1930s.