Bendheim Restoration Glass® (“New Antique” Window Glass) Featured in AIA Honor Award-Winning Project

The Beauvoir restoration project featuring authentic mouth-blown Restoration Glass^®  (“new antique” window glass) receives a 2010 AIA National Honor Award.

Albert & Associates Architects specified Light Restoration Glass^®, supplied exclusively by Bendheim, as the glass of choice for Beauvoir, the Presidential Library in Biloxi, Mississippi. The high-profile restoration project was recently recognized with a 2010 AIA National Honor Award.

Bendheim provided 209 panes of mouth-blown Restoration Glass^® to restore Beauvoir’s antique glass windows and the front and back glass doors. The glass is identical to authentic mouth-blown antique window glass made before the advent of modern window glassmaking. The slight distortions, occasional bubbles, pits and imperfections characteristic to this specialty glass make it ideal for historically correct restorations of commercial buildings, residential work, and furniture. Restoration Glass^® can be found in such high-profile projects as The White House in Washington, D.C., Monticello – Thomas Jefferson’s Home in Charlottesville, VA, and George Washington’s Home in Mount Vernon, VA.

Light Restoration Glass^® is less distorting and similar to the glass from the 19^th and early 20^th centuries. Bendheim also offers Full Restoration Glass^® that is more distorting and accurately represents much of the glass made in the 17^th and 18^th centuries. Both varieties are manufactured exclusively by Germany’s Glashütte Lamberts for Bendheim in North America, and can be laminated for additional safety.

Beauvoir, the presidential library and last home of Jefferson Davis, was built in 1852. Five of its seven buildings were destroyed and the remaining two were severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Beauvoir lost its front and side porches and two sections of the roof.  According to the published AIA jury comments: “A wonderful, archetypal house with significant history has been brought back from the dead… This project transcends the typical restoration project – restoring Beauvoir was truly a labor of love and it shows in every detail of the home.” And, “As a victim of Hurricane Katrina, this project is significant culturally, historically and architecturally.”  (Source: https://www.aia.org/practicing/awards/AIAB082053)