Enjoy articles about antique stained glass, restoration, repairs, interesting facts, community events, and news about sales and events here at The Stonehouse of Campbellville.
We are proud to announce this year's 45th annual Singleton Family Christmas Display is up and running! Every night from 5pm-9pm until Dec 28. We have some exciting new displays. Come and dance in our dance hall, and enjoy more lights and displays than ever! The event is FREE! We do have a donation box, and 100% of the donations directly to the children's programs at Halton Women's Shelter. https://singleton-family.raiselysite.com https://www.facebook.com/singletonsxmaslights https://www.facebook.com/reel/860656556406252
Restoring antique stained glass windows from homes in Manchester, and around Lancashire England, holds significant historical and cultural value. Manchester, a city central to the Industrial Revolution, experienced rapid urban growth in the 19th and early 20th centuries. During this time, decorative stained glass became a hallmark of middle-class Victorian and Edwardian homes. These windows often featured vibrant floral patterns, heraldic symbols, and geometric motifs, offering insight into the artistic preferences and social aspirations of the era. Each window tells a story, not only of craftsmanship but also of the families who once lived behind them. As the city has...
Small whimsical stained glass is a delightful burst of colour and creativity, often transforming an ordinary space into something magical. These little, affordable works of art capture light in the most enchanting ways, casting colourful reflections. With their playful designs—ranging from abstract shapes to charming animals or nature scenes—these windows bring a touch of whimsy to any room. The combination of vibrant hues and intricate details adds a unique charm, making them both fun and pretty. Whether in a cozy nook or a larger space, these windows evoke a sense of wonder, reminding us to appreciate the beauty in the...
January 2024 - In our dedicated "Wow Room", we host an impressive collection of antique and vintage stained glass windows, reclaimed from churches in Toronto and around Ontario. These carefully designed and painted windows have been a spiritual inspiration for generations. Our windows are often used for private installations for homes, business, and occasionally reinstalled into churches and places of public worship. We invite you to visit us at The Stonehouse of Campbellville to immerse yourself in the colourful beauty of traditional stained glass windows. Once does not need to be spiritual to enjoy the art.
The lights are illuminating in 2022! Come by The Stonehouse of Campbellville for the annual Singleton Family Christmas Light Display. Every night 5pm-9pm now until December 28. Please drop off and pick up your passengers on the NORTH SIDE of the driveway. If parking on the side of the road, we suggest leaving your hazard lights turned on while visiting. If you wish to donate to the CHILDREN'S PROGRAMS at Halton Women's Place (an important service we support), please contact https://haltonwomensplace.com/ways-to-give/ Merry Christmas to you and your family The Singleton Family
This window is from the Methodist Church in Bradford, UK, opened April 10, 1904. We purchased the window from Bingley Antiques before they closed. This church had seating for 2,200 and was known as the 'Methodist Cathedral of the North'. This building was the most important part of a 20 acre site that specialized in finished woolen garments. the area became known as 'Little Germany conservation area'. Tt was vacated by the 1980's and suffered a major fire in 1996. The building has now been developed into apartments and retail space. We have attached several pictures showing the window insitu...
The Stonehouse of Campbellville is nestled at the foot of the Niagara Escarpment. We are surrounded by forests and wetlands! With those natural treasures come many winged visitors to The Stonehouse!
Take a tour of our newly renovated Light Room! Having previously hosted larger windows, we revamped it to showcase some stunning Edwardian and Victorian restored windows.
The Stonehouse of Campbellville has been operating since 1976. During that time we have witnessed the closing of several Toronto stained glass 'institutions'. These studios became centres for artisans who produced the bulk of locally made stained glass windows. The most recent loss involves the closing of ARTISTIC GLASS. This studio was founded in 1969 by Joseph Aigner, a third generation stained glass artist. He immigrated to Canada from Germany, having honed his craft in several major European cities. The store was part of the Dundas St. W. community in Toronto. Artistic Glass reached out to us to offer us...
Thirty years ago we acquired stunning Dutch windows from an antique importer in the Grimsby area. Those windows have since all been sold. This Fall we bought a collection of windows and doors from a different antique importer. He use to import in containers of antiques from Holland, and his last container arrived approximately 30 years ago. Like many of us he is down sizing and is tired of moving things from one place to another. We are now restoring, and reframing the windows. Our restoration artists have been hard at work reinforcing the stained glass windows in the doors....
The Stonehouse was pleased to host Marc and Mandy at the Stonehouse! View this post on Instagram A post shared by Home Trends Magazine (@hometrendsmag)
Check out our in house TikTok star, showing off some glow up restoration magic! @velvetmae ##glowup ##stainedglass ##thestonehouseofcampbellville ##antique ##SmallBiz ♬ stan sister mary eunice - kylie ✨
Photo courtesy of Milton Historical Society.Photo by Mike Miller Photographer, Mike Miller, in collaboration with the Milton Historical Society, came by The Stonehouse and took a photo of the original part of the home and created this beautiful animation of the family home then and now! Although the antique shop building is only 25 years old, the main part of the stone house dates back to about 1885. The original family was the Easterbrooks. The original settlers in this area spent their first years clearing the land, hauling timber and grain to Lake Ontario and living in wooden frame homes...
Visit Instagram for our latest Virtual Gallery tours. See something you like? Email us a screen shot for more information. https://www.instagram.com/stonehouse_of_campbellville/channel/
From rags to riches, as they say. This stunning Victorian era window needed a lot of extra love. A small rebuild of a missing segment, shattered glass, and a fresh boarder gave this 120 year old window from Northern England a new sparkle. https://www.instagram.com/p/CDjzkkxHwzo/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
What does Netflix’s newest hit "Locke and Key", The Stonehouse and Ed Mirvish have in common? Well, stained glass of course! We were very excited to work with the props department of “Locke and Key”, a popular comic book written by Joe Hill and illustrated by Gabriel Rodríguez, turned into a hit Netflix series. Our Ed Mirvish Victorian window sporting some antique keys. This window was featured as a prop in Netflix's "Locke & Key" The window that was selected for the scene is rich in colour and hand painted from the late 1800’s. The window is part of a collection of antique windows we acquired from...
Visit “The Singleton Family Christmas Lights Display” on Facebook www.facebook.com/singletonsxmaslights The Singleton Family has been at it again, with some exciting new displays this year! They have aquired a new large Nativity box, with figures beautiful restored and painted by one of their elves, and a "Big" Bear box featuring some of your favourite Disney characters. The Ferris wheel in Santa's Surprise Box is up and running, with thanks to our elves! 8565 Guelph Line, Campbellvillejust south of the 401, exit 312 FREE All donations go to the Children’s Programs at Halton's Women’s Place
"You have a lot of Christmas stuff..." We get that statement a lot! There is indeed a strong presence of Christmas here at The Stonehouse. All year round, The Singleton Family works independently to put on a beautiful display around the property. The family works hard with their colossal display of lights, music, dioramas, and displays at the The Singleton's Christmas Lights Display. From mid November until before NYE, every night from 5-9pm. Like the page to stay tuned for more photos and details!
These windows (now SOLD) were part of a collection of antique windows we imported from England. They were purchased in the city of Burnley (north of Manchester). We were told that these windows were removed from a mill that made uniforms for various regiments in the British Army. The owner commissioned a window for each of the regiments that the mill serviced, with the appropriate crest and name. The windows are approximately 100 years old and are in their original wooden frames (The "Royal Flying Corps" dates from 1912-1918). The glass along the border of each window has a row...
From our home, to your home; this holiday season, We light up these boxes; and give you a reason, To share with the children, the stories of old To make our hearts glad; whenever they’re told Our old stone farm house first had Christmas lights about 1980. The lights were initially modest (several strands of lights on the bushes at the front of the property). As the family grew, more lights were added and some hand-made decorations appeared. Plywood was cut into the shapes of Christmas trees, wreaths and candy canes. The wreaths were 4’ tall and the candy canes...
There is always something in bloom here at The Stonehouse! Hurry in soon to see the tulips in full bloom, including the latest Canadian Maple Leaf tulip! We even caught up with a few bees working hard and buzzing about. Click on any photo to enlarge. May 31, 2018 May 22, 2018
When we started selling windows we quickly realized that one problem was to show as many windows as possible in a confined space. Putting up an A frame racking was our solution. In the early years we covered the whole parking lot in front of the store. It would take 2 days to assemble the racks and another 2 days to fill all the spaces. As the years have progressed we have been putting up fewer and fewer racks. This year we have put up about 1/4 of the racking that we use to assemble. The whole process of...
"Old pane, all gain They say that the eyes are window to the soul. So what does that make stained glass? Many Victorian houses sported wonderful stained-glass windows, some in strange sizes or shapes such as the "l’ceil de boeuf" or "cow's eye." Sadly, some of these have fallen prey to the elements or to misguided renovators. Fortunately, a business· called The Stonehouse of Campbellville (8565 Guelph Line, P.O. Box 137, Campbellville, 905-854-2152) can help set things right. This family concern has rescued all kinds of wonderful windows from wrecking sites, both here and across the pond. Their storehouse has...
Address 8565 Guelph Line PO Box 137 Campbellville, ON L0P 1B0
Hours of Operation 9AM – 5PM (every day)
Phone Number 905-854-2152
the_stonehouse@yahoo.com
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History of Stained Glass
Stained glass in its origins was basically a Christian art. There are artistic links between early glass and both mosaics and enamel work; the earliest windows were simply openings with a lattice work of wood or marble, into which coloured glass was inserted. The ability to pour molten lead into a framework around glass pieces opened up a new era of window construction.
The earliest windows are considered to have been in German churches around 1050 AD. In the 1100’s, the French were the first to establish the Gothic Era of cathedral glass (massive and colourful windows to match the size and grandeur of gothic churches). The glass makers themselves were called glaziers, and most never left their signature or mark on their artwork. However, during the middle ages, they belonged to very powerful “guilds”. Companies that built stained glass would be under contract with these guilds and could not produce windows without an “official” glazier being on site.
Each of the European countries developed its own unique artistic statements in church window making, i.e. the Flemish tradition of the Low Countries was at a “high” point in the 15th century. Art forms on glass expanded to include heraldry, scenes of nature, tributes and portraitures.
I the 17th and 18th centuries, glass making almost died. Much of the glass was destroyed or damaged. It wasn’t until the 19th century that a “revival” of glass making occurred. By the late 19th century, the glass maker William Morris became the “standard” to which comparisons were made. Glass now became popular, practical and within the financial reach of the nouveau riche.
Articles on this topic often appear in this magazine: Stained Glass, The Quarterly of the Stained Glass Association of America, P.O. Box 22642, Kansas City, Mo, USA, 64113.
Also, some colourful and very readable books on this subject are:
A Thousand Years of Stained Glass – Amazon.ca
Catherine Brisac: Chartwell Books Inc., 1984.
Great Glass in America Architecture – Amazon.ca
H. Weber Wilson, E.P. Dutton, 1986.
Frequently Asked Questions
You asked, we answered!
Do you buy stained glass windows?
We do occasionally purchase windows, but only if they are antique and unique. You can email us a photo of your window (with a price) and we will respond if it is something we are interested in.
If you are looking to get market value for your window, then it would be best for you to sell your window privately.(ie Kijiji or Facebook Marketplace) Antique dealers, auctions all take a big commission. We are also a business and we need to make a profit on a window to make it worth the purchase.
We also accept donated windows. Any windows donated to The Stonehouse are sold for cash, and all proceeds go to the Burlington Humane Society.
How do I clean an antique stained glass window?
We recommend cleaning with a mild dish detergent with a lint free rag. Paper towel can leave fibre residue on your window. If there’s stubborn dirt in highly textured glass, then use an old toothbrush to scrub it out. Old paint on glass can be scraped off with a paint scraper as long as there is no painting on the glass. Best to leave paint on the lead alone. If you are determined to get rid of it. Scrape it very carefully with a utility knife, but you MUST wear a mask and do this outside or in a garage to avoid inhaling lead dust. Doing this will make the lead shiny. To oxidase the lead back to an antique finish, use and old brush and brush over the spot, quickly and very softly. Again wearing a mask is a must!!
Do you ship windows?
We do prefer if you can arrange pick up of your window. We can put you in contact with a local shipping company to arrange shipping. Be aware of the “sticker shock” of shipping a stained glass window. It can cost between $150-500+ to ship a window.
Do you appraise windows?
Anyone is welcome to visit us to see what we charge for our windows. But no, we do not appraise windows. This is done by professionals who charge for their time and knowledge and it can only be done after examining a window in person. A photo is not sufficient.
Do you do repairs?
We do repairs. Email us photos of your window, with close ups of the repairs needed, along with dimensions. We will give you a rough idea of what repairs are needed and the approximate time involved in a repair but quotes can only be given in person after a window has been examined.
Can I buy glass from you & do you offer classes?
We do not sell glass or supplies. We do not teach stained glass, but we will always help answer questions you have. If you come to visit us, you’ll see we do not have the space to have classes.
Can windows be used as exterior windows?
Most people hang our windows in their existing windows. The advantages are the window doesn’t have to be the exact size and that the window came be moved to another room or another house if you move.
All our windows were used as exterior windows at one time but they are not up to our energy standards today. Many people use our windows in three season studios, or on porches, garages where energy efficiency is not an issue or the windows can be removed and stored away during winter. If you are planning to use them as exterior window then the wood needs to be weather proofed, sealed and the putty checked. Also some people use plexiglass to protect the window. The other option is to take the window out the frame and get it made into a sealed unit with 2 pieces of plain glass on the outside and the stained glass inside. Google or look under the yellow pages for Glass Glaziers in your area.
What sizes of windows do you have?
Our windows range from 8” to 8’!
Can windows be resized?
Most of our windows can be resized, for a fee. Consult with one of our in house restoration artists on the best windows to resized. Some windows are easy to resize, and some will lose too much of the over all art if resized. We can also deframe any windows in their original wood frames and add a zinc or lead frame on them (for use of hanging, or placing in-situ)
Advice on replacing old windows.
We can tell you what customers have done with our windows and the many, many possibilities. We will try and help and answer any questions you have. But we are stained glass artists and we can not offer advice on building in windows. This requires a knowledgeable contractor.
Scott of Bing Home Services has vast experience with our windows (416) 509-2417
Frequently Asked Questions
You asked, we answered!
Do you buy stained glass windows?
We do occasionally purchase windows, but only if they are antique and unique. You can email us a photo of your window (with a price) and we will respond if it is something we are interested in.
If you are looking to get market value for your window, then it would be best for you to sell your window privately.(ie Kijiji or Facebook Marketplace) Antique dealers, auctions all take a big commission. We are also a business and we need to make a profit on a window to make it worth the purchase.
We also accept donated windows. Any windows donated to The Stonehouse are sold for cash, and all proceeds go to the Burlington Humane Society.
How do I clean an antique stained glass window?
We recommend cleaning with a mild dish detergent with a lint free rag. Paper towel can leave fibre residue on your window. If there’s stubborn dirt in highly textured glass, then use an old toothbrush to scrub it out. Old paint on glass can be scraped off with a paint scraper as long as there is no painting on the glass. Best to leave paint on the lead alone. If you are determined to get rid of it. Scrape it very carefully with a utility knife, but you MUST wear a mask and do this outside or in a garage to avoid inhaling lead dust. Doing this will make the lead shiny. To oxidase the lead back to an antique finish, use and old brush and brush over the spot, quickly and very softly. Again wearing a mask is a must!!
Do you ship windows?
We do prefer if you can arrange pick up of your window. We can put you in contact with a local shipping company to arrange shipping. Be aware of the “sticker shock” of shipping a stained glass window. It can cost between $150-500+ to ship a window.
Do you appraise windows?
Anyone is welcome to visit us to see what we charge for our windows. But no, we do not appraise windows. This is done by professionals who charge for their time and knowledge and it can only be done after examining a window in person. A photo is not sufficient.
Do you do repairs?
We do repairs. Email us photos of your window, with close ups of the repairs needed, along with dimensions. We will give you a rough idea of what repairs are needed and the approximate time involved in a repair but quotes can only be given in person after a window has been examined.
Can I buy glass from you & do you offer classes?
We do not sell glass or supplies. We do not teach stained glass, but we will always help answer questions you have. If you come to visit us, you’ll see we do not have the space to have classes.
Can windows be used as exterior windows?
Most people hang our windows in their existing windows. The advantages are the window doesn’t have to be the exact size and that the window came be moved to another room or another house if you move.
All our windows were used as exterior windows at one time but they are not up to our energy standards today. Many people use our windows in three season studios, or on porches, garages where energy efficiency is not an issue or the windows can be removed and stored away during winter. If you are planning to use them as exterior window then the wood needs to be weather proofed, sealed and the putty checked. Also some people use plexiglass to protect the window. The other option is to take the window out the frame and get it made into a sealed unit with 2 pieces of plain glass on the outside and the stained glass inside. Google or look under the yellow pages for Glass Glaziers in your area.
What sizes of windows do you have?
Our windows range from 8” to 8’!
Can windows be resized?
Most of our windows can be resized, for a fee. Consult with one of our in house restoration artists on the best windows to resized. Some windows are easy to resize, and some will lose too much of the over all art if resized. We can also deframe any windows in their original wood frames and add a zinc or lead frame on them (for use of hanging, or placing in-situ)
Advice on replacing old windows.
We can tell you what customers have done with our windows and the many, many possibilities. We will try and help and answer any questions you have. But we are stained glass artists and we can not offer advice on building in windows. This requires a knowledgeable contractor.
Scott of Bing Home Services has vast experience with our windows (416) 509-2417
Looking for a cool gift? Check out Samiee Singletons fluid art! There’s acrylic pours and a unique mirror design. Come by and take a look.
