South West Bay 4 | The Windows of Rowan LeCompte

Photo – Peter Swanson

Southwest, Bay 4

1961 – Church of the Incarnation, Washington, DC

This modest, unassuming church, located near the eastern border of Washington, DC is strikingly illuminated by two walls of windows created by Rowan and Irene. These windows create a moody and almost mystical light in the worship space. We believe that Irene is likely to have been the principal designer here because we have been told by friends of the family that she really loved to let the glass be its unadorned self in windows. The glass here, as in all of these windows, is artisan glass, rich, unadorned, and exquisite.

This bay of windows is the farthest from the altar in the wall of windows on the southwest side of the building. The reds here are really dark, as the color transition on the wall continues, and the space in the church illumined by the right lancet is also dark. What is interesting, however, is that in the left lancet, the light is being allowed back in, almost as if the whole wall has been a journey into darkness and a return to the light.

Iconography

This modest, unassuming church, located near the eastern border of Washington, DC is strikingly illuminated by two walls of windows created by Rowan and Irene. These windows create a moody and almost mystical light in the worship space. We believe that Irene is likely to have been the principal designer here because we have been told by friends of the family that she really loved to let the glass be its unadorned self in windows. The glass here, as in all of these windows, is artisan glass, rich, unadorned, and exquisite.

This bay of windows is the farthest from the altar in the wall of windows on the southwest side of the building. The reds here are really dark, as the color transition on the wall continues, and the space in the church illumined by the right lancet is also dark. What is interesting, however, is that in the left lancet, the light is being allowed back in, almost as if the whole wall has been a journey into darkness and a return to the light.