J&R Lamb Studios
Encyclopedia
J&R Lamb Studios, America's oldest continuously-run decorative arts company, is famous as a stained glass
maker, preceding the studios of both John LaFarge
and Louis C. Tiffany
..
in New York City
. They had previously left Lewisham
, England to come to the United States with their family since their father, a landscape architect, was engaged to work on Niblo's Garden
, an exhibition hall and open-air theater.
Originally, the company also did mosaic, murals, and other work for churches, temples, residences, government and academic institutions.
The firm was chosen by the United States government as one of four studios to represent American achievements in stained glass at
the Paris International Exposition of 1900
. They won two prizes for their window entitled Religion Enthroned designed by Frederick Stymetz Lamb, one of Joseph's sons. Frederick's brother, Charles Rollinson Lamb (1860-1942), a renowned City Beautiful
theorist and architect, shaped the studio's aesthetic and intellectual character and business. Frederick became its head of design and supervised the firm's team of skilled craftsman.
Ella Condie Lamb, the wife of Charles Rollinson Lamb, was a well known artist and stained glass designer, also winning a medal in the World's Columbian Exposition
in Chicago in 1893 for her oil work, "The Advent Angel".
Studio owner and family member, Karl Barre Lamb (1890-1969), was president of the Stained Glass Association of America 1954-1955 and an elected fellow. Lamb descendants ran the studios until his death. Under Karl B. Lamb's leadership, the studios relocated to Tenafly, New Jersey
after The Great Depression
.
In 1970, Lamb Studios artist Donald Samick bought the firm.
With the death of the stained glass artist Katharine Lamb Tait (1895-1981), the daughter of Charles Rollinson Lamb, the Lamb family was no longer involved with the studio.
The Library of Congress
is the repository for the Lamb Studios Archive..
Stained glass
The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...
maker, preceding the studios of both John LaFarge
John LaFarge
John La Farge was an American painter, muralist, stained glass window maker, decorator, and writer.-Biography:...
and Louis C. Tiffany
Louis Comfort Tiffany
Louis Comfort Tiffany was an American artist and designer who worked in the decorative arts and is best known for his work in stained glass. He is the American artist most associated with the Art Nouveau and Aesthetic movements...
..
History
The J&R Lamb Studios was established in 1857 by brothers Joseph (1833-1898) and Richard Lamb (1836-1909) in Greenwich VillageGreenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. They had previously left Lewisham
Lewisham
Lewisham is a district in South London, England, located in the London Borough of Lewisham. It is situated south-east of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.-History:...
, England to come to the United States with their family since their father, a landscape architect, was engaged to work on Niblo's Garden
Niblo's Garden
Niblo's Garden was a New York theatre on Broadway, near Prince Street. It was established in 1823 as "Columbia Garden" which in 1828 gained the name of the Sans Souci and was later the property of the coffeehouse proprietor and caterer William Niblo. The large theatre that evolved in several...
, an exhibition hall and open-air theater.
Originally, the company also did mosaic, murals, and other work for churches, temples, residences, government and academic institutions.
The firm was chosen by the United States government as one of four studios to represent American achievements in stained glass at
the Paris International Exposition of 1900
Exposition Universelle (1900)
The Exposition Universelle of 1900 was a world's fair held in Paris, France, from April 15 to November 12, 1900, to celebrate the achievements of the past century and to accelerate development into the next...
. They won two prizes for their window entitled Religion Enthroned designed by Frederick Stymetz Lamb, one of Joseph's sons. Frederick's brother, Charles Rollinson Lamb (1860-1942), a renowned City Beautiful
City Beautiful movement
The City Beautiful Movement was a reform philosophy concerning North American architecture and urban planning that flourished during the 1890s and 1900s with the intent of using beautification and monumental grandeur in cities. The movement, which was originally associated mainly with Chicago,...
theorist and architect, shaped the studio's aesthetic and intellectual character and business. Frederick became its head of design and supervised the firm's team of skilled craftsman.
Ella Condie Lamb, the wife of Charles Rollinson Lamb, was a well known artist and stained glass designer, also winning a medal in the World's Columbian Exposition
World's Columbian Exposition
The World's Columbian Exposition was a World's Fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. Chicago bested New York City; Washington, D.C.; and St...
in Chicago in 1893 for her oil work, "The Advent Angel".
Studio owner and family member, Karl Barre Lamb (1890-1969), was president of the Stained Glass Association of America 1954-1955 and an elected fellow. Lamb descendants ran the studios until his death. Under Karl B. Lamb's leadership, the studios relocated to Tenafly, New Jersey
Tenafly, New Jersey
Tenafly is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 census, the borough population was 14,488. Tenafly is an affluent suburb of New York City....
after The Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
.
In 1970, Lamb Studios artist Donald Samick bought the firm.
With the death of the stained glass artist Katharine Lamb Tait (1895-1981), the daughter of Charles Rollinson Lamb, the Lamb family was no longer involved with the studio.
The Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
is the repository for the Lamb Studios Archive..
Studio location history
Cf. Lamb Studios Archive: Background, Library of Congress- New York City (1857-1934)
- Tenafly, New JerseyTenafly, New JerseyTenafly is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 census, the borough population was 14,488. Tenafly is an affluent suburb of New York City....
(1934-1970) - Northvale, New JerseyNorthvale, New JerseyNorthvale is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 4,640.Northvale was formed on March 15, 1916, from the remaining portions of Harrington Township, based on the results of a referendum held on April 4, 1916. With the...
(1970-1979) - Philmont, New YorkPhilmont, New YorkPhilmont is a village in Columbia County, New York, USA. The population was 1,379 at the 2010 census.The Village of Philmont is located in the northeast corner of the Town of Claverack on Route 217.-History:...
(1980-1997) - Ridgewood, New JerseyRidgewood, New JerseyRidgewood is a village in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the village population was 24,958. Ridgewood is an affluent suburban bedroom community of New York City, located approximately northwest of Midtown Manhattan.The Village of Ridgewood was...
(1998-2001) - Clifton, New JerseyClifton, New JerseyClifton is a city in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 84,136. The 2010 population represented an increase of 5,464 residents from its population of 78,672 in the 2000 Census, making it the state's 11th largest...
(2002-2007) - Wyckoff, New JerseyWyckoff, New JerseyWyckoff is a township in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 16,696. As of the 2000 Census, Wyckoff ranked 54th in 100 highest-income places in the United States...
(2008-)
Selected works
- Main Protestant Chapel at Camp Lejuene (stained glass) 10 stained glass windows designed by artist Katharine Lamb Tait and installed in 1948
- Church of the Ascension (New York)Church of the Ascension (New York)The Church of the Ascension is an Episcopal church in the Diocese of New York, located at 36-38 Fifth Avenue and Tenth Street in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan New York City. From an austere beginning as a bastion of the evangelical movement it has become internationally known for...
(choir stalls) - Church of the Saviour (Syracuse)Church of the Saviour (Syracuse)The Church of the Saviour is a chapel in the Episcopal Diocese of Central New York. It is an Anglo-Catholic Episcopal parish noteworthy for its historically significant architecture, which took shape in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries after several disasters.The Church of the...
(altar) - Roswell P. Flower Memorial LibraryRoswell P. Flower Memorial LibraryRoswell P. Flower Memorial Library is a historic library building located at Watertown in Jefferson County, New York. It was built in 1903 and is a two story, brick, ractangular building faced in marble with a centrally placed octagonal dome. The dome creates a three story octagonal rotunda, which...
, Watertown, New York. Charles Rollinson Lamb, artist-architect; interior decoration by J&R Lamb Studios. - Hugo B. Froehlich Memorial Art Education Window, donated in 1927 by the Manual Training Teachers of Newark to the Newark MuseumNewark MuseumThe Newark Museum is the largest museum in New Jersey, USA. It holds fine collections of American art, decorative arts, contemporary art, and arts of Asia, Africa, the Americas, and the ancient world...
. Designed by Katherine Lamb Tait. - Plymouth Congregational Church (later Plymouth Church of the PilgrimsPlymouth Church of the PilgrimsPlymouth Church of the Pilgrims is a church in Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn, New York City. It was a station of the Underground Railroad, and the pulpit of Henry Ward Beecher, its first pastor...
), Brooklyn Heights, BrooklynBrooklyn Heights, BrooklynBrooklyn Heights is a culturally diverse neighborhood within the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Originally referred to as 'Brooklyn Village', it has been a prominent area of Brooklyn since 1834. As of 2000, Brooklyn Heights sustained a population of 22,594 people. The neighborhood is part of...
, New York. - Sage ChapelSage ChapelSage Chapel is the non-denominational chapel on the campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York State and serves as the final resting place of the university's founders, Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, and their wives...
at Cornell UniversityCornell UniversityCornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
(mosaic) - St. Paul Episcopal Cathedral, Buffalo, New YorkBuffalo, New YorkBuffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
- Installed in 1961-1962 stained glass windows with depictions of the Saints designed by Katharine Lamb Tait of J&R Lamb Studios, Tenafly, NJ. - Stanford Memorial ChurchStanford Memorial ChurchStanford Memorial Church is located at the center of the Stanford University campus in Stanford, California, United States. It was built during the American Renaissance by Jane Stanford as a memorial to her husband Leland. Designed by architect Charles A...
, Stanford UniversityStanford UniversityThe Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
. Stained glass designed by Frederick Stymetz Lamb. - Tuskegee University Chapel, Tuskegee UniversityTuskegee UniversityTuskegee University is a private, historically black university located in Tuskegee, Alabama, United States. It is a member school of the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund...
, Tuskegee, AlabamaTuskegee, AlabamaTuskegee is a city in Macon County, Alabama, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 11,846 and is designated a Micropolitan Statistical Area. Tuskegee has been an important site in various stages of African American history....
. The chapel windows, known as the "Singing Windows," designed by J&R Lamb of New York and installed in the 1932 chapel renovation, portrayed eleven beloved Negro spirituals.
Further reading
- Burstyn, Joan N., Past and promise: lives of New Jersey women, Syracuse University Press, 1997. Cf. p.163, biographical entry for the artist Ella Condie Lamb (1862-1936), the wife of Charles Rollinson Lamb.
- Gold, Jeffrey, "Stained glass restoration keeps 150-year-old studio humming", Associated Press, March 25, 2007
- Kaufman, Joanne, "Miracles of Resurrection", The Wall Street Journal, 29 May 2007
- Lamb, Frederick Stymetz, "The Architectural Discussion: A reply by Frederick Stymetz Lamb", The Craftsman, Volume 8, April-September 1905. Cf. pp.804-808.
- Rose, Elizabeth Terry, "A Window on American Art: Symposium Focuses on J&R Lamb Studios", Library of Congress, Information Bulletin, January-February 2008
- Seeley, Barea Lamb; Raguin, Virginia, "150th Anniversary of the J&R Lamb Studios: Afternoon Session", Library of Congress, November 28, 2007
- Bergen County Panorama, Writers' Program, New Jersey, Work Projects AdministrationWorks Progress AdministrationThe Works Progress Administration was the largest and most ambitious New Deal agency, employing millions of unskilled workers to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads, and operated large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects...
, Hackensack, N.J. : Bergen County Board of Chosen Freeholders, 1941. Cf. pp.238-239, 272, &c. on the J&R Lamb Studios and family members.