Have you seen this window?

Reposted from Once Upon a Time in Needham.

The missing Greene window, seen in its last known location in 1951 (when the current Fellowship Hall was used as the church's main sanctuary). (Photo from the church archives) — The missing Greene Memorial Window, seen in its last known location in 1951 (when the current Fellowship Hall was used as the church’s main sanctuary). (Photo from the church archives)

On June 5, 1904, the Congregational Church of Needham unveiled the Greene Memorial Window during the regular Sunday morning service. The window was given to the church by Miss Marietta R. Greene in memory of her parents, Mr. William Brooks Greene (our second pastor) and his wife Ellen M. (Bullen) Greene.

The June 5, 1904 Weekly Calendar tells us that the image in the window was a copy of a painting by August Naack. Born at Bessungen near Darmstadt on September 27, 1822, Naack studied landscape painting at the Dusseldorf and Antwerp Academies. The Weekly Calendar somewhat wryly notes that Naack’s works were not known for their originality, but rather for their faithful reproduction of scene and rich coloring.

The Greene Memorial window was originally installed on the Great Plain Avenue side of the 1889 church. It was one of the few objects to survive the fire of 1924, and as this 1951 photo above shows, when the church was rebuilt, the window was preserved and installed above the organ in the main sanctuary.

Unfortunately, when the current Sanctuary was built in 1994 and the old Sanctuary converted into Fellowship Hall, the Greene Memorial Window was removed and never replaced.

The archives so far are silent on its fate.

If you have any information on its whereabouts, please contact Danielle Jurdan at office(at)needhamucc.org.