Glass stealing

Amid the crumbling centuries-old stone fa�ade and yellow-painted original oak doors, there still is a beauty to the 19th Street Baptist Church.

Famed architect Frank Furness, who designed the Academy of Fine Arts, designed the church at 1253 S. 19th St. in 1875, as well. The Point Breeze house of worship was placed on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places in 1984.

As times changed, it became necessary to take precautions to preserve the original architecture and character. One of those precautions was securing stained-glass windows in the sanctuary and the auditorium next door with sheets of Plexiglas on the exterior.

But even that did not deter a recent rash of thefts.

AUG. 17, 18 AND 22, more than 29 stained-glass windows worth about $30,000 were stolen from the church, which is on the corner of 19th and Titan streets, said Sgt. Jim Schrack of South Detective Division.

At about 3 a.m. Monday, 17th District officers

Francis McGrenra and Mathew Czarnecki arrested a man inside the church, said Inspector Bill Colarulo of the Police Public Affairs Unit. Officers recovered nine windows at the time of the arrest – seven in a nearby car and two the man was allegedly hauling out of the church in a shopping cart, said Sgt. Tim Cooney of South Detectives.

Louis Neal, 55, from North Philly, was charged with four counts of burglary, criminal trespass, theft and related offenses. According to a source close to the case, Neil allegedly confessed to breaking in the church and taking the windows.

Monday at about 3:30 p.m., Detectives Thorsten Lucke, Stephen Caputo, Frank Wallace and Bill Urban from South Detectives’ Special Investigations Unit executed a search and seizure warrant at a salvage shop on the 2000 block of West Jefferson Street near Girard College, where nine more windows were recovered. Investigators expect to recover the remaining 11 by week’s end, said Cooney.

The church, which is undergoing exterior and interior reconstruction and renovations, did not have insurance, said Schrack.

Twenty windows were taken from an upstairs auditorium in Satchell Hall, located next to the main church, also referred to as the sanctuary. Nine windows were swiped from the sanctuary on the side facing a gated alleyway. The windows – some square, some arched – did not depict religious imagery.

The heist was made from the inside, not outside, as the Plexiglas was intact, said the church’s Rev. Charles Walker.

With no sign of forced entry, investigators are not sure how Neil gained access to the building, but think he may have hidden in the church after a service, said Cooney. The building’s security system was disarmed by puncturing the console, Walker said.

"It was shocking – somebody breaking into a church. When you start stealing from the Lord’s house, you’re in bad shape," said neighbor Geraldine Smith.

Smith, who lives across the street from the church, remembers when a steeple crowned the edifice. When a hurricane blew through town in the 1960s, it took the steeple with it. Her late mother, Lavonne DeShields, was a longtime member of the congregation.

Walker, who lives in Glenside, said his congregation is angry, frustrated and hurt over the pillaging of their place of worship.

The windows date back to 1875 and were manufactured by Booth Art Glass, a well-known stained-glass designer and maker in Orange, N.J.

Stained-glass expert Crosby Willet of Willet Hauser Architectural Glass in Chestnut Hill paid a visit to 19th Street Baptist Church shortly after the burglaries. A television station covering the theft, not church officials, called Willet to provide an expert opinion, he said. Willet, who also is an appraiser, specializes in manufacturing stained-glass windows for churches.

"They are known as stenciled windows and are typical of the type of windows made after the Civil War and through the early 1900s," he said.

Willet said the windows, by industry standards, are not expensive considering some pieces cost $10,000 each. What probably made these windows attractive to a thief is the demand for stained glass devoid of religious imagery.

"There seems to be an endless market for ornamental stained glass. People put it in their homes," Willet said.

The church plans to reproduce the windows, but they won’t be like the originals in terms of character and history. Willet said the replacement cost per window would be about $2,250, but a thief can expect to get 10 to 20 percent above that price, especially if a buyer knows they are "hot."

During the theft, the windows’ wooden frames were taken out resulting in an easy removal, he said.

"Somebody who knew what they were doing could have had those windows out in two to three minutes," Willet said.

The Citizens Crime Commission of Delaware Valley was offering a $2,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the individuals responsible. The money was put up by the commission and other South Philly community organizations, said commission President John Appeldorn.

"The public response has been very outstanding," said Walker, adding various neighborhood churches and individuals have given donations to 19th Street Baptist Church to help replace the windows.