Shrine of the Miraculous Medal - Outdoor Lantern Restoration & Replication
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The restoration team at Grand Light was given the task of fully restoring and replicating a large outdoor lantern and post from the Shrine of the Miraculous Medal in Philadelphia, PA.

The building, also known as the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception or Mary's Central Shrine, was built in Philadelphia's historic section of Germantown in 1875. Since 1927, the chapel's west transept has housed Mary's Central Shrine, a special place of worship to honor Mary Immaculate and the Miraculous Medal.

The lantern was located on a large column located in the front of the chapel. Upon arriving at Grand Light's restoration facilities, the fixture was fully inspected, photographed, and cataloged. Certain components of the fixture had greatly deteriorated from decades of exposure to the weather.

The fixture was sandblasted to remove any undesirable residual contaminants on the surface, and to smooth the surface profile. New copper tabs were added to hold replacement glass panels. The fixture was then rewired to hold 42 watt CFL bulb, and given a powder coat matte black textured finish. Once completed, the fixture was replicated so that a matching lantern can be installed opposite the original.

The frame of the lantern was removed from the pole, and all individual components were disassembled so that they could be individually inspected for damage and repaired as needed. Once disassembled, the frame, pole, and individual components of the fixture were glass-bead blasted to smooth the surface profile and to remove all undesirable residual contaminants; preparing the surfaces for the powdercoat.

Numerous holes that were drilled to hold plastic panels during a previous repair were filled in, and copper tabs were soldered to the lantern's frame for the purpose of holding new glass panels.

With the restoration of the original fixture completed, an exact replication of the lantern and pole was fabricated.

Once the restoration of the original lantern was complete, each component was then individually replicated and reassembled to form an identical match of the original. As a final step, the original and the replication were given a matte-black textured finish and then wired in accordance with UL standards.