Frederick “Fred” Stymetz Lamb (1863 - 1928) was an internationally renowned mural artist and stained-glass designer. He was director of design for his family’s company J. and R. Lamb Studios of New York City. He created designs and supervised the craftsmen who produced stained glass, murals, and mosaics for churches, schools, and public buildings.
Fred Lamb was a son of the company’s founder, Joseph Lamb, who started the company in 1857 in Greenwich Village. Fred Lamb’s uncle, Richard Lamb, cofounded the company.
J. and R. Lamb Studios became the oldest continuously run decorative-arts firm in the United States.

Fred Lamb was one of the most prolific stained-glass designers in America. He had “to his credit more completely filled churches than any other artist in glass” as described by Fred’s brother Charles in 1929. His windows “are to be found in practically every state of the Union,” Charles explained. (The Brooklyn Museum Quarterly, Oct. 1929)
Fred Lamb created the chancel window for First Reformed Church. His stained-glass technique was much influenced by the work of stained-glass designer John La Farge, who was a family friend. La Farge invented opalescent glass and pioneered the glass techniques that Fred Lamb used throughout his career. Louis Comfort Tiffany also used opalescent glass in his windows and advanced the craft to new heights of achievement.

Fred Lamb received many awards for his stained-glass windows at international expos and world fairs. He won gold medals at the Paris Exposition in 1900, at the Pan-American Exposition in 1901, and at the Nashville Centennial Exposition in 1897. His company, J. and R. Lamb Studios, set international standards of excellence in ecclesiastical art.

One of Fred Lamb’s greatest achievements in stained glass is First Presbyterian Church of Orange, Texas, shown above. He filled the church’s dome with 16 opalescent angels and their feathered wings. The dome is protected by an outside layer of copper. He also created 33 additional windows for the church.
The project began when the church’s benefactor, Frances Ann Lutcher, purchased three of Fred Lamb’s stained-glass windows at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. The windows had received gold medals at that expo. Mrs. Lutcher built her church around those three windows. The Lutcher family donated the church and a hospital to the city of Orange.

When the Flower Memorial Library was dedicated in 1904 it was described as the most beautiful small library in the U. S. It was built by Mrs. Emma Flower Taylor in memory of her father, former New York Governor Roswell P. Flower.
Fred Lamb created the mural in the central dome. He also designed the dome’s stained-glass skylight. The mural features four figures representing History, Romance, Religion, and Science. Intermediate figures personify Fable, Drama, Lyric, and Epic Poetry.

  The Morse Museum of American Art in Winter Park, Florida, is well known for having the most comprehensive collection of the work of Louis Comfort Tiffany, including many examples of Tiffany’s stained glass. The museum also owns stained glass by Fred Lamb, including the window above.
Fred Lamb designed this window in 1895. He exhibited it at three major expos: the 1895 Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta, the 1898 Tennessee Centennial Exposition in Nashville, and the 1902 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative Art in Turin, Italy.
The window is titled “The Arts.” It depicts three art forms: textile art, literature, and painting.

Fred Lamb eventually retired to Berkeley, California, ca. 1922. He lived with his son Harold and family. Fred hiked the Berkeley Hills to capture the coastal landscapes on canvas. After Fred Lamb’s death in 1926, his son Adrian donated his father’s stained-glass portrait of William Penn to the Brooklyn Museum of Art, in the city where Fred Lamb had first learned his craft.

 Return to this website’s index page about First Reformed UCC Church: Index page / Home