Stained glass windows vandalized at historic Meadow Brook Hall

ROCHESTER HILLS — Meadow Brook Hall, a historic mansion on the campus of Oakland University, was recently vandalized and police are hoping the public can help identify the suspect.

“This is a very distressing situation for all of us at Meadow Brook Hall – from our staff and dedicated volunteers to the many members of our community who have visited, spent holidays here, gotten married here,” Meadow Brook Hall Executive Director Bill Matt said in a provided statement. “Frankly, it is upsetting to anyone who takes pride in having a remarkably beautiful National Historic Landmark in their community.”

Police were alerted after a Meadow Brook Hall employee noticed damage to a set of stained glass windows the morning of Feb. 4. 

Upon checking surveillance footage, university police said the suspect  — a white male wearing a dark jacket, gray mask and knit red hat with a hood over it — was captured on video approaching the hall on foot at around 1:25 a.m. Feb. 4.

“He walks by the welcome center of the hall and walks to the front of the building, walking by several other windows, where he appears to pick out this certain window,” Oakland University Police Chief Mark Gordon said.

The suspect, he said, was captured on video kicking the lower portion of the connected stained glass windows and reportedly using his hand, or a tool in his hand, to smash the upper portion, before running away.

“We’re hoping that somebody might be able to identify the little bit of the facial features that we can see, or the unique logo on the front and back of his jacket. If anybody knows what that logo is to — maybe it's a company, maybe it's an organization, or a club — we’re hoping they can (let us know),” said Gordon.

The connected stained-glass windows, located toward the front of the building, are original to the historic mansion, which is 95 years old.

Located at the top of Meadow Brook’s two-story gothic-inspired ballroom, the stained glass was created specifically for the room by J. Scott Williams and depicts scenes of the arts, including music, literature and entertainment, and drama. The glass was designed to be viewed without distortion from both inside and outside, which the hall’s staff said is “slightly unusual” because stained glass is “typically viewed best from the inside.” 

“I don’t have a dollar amount on what it’s going to cost to fix them,” Gordon added. “Meadow Brook Hall was working on that, because it is such a unique, specialized window. There’s only a handful of companies that can actually do the work to fix it, I’ve been told.”

The fact that someone would damage something of historical significance is upsetting to Brian Bierley, the director of media relations for Oakland University.

“Those are windows that Matilda Dodge Wilson looked out of all those years ago,” he said. “It is not so much the dollar amount of damage, but more that it is hard to replace 90-plus-year-old original windows.”

Luckily, Matt noted that Meadow Brook Hall had already secured a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to restore the stained glass windows this spring, using as much of the original windows as possible. 

In preparation for the work, the windows and casings were recently photographed and sketched. 

At press time, the windows had already been removed and temporarily replaced with plexiglass in preparation for the restoration.

Anyone who can identify the suspect or the logo on the suspect’s jacket, should call the Oakland University Police Department at (248) 370-3331 or send an email to info@oupolice.com. Officials said people have the option to remain anonymous.