Exhibit of Tiffany-style lamps to be held at historic home of bottler

Albert Louis Van Valey was in his late 20s when he moved to Everett in 1896. He ran a bottling business and prospered. His big American Craftsman home on the edge of downtown became an Everett landmark.

Owned today by the city of Everett, the Van Valey House at 2130 Colby Ave. turns 100 this year. It cost $5,000 in 1914 when it was custom-built for the Van Valey family. The two-story showplace has hardwood ceilings with ornate panels, and beveled and stained glass windows.

For the Everett businessman, who was born in Ohio in 1868, glass wasn’t art but the stuff of commerce. Glass was used for bottles that helped Van Valey make his fortune. At his Riverside-area plant, Van Valey bottled mineral water and carbonated beverages, according to William Farrand Prosser’s 1903 book “A History of Puget Sound Country, Its Resources, Its Commerce and Its People.”

In 1898, far from Everett, artist Louis Comfort Tiffany — son of the Tiffany jewelry firm’s founder — was perfecting techniques with opalescent glass. From his New York-based Tiffany Studios, he made unique lampshades from pieces of colored glass.

The bygone worlds of Tiffany and Van Valey will come together at an exhibit of new lamps made by artists at Covenant Art Glass. The Everett business offers classes in stained glass and in making reproduction lampshades in the Tiffany style.

Lamps will be on public display at the Van Valey House starting with a show preview at 7 p.m. Saturday. The art show is juried, and from 7 to 9 p.m. Sunday the public is welcome at an awards ceremony and reception. The house will also be open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday for public viewing.

Tami Bogdanoff teaches Tiffany lamp-making with Nancy Alexander at Covenant Art Glass. Bogdanoff said the show will include 58 lamps, many made in previous years at the Everett business. For Covenant Art Glass, founded by Stan and Colleen Price more than 30 years ago, this is the 10th anniversary of Tiffany lamp-making. The Van Valey House centennial provided a fitting venue for this year’s display.

This year’s class of about 15 students includes first-timers and students who have made lamps before. It’s an expensive and time-consuming craft. Students can spend $600 to $1,000 on glass used to make the shades. Lamp bases — Tiffany used bronze for his originals — are also costly.

“It’s a timeless art,” Bogdanoff said. She explained a process that involves cutting and grinding glass pieces, and fusing them with copper foil. Covenant Art Glass uses Odyssey lamp forms, based on Tiffany’s designs.

Fran Fowler, who created a lamp in this year’s class, lives near Darrington. After the mudslide closed Highway 530, her trips to evening classes meant three-hour drives each way.

One night, after working hours on her lamp, she had a car accident on the way home. Fowler, 67, broke her thumb and glass pieces in her lamp. With the help of her instructors, the lamp was fixed and finished in time for the display. It’s the third one Fowler has made.

Reproduction Tiffany lamps will be for sale at the show. Bogdanoff said some are priced at thousands of dollars. Fowler wouldn’t part with the lamps she made. “I’m interested in having the beauty,” she said.

Display visitors will see glasswork treasures, and also the beauty of the house Ed and Betty Morrow donated to the city in 2002. The Everett couple lived more than 20 years in the Van Valey House, which is on the Everett Register of Historic Places. Ed Morrow is a retired school principal who served on the Everett City Council. Betty Morrow taught at Everett Community College.

When they donated the home, its carriage house and a collection of historical artifacts and photos, their gift’s estimated value was more than $350,000.

David Dilgard, a history specialist at the Everett Public Library, said one of the original homeowner’s two daughters, Esther Van Valey, married Len Ayres in 1923. Ayres ran a marionette act, Mantell’s Mannikins, and the couple traveled the country on vaudeville circuits.

Albert Louis Van Valey died in the house Nov. 26, 1941, two weeks before the attack on Pearl Harbor.

From 1957 to 1962, the old house was the Andiron Restaurant. It housed the Snohomish County Chapter of the American Red Cross from 1962 until ‘79.

The city now rents it out as a venue for weddings, receptions and meetings. Outside, there’s a Van Valey House sign.

A visitor with an eye for detail will see another sign of the past — a distinctive V in the red brick chimney.

Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460; jmuhlstein@heraldnet.com.

Tiffany lamp display

Glass lamps created in the style of Louis Comfort Tiffany, made by artists at Covenant Art Glass, will be on public display at Everett’s 100-year-old Van Valey House starting with a show preview 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday. The public is welcome at a reception and awards ceremony 7 to 9 p.m. Sunday. The display is also open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday. The Van Valey House is at 2130 Colby Ave., Everett.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

The rezoned property, seen here from the Hillside Vista luxury development, is surrounded on two sides by modern neighborhoods Monday, March 25, 2024, in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Despite petition, Lake Stevens OKs rezone for new 96-home development

The change faced resistance from some residents, who worried about the effects of more density in the neighborhood.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

T.J. Peters testifies during the murder trial of Alan Dean at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Bothell cold case trial now in jury’s hands

In court this week, the ex-boyfriend of Melissa Lee denied any role in her death. The defendant, Alan Dean, didn’t testify.

A speed camera facing west along 220th Street Southwest on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023 in Edmonds, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Washington law will allow traffic cams on more city, county roads

The move, led by a Snohomish County Democrat, comes as roadway deaths in the state have hit historic highs.

Mrs. Hildenbrand runs through a spelling exercise with her first grade class on the classroom’s Boxlight interactive display board funded by a pervious tech levy on Tuesday, March 19, 2024 in Marysville, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lakewood School District’s new levy pitch: This time, it won’t raise taxes

After two levies failed, the district went back to the drawing board, with one levy that would increase taxes and another that would not.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.