Claim your place in history…
An early photograph showing the original but now destroyed conservatory with octagonal many-windowed design.
…and help fund the rehabilitation of the Haller House with our Purchase-a-Pane program!
Not long after Granville & Henrietta Haller built the 2-story 1866 Haller House addition onto the 1-story 1859 Brunn House, they added a large 5-sided conservatory bay window to the west side of the original cabin. Although it was removed in the 1940s, Historic Whidbey is restoring this original feature, revealing how the house looked in the 1800s as Coupeville grew up around it. The Conservatory will be a focal point of the future Haller Mercantile and Victorian Soda Fountain.
This bay window project calls for the fabrication of a new window sash, including 94 panes available for purchase and engraving.
For a one-time tax-deductible purchase of $250, your names (or the names of those you wish to honor) will be inscribed on an individual 11” x 7” glass pane, preserving your memory forever in the history of the house. (Replacement in case of damage is included.)
Please limit your text to names, with a maximum of 40 characters, including spaces. Some variation of “in memory of” is acceptable, but please do include that in the character count. The names will be inscribed near the bottom of each pane.
Please complete the form below and click ‘next,’ which will take you to a page to collect your payment.
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Is my purchase tax deductible?
Yes, Historic Whidbey is a 501c3 charity. You will receive an acknowledge letter giving a receipt of your donation.
What is the deadline for ordering a personalized pane?
Orders will be taken until the 94 panes are sold out, or until July 1, 2022, whichever comes first. Once all 70 panes are purchased, we will refuse any further inscription requests.
Can I choose where my pane will be?
No. Panes will be placed randomly. We will try to put the first purchasers near the center of the window, but there are no guarantees.
When can I see my pane?
We will set up a viewing party when the conservatory is installed, and the house is safe to walk through. Date of the party is to be determined.
What can I write on my pane?
We ask that you write a name only on the pane. You can choose your name, in honor of someone, or the name of business. Maximum 40 alphanumeric characters per pane (including spaces), no symbols or emojis. Some variation of “in memory of” is acceptable, but please do include that in the character count. Historic Whidbey has the right to reject any inscription for any reason, noting we will not accept anything that is deemed inappropriate or offensive.
The age-old tradition of inscribing graffiti in windowpanes with diamond rings goes back at least to Queen Elizabeth I in England. Imprisoned by her half sister Mary I while still a mere princess in 1554, she wrote acerbic verses on a window in the Tower of London. The practice was common in England and America up until the 20th century.
Novelist Daniel Defoe had his heroine screen a suitor through a diamond-dialogue on a windowpane in Moll Flanders, published in 1722.
Poet Robert Burns was famous for vandalizing the windows of inns and houses across Scotland with his verses in the 1780s, and he even had a special diamond tipped pen for doing it.
In this country, the most famous example is that of Nathaniel Hawthorne and his wife Sophia, who engraved romantic musings on the home they rented in Concord, Massachusetts - the Old Manse - during their 3-year honeymoon there in the 1840s.
The custom even reached Whidbey Island, where an echo of it survives in the 1866 Haller House. Long-time residents of the house, the Willhight family, found the signatures of all the Haller family inscribed in windowpanes upstairs when they moved in in 1952. They were inspired to leave their own marks in the bay windows of the east parlor in the 1960s - inscriptions that still survive (though sadly, the Hallers’ 1870s signatures did not).
We at Historic Whidbey are inspired by the tradition, too! Our reconstruction of the Hallers’ large conservatory bay window gives us an extraordinary opportunity to invite our supporters to inscribe their names for posterity as well.
We have 94 individual windowpanes available for inscribing the names of you or someone you love! (We are reserving 2 panes to reproduce the Hallers’ originals.)
All panes have now been sold!
Keep an eye out for fundraising campaigns you can participate in the future!