A young and stylish Sylvain Le Deit.

The Le Deit Glass Company

The Wolfe & Wolfe buildings would not be as striking without the beautiful art glass that adds so much to their character. The stained glass clerestory windows with their Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired geometric designs, the stained glass insets in the dining room and living room built-in cabinets, and the leaded glass panes were designed and created by the Le Deit Glass Company of San Jose. Sylvain Le Deit founded the company as a one-man business in 1909, shortly before Wolfe & Wolfe began designing the Prairies. It grew to be a full-service glass company and expanded into millwork, employing over 60 people in its large plant on Lenzen Ave. The Le Deit Glass Company stayed in business until 1968.

Ad for the Le Deit company.

Marcella Le Deit, Sylvain, and sons James and Sylvain Jr.

Sylvain Le Deit lived in a Wolfe & Wolfe Prairie that was heavily decorated with beautiful art glass of his own taste, more Art Nouveau than the geometric Wright-inspired windows of the other Prairies. The home was small compared to the other Wolfe & Wolfe Prairies of its time but had much more art glass and many decorative elements.

Close-up of the art glass windows in the living room, seen in the black-and-white picture at left.

The entire living room ceiling was stained glass panels separated by heavy oak beams.

The doors into the dining room are like shimmering gold.