'A history in stained glass'

One of Rochester's coolest buildings is also one of the least accessible to regular Rochesterites.

Built in 1918 as the home of William (“Dr. Will”) and Hattie Mayo, the Mayo Foundation House—tucked away mostly out of view on 710 Fourth St. Southwest— includes 47 rooms in the three-story, 24,000-square foot stone structure.

Designed by architectural heavy hitters Ellerbe & Associates, the building was crafted to showcase a unique combination of Renaissance Revival and English Tudor styles, according to the National Register of Historic Places description. The materials, however, were native to the Midwest: exterior walls are Kasota stone, quarried near Mankato and St. Peter; the roof was green slate from Lake Superior.

The five-story tower rising above the main entrance was built at Dr. Mayo's request and was “reminiscent of the tower in his parents’ home where his mother followed her hobby of astronomy.”

The walls of the reception hall were “constructed of white carrara marble and walnut veneer paneling. The most dominant feature in the reception hall was a “very ornate player organ, built into the wall.”

In 1938, though, Dr. Will and Hattie Mayo “donated the home to Mayo Clinic as a meeting place ‘for the good of mankind,’” according to the Mayo Clinic. “Known since then as Mayo Foundation House, the home is reserved for Mayo Clinic meetings and events, and not open to the public. The Board of Trustees meets at Mayo Foundation House, and many dignitaries have been guests there.”

Soon after the donation of the Mayo family home in Rochester to the Mayo Foundation in 1938, changes were planned to make the building more conducive to its new purpose, which included, according to the Mayo Clinic Meeting Minutes, “honoring distinguished guests” and “holding meetings of the music, drama, and reading divisions ... of staff members and fellows.”

The third floor ballroom was paneled in dark New England oak and decorated with hand carved emblems of medical schools. Air conditioning was added.

And a committee that included Dr. Philip Showalter Hench (a Nobel Prize winner in 1950); Dr. C.F. Code; and Dr. Henry Frederic Helmholz, Jr., submitted recommendations for a stained glass window, dedicated to the history of medicine, to be created and installed in the Foundation House's Balfour Hall.

The team sketched out the design for the window, and submitted it to Thomas Ellerbe of Ellerbe & Associates.

Ellerbe reached out to Dr. Robert and Gertrude Metcalf, a renowned stained glass artist team. When they were asked to create the art, in early 1939 or so, the couple were traveling through Europe.

They were not, though, on some vacation.

The Metcalfs, recognizing that a war was approaching in Europe, had traveled overseas. Robert, an accomplished photographer, wanted to capture images of as many of the great stained glass art pieces he could. He would take more than 10,000 photos of stained glass pieces around the continent. Gertrude kept detailed drawings and notations for each section of every stained glass window photographed.

When they returned from Europe in 1939, the Metcalfs began sorting and cataloging their slides, according to the biography written by their son, Robert Rahm Metcalf. At the same time, they started working on the History of Medicine Stained Glass Window for the Mayo Clinic.

The piece was completed and installed in March of 1943.

“The third floor now consists of one great hall known as Balfour Hall,” according to the National Register. “The ceiling is 30 feet high and over 90 feet in length. At one end of this great hall is a grand fireplace and at the other is a stained glass window.”

Story by Dr. Michael Camilleri and Cynthia Stanislav (excerpted with permission from Minnesota Medicine)

Doctors and investigators at Mayo Clinic have traditionally embraced the study of the history of medicine, a history that is chronicled in the stained glass window at Mayo Foundation House.

That window is vertically organized to represent three “shields” from left to right—education, practice and research—over four epochs, starting from the bottom with the earliest (pre-1500) and ending with the most recent (post-1900) periods.

These eras represent ancient and medieval medicine, the movement from theories to experimentation, organized advancement in science and, finally, the era of preventive medicine.

The luminaries, their contributions to science and medicine and the famous quotes or aphorisms included in the panels of the stained glass window are summarized.

Among the famous personalities shown are Hippocrates of Kos, Andreas Vesalius, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, Edward Jenner, Florence Nightingale, Louis Pasteur, and Joseph Lister.

This stained glass window at Mayo Foundation House serves to remind students, practitioners, and investigators of the contributions upon which advances in medicine are based, through the 12 panels.

Panel 1
In a lecture room in a Medieval medical school, a professor (with assistant to the left) reads ancient medical writings preserved during the Middle Ages, and the students listen.

Ancient medical text is represented in two small blocks (Hippocrates of Kos and Galen) and, consistent with medical practice of the Middle Ages, a priest is shown exorcizing a leper.

The borders show images of Hygeia, Asklepios, Celsus, and Saints Cosmas and Damian.

The inscription—“Earth, Air, Fire, Water”— represents the four elements of the cosmogonic theory of Empedocles, the Greek (Sicilian) philosopher. These elements converge with the Hippocratic treatise, “On the Nature of Man,” describing the medical theory of the four humors believed to exist within the body and to determine the behavior of all created things: black bile with earth, phlegm with water, blood with air and yellow bile with fire.

Panel 2
The arrival of the Renaissance period (14-17th century in Europe) is marked by the groundbreaking medical publication “De humani corporis fabrica libri septem” by Andreas Vesalius, which introduced the renaissance of medical and scientific thought. The dominant theme of Panel 2 shows Vesalius conducting dissections.

Three smaller blocks represent Paracelsus, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek and Giovanni Battista Morgagni, reflecting the establishment of disease observations with histology and pathology, and explanation of the etiology of diseases and selecting treatments.

The emphasis on observation and examination is reflected in a quote from Leonardo da Vinci, “All our knowledge originates in our sensibilities.”

Panel 3
The team of professor, trainees, and nurse administering to the needs of a patient emphasizes the importance of bedside teaching in the education of the modern physician.

Pride of place is given to Sir William Osler, who was well acquainted with the Mayo Clinic and the author of the inscription for the window, “Each case has its lesson; a lesson which may be, but is not always learned.”

In the small blocks, Osler, René Laennec and Thomas Sydenham are shown; in the border, William Henry Welch and the Ether Dome of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston are shown, commemorating the first successful use of ether anesthesia.

Panel 4
The main theme, the conferring of degrees, is represented by graduate medical education. Small blocks represent Hotel Dieu, Paris; Berlin General Hospital; Army Medical Library, Washington DC; Tom Tower at the University of Oxford, England; and the Northrop Memorial Auditorium of the University of Minnesota.

The border pictures show shields of the University of Michigan and Northwestern University (where doctors Will and Charlie Mayo obtained their medical degrees), the United States Public Health Service, and the University of Minnesota.

The inscription, “Take of my experience, but give me of your dreams,” is an abbreviation of the testimonial by W.J. Mayo: “Each day as I go through the hospitals surrounded by younger men, they give me of their dreams and I give them of my experience, and I get the better of the exchange.”

Panel 5
In the office of a medieval physician, a boy presents a bottle of urine to the examiner, who, it was believed, could identify the patient’s disease by the urine’s color, as reflected in Geoffrey Chaucer’s description of the physician in The Canterbury Tales: “He knew the cause of everich maladye, were it of hoot, or cold or moyste, or drye.”

The small panels show the king curing scrofula (the king’s evil), the plague doctor in costume and a scene of blood-letting, which was supposed to restore balance to the humors.

Panel 6
Edward Jenner performs a vaccination for the prevention of smallpox. The inscription, “Why submit hypotheses, try it and know,” is attributed to John Hunter and his advice to Jenner.

The small panels show Ambroise Paré, Benjamin Rush, and Ephraim McDowell, and the borders show medicinal plants including Digitalis purpurea (foxglove), ferns, poppy and, interestingly, Cannabis sativa. There is also a small inset of William Withering, who introduced the successful use of digitalis.

Panel 7
Surgery is complemented by the introduction of anesthesia and antisepsis to reduce pain and mortality. Joseph B. Lister is shown preparing the operating room prior to an operation, about to wash his hands in chemical solutions. Lister appreciated Louis Pasteur’s important work of antisepsis to prevent infections in wounds and in the operating room. One assistant holds two bottles of chemicals and the other is spraying the operating room with carbolic acid.

The quotation for this panel is attributed to Edward L. Trudeau: “To cure sometimes, to relieve often, to comfort always.”

The smaller panels show Samuel D. Gross, Theodor Billroth, and Oliver Wendell Holmes, further emphasizing antisepsis in obstetrics and surgery.

Panel 8
The modern era of preventive medicine. Smaller panels show Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing; the family physician, the backbone of modern medical practice; Willem Einthoven for electrocardiography; and Paul Ehrlich for chemotherapy.

The overall motto is reflected in an aphorism of W.J. Mayo: “They loved the truth and sought to know it.”

Panel 9
A medieval alchemist is shown in his laboratory. Chemistry was originally the art of extracting medicinal juices from plants; alchemy was the preeminent chemical science of the Middle Ages, with lofty goals including the transformation of base metals into gold, discovery of the universal cure for disease and the search for a means to prolong life indefinitely.

The quotation is from Leonardo da Vinci: “It is by testing that we discern fine gold.”

Medieval practice includes smaller blocks showing an astrologer (prognostication), black magic, and the bezoar stone believed to prevent melancholia and all kinds of poisoning.

Panel 10
Medical history of the 17th century was dominated by William Harvey, who proved the continuous circulation of the blood. This is the main subject of this panel, with Harvey demonstrating the circulatory system to King Charles I.

The quotation is from the great physiologist, Claude Bernard: “Put off your imagination when you enter the laboratory, but put it on again when you leave.”

The small blocks around the panel are likenesses of Francis Bacon, John Hunter, Luigi Galvani, and Alessandro Volta.

Panel 11
Louis Pasteur is in his laboratory, surrounded by animals and assistants. This panel is placed at the same horizontal level as the Lister panel (Panel 7).

The quotation is from Pasteur: “In the field of observation, chance favors only the mind which is prepared.”

Small blocks show Claude Bernard, Robert Koch, and William Beaumont.

Panel 12
The modern laboratory is depicted, with emphasis on the role of physics (including roentgen rays and electron microscopy), chemistry, and related sciences in preventive medicine. Books are pictured to show the recording of prior knowledge and discoveries for use by the scientist.