Grace Church organ Restoration in the News!

The Medford Transcript and the Boston Globe both covered the restoration of the Grace Church organ.

Links can be found here:

Boston Globe

Medford Transcript 

Grace Episcopal Church Welcomes Home Restored Organ

For nearly a year, there has been no organ music at Medford’s Grace Episcopal Church. Last April, the church’s 1885 Hook and Hastings organ was removed piece-by-piece for a complete restoration by David E. Wallace and Co. in Gorham, Maine. Over the years, there has been an accumulation of dirt and grime in the organ and it began to have systems fail. The console for playing the organ had become outdated, and was too difficult to repair. This month, the organ returned to Medford, and its over 700 pipes, and over 10,000 parts were re-installed over an almost two month period.

“Grace Church is never at a loss when it comes to joyous singing, but the energy of having our historic organ back is powerful and palpable. Upon its first note, people exploded with applause, then proceeded to sing even louder than usual - with absolute pride, love, and joyous conviction. To hear it play once again was beautiful and incredibly moving,” said Lucia Page, Grace Church Warden.

The restoration of the organ was much needed to continue to support the inspirational worship of the parish community. “…after ten years at Grace struggling with its obsolete and ailing console and even older electric and pneumatic parts, now I have the exciting prospect of playing an organ on which all the notes and stops and pistons actually work. This is an organist's dream come true, and Grace Church is to be congratulated for completing this project so successfully," said Ruth Roper, Grace Church Minister of Music.

David Wallace, who restored the organ stated, “For those in our profession, there is no more satisfying moment than when an instrument into which you have poured hundreds of hours of meticulous work comes to life and plays its first notes. Though well-worn and suffering the ravages of time and change, we saw the potential of the Grace Church Hook & Hastings organ and realized that with a well-planned renovation, the organ had a good voice and lots of years of service left in it. It has also been a great joy for us to see the reaction of the Grace Parish members as the organ came back to life in its home space. Our goal for the Grace Church project has been to return the organ to its mission of inspiring worship and encouraging music now and for generations of worshipers to come.”

The organ restoration was funded through the Church’s 2011 Capital Campaign. The organ restoration was the last of the Campaign’s many projects which included restoration of the Grace Church’s historic 1867 building, bell tower and bells, installing a new high efficiency heating system and new handicap accessible bathrooms. “These past five years have been amazing for Grace Church as we focused on our mission to serve our wider community, as we also restored our parish home,” said the Reverend Noah H. Evans, Rector of Grace Church, “the members of the community really pulled together and gave sacrificially to make these projects happen. I am in awe and gratitude of their generosity.”

The conclusion of the Capital Campaign will be celebrated and the organ will be blessed at a special service with the Rt. Rev. Alan M. Gates, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts on Wednesday, April 6th at 7:00PM. All are invited and welcome at the service.

Allison Andrews, Grace Church Historian and Organ Restoration Committee Chair concluded, “What a joy to hear the organ again. It fills the void, musical and physical, and makes the sanctuary feel complete again.”

Grace Episcopal Church in Medford, located at 160 High St., is a dynamic and vibrant spiritual home to a diverse congregation of more than 200 families with different racial, social, ethnic, cultural, family and religious backgrounds. Built in 1867, the Grace Church Sanctuary is on the National Register of Historic Places. Designed by noted architect Henry Hobson Richardson, it is his oldest surviving Church.

Organ Update: More Mysterious Parts & Shiny Clean Pipes

More Mysterious Parts & Shiny Clean Pipes

Electronic parts have arrived from Germany. What they all do is not always clear, but we have faith that they will make the organ send out beautiful music. Here are some:

Chest Magnets are being fit to the pedal chest. They will pull open the pallets. There will be lots of careful wiring to do here.

When a pedal at the console is played it will push down on the Lever (on the right) and make contact with the wires (on the left) which will relay the electrical signal to the magnets (see chest magnets, above), allowing wind to the pipes.

New Slider Motors! Twenty one of these will replace the failed pneumatic and screen door spring devices in previous use.

Pretty Simple !?!

Pipes Get Washed, Pipes Get Un-Squashed

BEFORE

 

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

Dents are gently taken out with a leathered block

 

Meanwhile back at Grace, the Organ Chamber build-out continues.

A visit to the Organ in Maine

A visit to the Organ in Maine

by Allison Andrews, Parish Historian 

On Friday, August 28, fourteen Grace members, including 4 children, went to the David E. Wallace & Company  in Gorham, Maine, to visit our 1885 Hook & Hastings organ in "the hospital."

David and Nick Wallace, father and son, and partners in organ building, welcomed us into the huge old barn that is their workshop.   The big yard and chicken coop were a hit with the kids.

The organ is still in parts.  Work continues on the major parts that work behind the scenes in organ chamber.  These are wooden structures with intricate wooden, metal, and electrical elements. When possible, the original parts are being reused and painted or shellacked, in the original fashion.  New parts are built when the old ones are beyond repair, or in some cases, to replace a clumsy, cobbled-together segment with a new streamlined version.  The pieces that left Medford a dingy gray color will come back painted a lively "Hook red."  New electronic components are en route from Germany. 

In the workshop, we were  introduced to a new wooden wind chest - a deceptively simple box on the outside but full of handcrafted  parts that move with split-second accuracy to sound the proper notes.  The old wind chests were cracked and allowed air to bleed from one pipe into its neighbors, sometimes sounding a few notes that weren't asked for.

The new console (where the organist sits) will be built next.  The workshop has a small, fully functional  Hook & Hastings of our vintage and its console, along with others from the 1885 era, will inform the design of our new console.   The pipes themselves will require little work by comparison because they are in good working order.

It is interesting to note how the available technology affected not only how an organ could be built in 1885, but changes that would be made over time.

As originally built, our organ was a "tracker" or manual organ.  A note pressed on the keyboard activated the mechanism that opened the air valve to fill the pipe and make the sound. 

To create the wind, water pressure was used to force air into the organ's reservoirs.  We found evidence of this in pipes and pulleys under the chamber floor.  This was possible because in 1885 the city had a water system in place, with water pressure sufficient to do the job.   (And before that, young boys were recruited to pump bellows by hand!) 

Electricity had not come into common use quite soon enough when our 1885 organ was built.  When it was  electrified in the 1950s, the relay system from keyboard to pipes went from mechanical to electronic, and the removal of fixed parts meant the console and other components could be repositioned while maintaining the connection electronically.  Today, updating the 1950s electronics is a big part of the current restoration.  For wind generation, we use an electric blower.

Once all of the work at Wallace is complete, the organ will be put together for a dry run at the shop, then disassembled and reassembled at Grace.  We are on schedule for its return by Christmas.

David welcomes visitors at any time. Give them a call if you're in the area and stop by! 

New wind chest - a big box that holds air.

Wind chest with front panel removed.  It is full of intricate parts, which David explains. 

Looking on are: Isaiah Irwin-Evans, Jane and Lucas Hamel, and Charlie DePalma.  

Left:  an electromagnetic solenoid that will slide parts into position.  Right: The H&H-style stop knob that will be used at the new keyboard.

Toe boards, old and new.  David shows an old board that is being cleaned and shellacked, and a new one built to replace one that was beyond repair.  The toe board connects to the top of the wind chest, pipes stand in the holes and receive air from below.

Each hole must fit its pipe exactly.  Nick shows us a cone-shaped "branding" tool for refining the hole size. The inner rims of the holes appear dark because the wood is slightly charred.

Nick and Wes Foote discuss the plans for layout of the organ chamber.

The workshop is an 18th century barn. There are several functioning organs in the shop. This one is a Hook & Hastings about the same age as ours. Its console (where the organist sits) will be one model for the design of our new console.  Note the wooden pieces behind David repainted "Hook red."

Why build a new piece?  In this case, the old one (right) was cobbled together over time into a bulky assemblage. The new one (left) was designed and built for the job.

Valves that open to release air to the pipes - over  100 of them in the process of being built.

Wes ponders the new blower. 

What are organs made of?  Times may change but the best materials remain the same.  Replacement  parts are made of the same wood as the originals. Leather is a reliable connecting material.  Fish glue is made from fish! And as Steve Duggan bravely finds out, it doesn't smell too bad.

The H&H console that ours will be modeled after.

A portable organ, designed and built by Nick Wallace. Packed up, it fits in a mini-van.

More photos can be found on David Wallace's Facebook page

Boards Full of Holes and Lots of Cleaning

By Allison Andrews, Parish Historian 

Work on the windchests and toeboards is wrapping up.  So many boards full of holes!  Some toeboards had been "altered beyond redemption" so replica replacements were built.  Other parts have cleaned up nicely.

Supporting frame pieces are getting cleaned and readied for a fresh coat of shellac to bring them back to their 1875 appearance.

The boxy wooden pedal pipes have been painted "Hook Red." 

Toeboards old, and new               

Windchest          

                                A good cleaning, long overdue

Wooden Pedal Pipes painted "Hook Red"

Console, Drilling, Blower

Console, Drilling, Blower

by Allison Andrews, Parish Historian 

Next up - the new console. Wallace will design and build this for us. The original console is long gone. The one we just removed was from the 1950s.

The console case holds the keyboards (and the array of puzzling knobs) and pedal board. On the inside is a complex set of relays that signal pipes to sound when notes are played.

Pictured here is a concept sketch by Nick Wallace for the new console. The design incorporates details from the casework of other Hook & Hastings instruments of the era to "add a bit of authenticity to the console design," as David Wallace explains.

Sketch for the new console by Nick Wallace, June 2015 (not to scale)

Meanwhile, drilling of holes for the placement of pipes proceeds.

And the new blower has arrived.  This is the apparatus that breathes the air into the organ. This one is smaller, cleaner, and quieter than the 1950s model it replaces. The old blower, now a relic, has been claimed by an engineering-inclined parishioner.

Mural, Kalamzou and Windchests

These posts are authored by Allison Andrews, Parish Historian 

MURAL

Two big changes when the organ was removed: a piano was moved into in the Madonna corner and large gap was left behind the choir. This space has been filled with a mural created by Rev. Maggie Arnold and Adele Travisano. Maggie describes the mural as "a very loose homage to Helen Frankenthaler's painting "Bay Side" from 1967." The decorated cardboard organ attached to it is a co-creation of parishioners at the "Goodbye Organ" dinner in April.

 "KALAMZOU CHAP"

"Kalamazou Chap"   These words with a carved leaf are found on a piece of wood that was removed from the organ chamber.  What could they mean? Are they part of a longer phrase? Maybe an inside joke?  Are they from 1875, or a later addition?

AT THE SHOP - WINDCHESTS

Meanwhile back at the workshop, the rebuilding has begun: They are building wind chests, the wooden boxes that  hold pressurized air. Our organ will have several.

Here is the top side of a wind chest, called the toe board, under construction. Holes will be drilled where pipes will set their "toes"  and stand ready to receive air from the chest below. The drawing shows the complicated plan for placement of the holes.

Dismantling