Construction Details

Our new organ will consist of over 3,000 pipes, ranging in size from a small pencil to over 18’ long and large enough for a small person to stand inside. These pipes will be installed in both the balcony and chancel, utilizing restored mechanism of the 1924 Skinner organ and new mechanism constructed by Quimby Pipe Organs for our organ.

Some vitally important considerations when designing a new or rebuilt pipe organ are functionality, use of space, tonal quality and egress, visual presence, and ease of maintenance. Unfortunately, our space poses many difficulties to each of these considerations. Our balcony was originally designed to hold overflow congregants, not a pipe organ. The balcony is constructed of reinforced structural concrete with awkward depth steps running wall-to-wall, and cannot be altered without significant cost. Its height restrictions pose challenges in both physical construction and visual symmetry (due to its ratio of height and width). Quimby has worked to design an organ installation that is both maintenance friendly and fits our space functionally, aurally, and visually. The design of the gallery organ will comfortably allow for 30+ choir members in the balcony and space for other instrumentalists.

The tonal design of our new pipe organ, though impacted by the physical limitations of our room, has been a considerably simpler matter, as E.M. Skinner did most of that work in 1924! Though Op. 459 has many of the “luxury items” of a Skinner organ of much greater size, it was also originally built with quite a few odd omissions. Though it has required much physical creativity (again, due to our balcony construction), Quimby has worked to “fill out” the original tonal specification of Op. 459 in line with what Ernest Skinner would have done, using almost entirely vintage E.M. Skinner pipework and materials, endeavoring to ensure that any additions be indistinguishable aurally or visually.

The tonal design of the chancel division of our new organ has been geared towards three basic functions: accompaniment of the choir in worship, leadership of more intimate worship services, and to both complement and contrast E.M. Skinner Op. 459 in the balcony.

Click here to view the tonal specification of the organ.