Major Progress on Organ for Hope Presbyterian Church
11/22/19
Through contacts made by Ray Bothel in 2017, the
Pipe Organ Foundation connected with the relatively new Hope Presbyterian Church.
The church had recently moved to a building in northern Bellevue,
Washington, and it was a small but growing congregation.
It was committed to traditional worship, and it wished for a pipe
organ which would replace the electronic instrument which had been in
the building for more than 30 years.
The Rev. Dr. Dan McManigal is the Pastor of Hope
Presbyterian Church.
Negotiations between the church and the Foundation for a pipe organ
began in the fall of 2017.
The church formed an Organ Committee in December of that year which was
chaired by James Sherwin.
On January 21, 2018, the church and the Foundation signed an agreement
to have a custom rebuilt pipe organ installed in the building at very
low cost to the church.
After completing its ongoing projects, the
Foundation began the organ for Hope Presbyterian in September, 2019.
A 9 rank instrument was planned for the organ chamber behind the
front wall of the sanctuary.
The first photo shows that wall, and one can see the
fabric-covered openings into the pipe chamber on either side of the
cross.
It was found to be beneficial to use the console
of the electronic organ which had been in the church since about 1983.
An Artisan electronic driving system was selected for the organ,
with a significant number of Artisan parts having been contributed to
the Foundation by Thomas Blackwell and the Paramount Theatre in Seattle.
Gratitude is expressed to Mark Andersen and Red Carlson of Artisan
Instruments for their considerable assistance with this project.
At the time of this
report, the Swell division of the organ was all but done, and this
includes five of the nine ranks of pipes planned for the complete organ.
These five ranks are 16’ Lieblich-Gedeckt, 8’ Salicional, 8’ Voix
Celeste (t.c.), 4’ Principal, and 8’ Trumpet.
In addition, in the console there has been major progress on the
electronics and wiring, and the wiring of the switchstack is all but
complete.
From September to November, 2019, 14 volunteers
contributed more than 800 hours of time to make this organ a reality.
The attached pictures show many of the volunteers at work as the
project progressed.
In January, 2020,
work on the remaining parts of the organ will resume.
Work will begin at the church in order to prepare the organ
chamber for installation when the instrument is completed.
It is the objective of the Foundation to install this organ
during the first half of 2020.