(Click on Images to Enlarge)

Photo 1. Left to right, Bart, Pres, and Roger do final testing on the Great windchest after releathering.

Photo 2. Great windchest is let down in the shop to the assembly room level where it will be hooked up and populated with pipes.

Photo 3. Joanne, Jim, and Roger wire the bottom of the Swell main chest.

Photo 4. Halie and Fred clean and polish Salicional pipes.

 
Photo 5. Halie and Joanne really enjoy making the pipes shine!

 

Photo 6. The volunteers at a lunch prepared by Halie.

 

Photo 7. One view of the completed organ in the shop, Great on left, Swell in middle, Pedal on right.

 

Photo 8. A second view of the completed organ in the shop with the chimes and the switchstack in the middle. 

 

Photo 9. Jim S. and Jim R. putting in swell shades at the church.

Photo 10. The empty pipe chamber at the church with the swell shades in place on the right.

Photo 11. View of pipe chamber from the east (Swell) end with the organ fully in it.

Photo 12. View of pipe chamber from the west (Great/Pedal) end with the organ fully in it.

Photo 13. Chuck works on the switch stack while Jim S. assists.

Photo 14. View of the blower (left), switch stack (middle), and Peterson swell shade motor (right) in the sacristy.

Photo 15. From the console, view of the front of the church. Pipe chamber is behind the cross.

 

Organ for Hope Presbyterian Church Is Completed

 04/20/22

Attention is drawn to the News article on this website dated November 22, 2019 which provides much background information on this organ and on the connection of the church with the Foundation. The present article describes the completion and installation of the instrument in the church in Bellevue, Washington.

The attached pictures show how the final work progressed in the shop. The pipes and the windchests had been selected from the Foundation resources to fit the desired tonal design of the organ and the space available. The components of the organ had all been previously installed in organs at a number of different churches, most notably Ravenna United Methodist Church in Seattle where a Moller Artiste had been installed in 1949. That four-rank instrument had later had a fifth rank added and it was in a chamber with similar characteristics as the one at Hope, so the pipes and the main chest fit very well. The pipe chamber at Hope was 9+ feet high and 25 feet long (expanded to 28 feet), but only 5 feet deep.  

Regarding the console to be used, the decision was made early on to use the Allen console already in the church as the woodwork exactly matched the front of the sanctuary and as it had other favorable characteristics. As that organ was played each week, the removal of the console from the church was delayed until September, 2019, and when it was removed a substitute electronic organ was provided by the Foundation. The console was fitted out with an Artisan driving system which runs the entire new organ. Thanks are expressed to Mark Andersen and Red Carlson who provided extensive assistance with the Artisan system.

The work on the organ in the shop was completed in June, 2020, and you can hear Halie playing “What a Friend We Have In Jesus” by going to this link.

On July 9, a large crew including many lifters from the church moved the organ to the church. COVID was at its height at that time, and therefore the organ was stored at the church until January, 2021 when, with appropriate precautions, the installation was begun. The entire organ was placed in the pipe chamber, and this required extensive work including modification of the building in order to install three sets of swell shades which were linked together. Jim Sherwin and Jim Roecker were especially involved in this effort, and with masks they worked extensively over a number of weeks and successfully completed the swell shade installation.

With the swell shades operating, on March 9, 2021 a crew of nine assembled at the church and lifted all the heavy items up into the chamber. With COVID rampant, work with a limited crew over several months was then cautiously undertaken to install and make functional all parts of the organ in the chamber. This was completed on October 9, final problems were tackled, and rough tonal finishing was accomplished. Rene Marceau and Sean Haley of Marceau Pipe Organs in Seattle then did the final tonal work, and the organ was declared completed on November 23, 2021.

Note is made that more than 20 people had provided approximately 2,300 hours of volunteer labor in order to rebuild the organ and complete its installation. The Pipe Organ Foundation and the church are truly grateful to these people for their untiring work over a 26 month period and during COVID. As was clearly shown at the conclusion of their work, the result is an organ which speaks exceptionally well with clarity and beauty throughout the sanctuary.

The specifications for the organ are as follows:

Great: Expressive, 3 ranks, 195 pipes, 21 tubes
8’ Open Diapason (61 pipes)
8’ Melodia (61 pipes)
4’ Octave (73 pipes)
Chimes (21 tubes)

Swell: Expressive, 5 ranks, 365 pipes
16’ Lieblich Gedeckt (97 pipes)
8’ Salicional (85 pipes)
8’ Voix Celeste (49 pipes)
4’ Harmonic Flute (61 pipes)
8’ Trumpet (73 pipes)

Pedal: Expressive, 1 rank, 56 pipes
16’ Bourdon (56 pipes)

SUMMARY: 9 ranks, 616 pipes, 21 chimes

A dedication concert for this organ is being planned by the church, and its date and time will be announced.