Where will the Organ go???

[KB7DQH]

After readinghttp://www.freep.com/article/20110308/NEWS01/110308031/Council-halts-Bing-s-plan-raze-Detroit-s-Ford-Auditorium?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE

I looked up the building in question on the Organ Historical Society databasehttp://database.organsociety.org/

and, yes, indeed there is an organ there-- built by Aeolian-Skinner... and inaugurated by none other than Marcel Dupre'...   

Forutunately... and what the article above doesn't mention... is that the City of Detroit has already contracted for the organ's removal to a local organbuilder's shop... where it subsequently will be reinstalled.........

Follows is a quote, hacked right off of this link...http://hporgans.com/Ford%20Auditorium%20Project.htm

In addition to the quote are monochrome photos of the console and some of the pipework... but one should have a look at the photo in the Detroit Free Press article to get some idea of the current condition... It's not pretty...

On February 16, the City of Detroit appointed Helderop Pipe Organs to remove the Aeolian-Skinner organ from Detroit's Ford Auditorium. For the last three years,  Richard Helderop, President of Helderop Pipe Organs, and Brian Ventura, musician and liaison from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, have worked with the City of Detroit and Detroit Economic Group Corporation to secure the organ prior to demolition of Ford Auditorium. Two years ago, the project was put on hold while the City pursued other projects, however, in December, city officials made the decision to move forward with the demolition of Ford Auditorium. The DSO appointed Helderop Pipe Organs to represent their bid to the City of Detroit. Being only two miles from the Ford Auditorium site, the Aeolian-Skinner organ will remain in downtown Detroit in the Helderop Pipe Organs shop before it finds its new home within the downtown area.

Eric
KB7DQH

[KB7DQH]

Maybe should have been filed under "Town Hall Organs" ???

Eric
KB7DQH

[KB7DQH]

Someone from Detroit have any ideas about where it should go... ??? :-\

Feel free to join the forum and let us know your thoughts...

Eric
KB7DQH

[KB7DQH]

Looks like the city is going ahead with demolition of Ford Auditorium...

http://www.freep.com/article/20110317/NEWS01/103170520/1048/SPORTS/Detroit-City-Council-votes-raze-Ford-Auditorium?odyssey=nav%7Chead

Eric
KB7DQH

[KB7DQH]

Removed from a demolished College facility and placed into storage...

http://star.txstate.edu/content/building-demolition-resurrects-memory-pipe-organ

The University Performing Arts and Conference Center building was demolished last fall, but memory of its existence lives on through the preservation of a musical gift given to the university 34 years ago.

The Swearingen organ was donated to Texas State in 1977 and was disassembled and stored as surplus property at a Texas State warehouse before demolition of UPACC.

Future use of the Swearingen organ looks minimal if any at all.

Nance said the pipe organ was preserved upon request from the community.

The organ was donated to then Southwest Texas State University's music department by organist Madolyn Fallis. Her then husband Ed Swearingen, who also designed the instrument, gave the organ to Fallis as a gift. The organ was donated to the university after their divorce.

According to a Texas State Institutional Advancement Quarterly, the organ was appraised at $180,000 the year it was donated.

Frank Gonzalez, director of materials management, said the appraised value of the organ is zero dollars because it in poor condition, but the amount needed to insure the instrument is close to $1 million.

He said the organ is old and suffers from damages costing between $250,000 and $300,000 to repair. Gonzales said installation of the 26-feet tall by 20-feet long by 14-feet wide Swearingen organ cost about $80,000, according to the appraisal.

Nance said surplus properties could only be obtained by outside interests through specific government listed avenues such as auctions or donations to a government agency, school or charitable organization.

Gonalez said the organ has not been advertised for sale since its removal from the UPACC last year. It is unknown if the organ will go for sale in the future.

Arlis Hiebert, San Marcos Baptist Academy chair of music, said the Swearingen organ is "out of fashion" and is not an essential part of the teaching or mission of Texas State.

Hiebert, who was the chair of the department of music at Southwest Texas State when the Swearingen was donated, said the music department and university were appreciative of the organ when it was first installed in the Evans Liberal Arts building and used for various musical purposes such as teaching in the liberal arts building or UPACC.

Hierbert said he is thankful the Swearingen organ has not been thrown away.

"In an educational institution, one of the basic reasons for the existence of an educational institution, is to preserve the best of the past for the future," Hiebert said.

I have absolutely no idea how Texas typically deals with their surplus property...
I know that here in Washington any "authorized" agency could "have it for a signature"...

One hopes that some deserving institution could give it a new home...

Eric
KB7DQH

[KB7DQH]

Apparently, "to pieces" :o :'(   

Seems the pipework from the Aeolian-Skinner installed in the soon-to-be demolished Ford Auditorium in Detroit, Michigan will be moved into two different buildings in Detroit...

http://www.midailynews.com/news/5940-detroit-city-council-ok%E2%80%99s-pipe-organ-split-despite-plea-to-keep-whole.html

And of course no media information as to which divisions or which pipework goes where, etc...

It would be conceivable that what can be salvaged from the console could be used for the pipework
which would be installed into the home of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra...

At least the organ won't end up in a rubbish pile...

Eric
KB7DQH

[aaronz28]

well hello there...

I stumbled on this link while doing a Google search for this little project i'm working on :D

My name is Aaron and I'm the director of music at st. Aloysius Catholic Church in Downtown Detroit - the future home of the Ford Auditorium Aeolian Skinner.

this is something that i and several members of the detroit symphony have been working on for some years now and indeed, media coverage is sparse and often inaccurate.

this organ, is essentially 2 separate instruments that were controlled by 1 console.  the main organ (great, swell, choir, and pedal) will all be removed, restored, and installed with the original console in our HUGE vacant pip organ chambers, which originally housed a 4 manual Kilgen organ. The Kilgen was removed in the 70s, and a Gabriel Kney organ was installed in our balcony. While the Kney is a fine instrument, the placement is less than ideal for worship (you'd have to see the unique space to appreciate what I mean)

the Portativ, a complete unenclosed organ of 3 divisions will be relocated to Orchestra Hall in Detroit for the DSO to use once again as a chamber instrument.

We are working on this organ (removing it from Ford Aud) as we speak - I spent 8 hours there today removing pipe work.

While some might argue that splitting up this organ is a crime, the reality is that no one wanted it complete, and we are able to save it and put it back in service (it has been silent for nearly 25 years since the orchestra moved out of Ford Aud) The entire Portativ is redundant to the main organ, and this instrument is missing several things that one might want on a 70 stop organ...  so it will get to live again as two separate, yet complete instruments - in room far more suitable to their design.

Any further questions, please feel free to contact me.

All the best.

Aaron Kaleniecki
Director of Music,
St. Aloysius Catholic Church
Detroit, Michigan

[revtonynewnham]

Hi

Sounds like a good idea to me.

Every Blessing

Tony

[KB7DQH]

Aaron-- Thank you for taking time to register as a member of this forum to give us...


... as Paul Harvey would say...  the REST of the story ;D

It is always great to hear news from people who are directly involved in a  project which receives media attention, for which the published information seldom correctly reflects the true reality of what is actually going on, and  more importantly, why...

Eric
KB7DQH

[organforumadmin]

Dear Aaron


THANKS so much for updating us - please can you continue to let us know progress? We hope in addition that this will be a place from which enthusiasm for your very creative project will grow.


Best wishes


Forum Admin

[KB7DQH]

By the looks of the following news hitting the AP wire service, Aaron will be a bit busy for the rest of the week ;)

http://www.freep.com/article/20110628/NEWS01/106280355/Team-works-rescue-Ford-Auditorium-s-vintage-pipe-organ-before-Detroit-building-demolished

They say it's a labor of love.

Nearly a dozen people -- professional musicians, organ technicians and a church leader -- are doing in one week what normally would take nearly two months: removing the nearly 5-ton Aeolian-Skinner pipe organ from Ford Auditorium before the building is demolished next month.

The organ, made up of 2,800 wooden and metal pipes ranging from 6 inches to 32 feet tall, is being taken apart, piece by piece, and will be rebuilt and restored at St. Aloysius Catholic Church in downtown Detroit.

"This is an emergency rescue," St. Aloysius director of music Aaron Kaleniecki said.

The organ is expected to cost about $250,000 to restore and install at St. Alyosius. If new, it would cost about $2 million.

"When a historical organ like this is saved, restored and installed, it generates quite a bit of interest," Kaleniecki said.

Those working to remove the organ acknowledge their method may not be the ideal way, but say time is not on their side, in part, because asbestos had to be removed from the building, which delayed their start. And they have a July 5 deadline to get it out of there.

The church agreed to raise money to install the organ if the city donated it, Kaleniecki said.

"I'm glad it's going to be put to good use and kept here," City Council President Charles Pugh said.

Razing the building is part of Mayor Dave Bing's plan to revitalize Detroit's waterfront. Demolition is expected to cost $750,000 and should start in early July, mayoral spokesman Dan Lijana said.

Detroit Symphony Orchestra member Brian Ventura and about eight others have been working to remove the organ since late last week, and more people will be brought in to work around the clock, if needed, to get it done on time.

Ventura has played the oboe with the DSO for 23 years, and the sound of the organ that once played at Ford Auditorium stuck with him.

"It's extremely memorable," he said. "It just rings throughout the auditorium."

The organ is in good company: It was built by Aeolian-Skinner, the same company that built the Mormon Tabernacle organ, as well as organs at the Boston Symphony Hall and the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York, according to Rick Helderop, owner of Helderop Pipe Organs in Detroit.

It also has been played by some of the world's best organists. Marcel Deprè, the organist at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, dedicated the organ in 1957.

"It's had a very distinguished life, and we want to continue that," Helderop said.

The plan is to have the organ running at St. Aloysius within two years.

A smaller organ with 1,200 pipes built at the same time and played by the same console already was removed and will go to the DSO to be used for music of the 17th and 18th Centuries, Ventura said.

"These are very valuable and historically important instruments," he said. "These things are musical treasures."

Contact Elisha Anderson: 313-222-5144 or eanderson99@freepress.com

Eric
KB7DQH

[diapason]

What a magnificent project - wish I was there to lend a hand.  Every good wish to Aaron and his team.

Nigel

[KB7DQH]

And now he and the 20 or so other volunteers can take a well-deserved rest!

http://www.freep.com/article/20110706/NEWS01/107060375/Pipe-organ-rescued-just-time-from-Ford-Aud-?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE%7Cs

Volunteers smiled, hugged and shook hands when the last piece of a pipe organ -- a 1,500-pound blower that provides wind and air for the pipes -- made it out of Ford Auditorium on Detroit's riverfront on Monday.

Crews met their Tuesday deadline to rescue the five-decade-old Aeolian-Skinner organ from the building, which is to be demolished this month. For about a dozen men and women, it meant working on the Fourth of July holiday.

"We are happy that this thing is out," said Rick Helderop, the owner of Helderop Pipe Organs in Detroit, who supervised the removal. "Everybody worked in harmony."

It took 20 workers, most of them volunteers, a combined 500 hours over 10 days to get the instrument out. The pieces are now at Helderop Pipe Organs. The organ's new home eventually will be in St. Aloysius Catholic Church in downtown Detroit.

"Without that volunteer crew, we would have never ever gotten that organ out," St. Aloysius director of music Aaron Kaleniecki said.

The focus now becomes fund-raising.

It will cost about $250,000 to restore the organ and install it at St. Aloysius. Volunteers may help with some of the cleaning, which could save tens of thousands of dollars.

The organ's 2,800 wooden and metal pipes will be cleaned, and leather in the organ will be replaced before it is installed at the church. Kaleniecki said he hopes to have the work done within two years.

"The nice thing about St. Aloysius is that the chambers are three stories tall," Helderop said. "We actually have more room at St. Aloysius than we did at Ford Auditorium."

No pipes will need to be cut because of the space. "This is the best-case scenario that you could ever want," Helderop said.

Eric
KB7DQH

[diapason]

Great job, guys!

Nigel

[diapason]

Just found this link on another forum.

Nigel

http://www.aeolianskinner1324.com.

[KB7DQH]

Nigel-- Thank you for posting that link 8) 8) 8)

From there you can find the incredible story of the heroic effort to safely remove the instrument 8) 8) 8)

http://www.rushentertainmentcompany.com/Aeolian_Skinner_Opus_1324/The_Story.html

This is absolutely a MUST READ if you are at all enthusiastic about pipe organs... or just want to read a most excellent real-life story of beating the odds...

Eric
KB7DQH

[diapason]

It's an absolutely amazing story.  Watching the video which Aaron made whilst climbing up to the organ chamber gave an idea of the sheer guts of those guys who worked in impossibly dangerous conditions to lower everything down to ground level.  I hope that those of us on this side of the pond can keep up to date with progress.  A video of the installation and opening recital would be wonderful.

Hats off to all involved in a magnificent project.

Nigel

[aaronz28]

hi guys -  thanks for the kind words - its been a while since i posted the details, but seems like someone already found the website I created to document the entire thing.

i have hundreds more photos on my Facebook page - if you are interested - friend me

as a matter of news - we haven't really done much since July as we've ben letting the dust settle - pun intended -  our parish offices were relocated and we had to drastically revision our outreach ministry - which is what St. Al's is known for int he Detroit community.  My organ task force is now working to  set up a 'non-profit' foundation to raise the money to restore the organ.

normally, a church would engage this project and raise the funds themselves, however, ours is a unique situation and many of our benefactors support the work of St. Aloysius because of the outreach work we do with the poor and homeless in Downtown Detroit.   Starting a campaign to raise money to restore a pipe organ sounds great to people like us, but when there are hungry people on the street who come to us for help , it is very hard to convince people to "support" an organ project - when we barely have the resources to feed the people that come to us.

at any rate - as news develops with the organ project, i'll keep the website updated, so that you can follow -

thanks

Aaron

[diapason]

Congratulations on a brilliant project - we look forward to hearing about your progress.  You are taking on a huge task and it's worth reminding anyone in the church who questions whether the organ should be a priority that it can and will attract many people into the church who otherwise may not have come.  You may also be able to consider a programme to involve local people in the work on the organ and to get them interested in learning to play.  There are more ways than one to 'feed the hungry'.

BTW, I used to have family in your area - at Taylor - but they have unfortunately, long since, passed over.

N

[AnOrganCornucopia]

Indeed - use it as an opportunity to help the unemployed learn new skills (whether practical or artistic), even to create some employment for them, and you're in a win-win situation.