October 2023 - Organ facade in rear gallery (Nathan Bayreuther/David warfield)
2024-01-27 - Building exterior after tower collapse (David Warfield /David warfield)
2024-01-25 - Building exterior after tower collapse (Unknown/David warfield)
Note: Not extant. Not playable. (in this location)
2005-02-15 - Identified from company publications as edited and expanded in <i>The Hook Opus List 1829-1935</i>, ed. William T. Van Pelt (Organ Historical Society, 1991). -Database Manager
2006-04-13 - Water motor installed 1907; rebuilt and electrified by Hall Organ Co. 1913. Refurbished, 1966, by Reed Company; Played for the last time in 1997. -Database Manager
2006-04-13 - Updated through on-line information from David Warfield. -Database Manager
2022-08-06 - Sometime after 1997, this large and imposing organ was mined for pipes by a local pipe scavanger, and the organ was replaced with a 3-manual imitation instrument, which not surprisingly is in need of replacement after only 25 years. It is rumored that the windchests may still be intact, rather than being chain-sawed for removal-- the usual tactic of the scavanger. This and a sister instrument at St. James Episcopal, were once the largest instruments in the city. -Scot Huntington
2024-01-27 - On 1:30 pm on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024, the imposing tower collapsed into the massive granite church built in 1850. The building has been declared a total loss and the structure still standing is being demolished. The still extant Hook case and 16' facade were destroyed, along with whatever remained of the organ, including the 16' Pedal Double Open wood that was considered inaccessible. The church was sold by the Congregationalists in 2015 to the "Engaging Heaven Church", an evangelical sect, but the Congregationalists still rented the church for an early service on Sunday morning. The church on a hill was the tallest structure in New London and dominated the skyline for 170 years. The interior was simple gothic, and the Hook facade pipes were once decorated. At the time of its installation in 1870, it was the largest organ in southeastern Connecticut. Following a fire in 1849 that partially destroyed the congregation's wood frame building, the granite church was designed by Leopold Eidlitz, a designer later known for churches having instruments with functionally exposed pipework such as Temple Emanu-El and St. George's in New York City; and the New York State Capitol. The building sat 1,100. The morning of the collapse, stress cracks were noted on the facade side at 8:30 am by a developer working in the city, The front of the church and organ balcony collapsed straight down, while the steeple and spire collapsed backwards into the sanctuary, taking most of the roof with it, while the two outside towers remained standing. The 1870, 40-register Hook replaced a two-manual instrument by the same builder with 19 registers built in 1851, No. 124, listed incorrectly in the Hook opus list as First Presbyterian. -Scot Huntington
2024-11-01 - A list of area organs compiled by a local organbuilder in the late 1970s indicates that the 1966 rebuild was the brainchild of the organist who worked briefly at several local churches and rebuilt each instrument in his care into instruments of little distinction. The 1966 rebuild turned the organ into a 4-manual and was the largest organ in the area. The church considered rebuilding it into a decent organ in the 1990s but decided that buying a large fake instrument was the cheaper option. The console seen in the photo accompanying this entry is the imitation instrument. -Scot Huntington
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