2006-04-15 - Identified through information adapted from <i>E. M. Skinner/Aeolian-Skinner Opus List</i>, by Sand Lawn and Allen Kinzey (Organ Historical Society, 1997), and included here through the kind permission of Sand Lawn: <br><i> Relocated from the residence of Perry D. Saylor, White Plains, New York.</i> -Database Manager
2019-04-07 - Updated by Scot Huntington, who has heard or played the organ. <br> <br>I was allowed to play this organ as a young teenager during my cousin\'s wedding reception in 1969. The estate at that time was owned by by great uncle Walter S. Mack, entrepreneur and former president of Pepsi (1938-1951). I\'m unsure when they purchased the property- it could have been as early as his tenure at Pepsi or as late as 1960. The family history connected with this house is the organ had been willed to a church in the former owner\'s will. When the church found out what it would cost to move and install it, they declined the gift and the organ remained with the home. It was the presence of the organ that made the estate attractive to my aunt (Ruth Jurgenson Mack), who took lessons to learn to play it. They would often play rolls in the evening while entertaining. The former Kilpatrick estate was a 19th-century farmhouse, and a two-story shoebox-shaped Great Room was added to the left of the original building and perpendicular to it, to accommodate the organ, which was installed in a single chamber on the second level of the long side wall opposite the console (installed in the middle of the right-side long wall), directly over guest room suite. The decoration of the room was plain, in colonial-revival style. The organ was installed behind a plain square-holed metal grill painted white. The drawknob console was oak. The original installation of the organ in White Plains was divided in two chambers I and II, and at Litchfield the unused expression pedal was blocked closed. The estate has not been in the family for many years and unsure if my uncle sold it in the 1980s, or if his son inherited it and subsequently sold it post-1990; or what the current status of the organ is in 2019. -Database Manager
2019-04-17 - Updated by Scot Huntington <br> <br>Relocation identified by Kinzey, date and reason for move unknown. Organ played by this correspondent at a wedding in 1968, estate owned then and for some time by Walter S. Mack (President of Pepsi 1938-1951; President of Great American Industries at time of his daughter\'s wedding). Estate has changed hands at least once since he or his heirs sold it. Organ received periodic tuning in the past two decades, but not in recent years. The organ\'s most recent technician reports the present owner has allowed the console to deteriorate to the point manual playing is essentially non-functional, but player mechanism is reported as being maintained by an unknown individual at minimal functionality. The organ is sorely in need of a full restoration before it lapses into unplayability. <br><br>Perry D. Saylor of Manhattan and White Plains signed the contract for $16,500.00 on Sept. 9, 1926, 3 years after his company P.D. Saylor & Associates acquired Canada Dry from its Canadian founders and formed Canada Dry Ginger Ale Inc. On November 26, the contract was amended for an unspecified amount, adding a 2-rank Cello Celeste (Expression II) and large-scale stopped flute unit for manual and pedal in Expression chamber I. On December 1 it was amended again with the addition of Chimes and 3 stop knobs controlling them, costing $500. The organ was moved to Litchfield without changes, into a Great Room addition built especially to accommodate the instrument. At the time I played the organ in 1968, the Expression I expression pedal was blocked closed and the instrument was solely under the control of expression pedal II. In addition, it was explained to me by most recent technician, that the chambers spoke into a \"mixing room\" with a second set of small doors behind the grill work which could be opened or closed to further subdue the organ\'s tone. <br><br>Typical for Skinner residence organs, the pitman chests are duplexed, allowing identical dispositions on the Great and Swell keyboards. The ranks were originally divided into two expression chambers, with the expression pedals labeled as such on the console: Exp. I represented the \"foundation or main\" containing the Diapason, Harp and two celestes; Exp. II was the \"solo\" containing a unit stopped flute and a battery of solo reeds. Within a division, the stopknobs are grouped by expression box with contracting engraving colors. -Database Manager
Original document from Scot Huntington. Source: Contract and console. 2019-03-20
Litchfield, CT
Kilpatrick/Mack Estate
Top O'World Farm
Organ by Skinner Organ Co.
Opus 618, 1927
Compasses: 61/32
Manual I and II have identical stoplists.
MANUAL I [Great]
Expression I, black engraving
8' Diapason 61 pipes
8' Orchestral Flute 73 pipes, large-scale stopped wood
4' Flute extension
8' Voix Celeste 122 pipes, full compass
8' Flute Celeste 110 pipes, tapered Flauto Dolce, t.c. celeste rank
Harp t.c.
Celesta harp at 4'
Expression II, red engraving
16' Bourdon 97 pipes, wood and metal
8' Trumpet 61 pipes
8' French Horn 61 pipes
8' English Horn 61 pipes
8' Clarinet 61 pipes
8' Vox Humana 61 pipes
8' Cello Celeste 110 pipes; large-scale string, t.c. celeste rank
8' Chimney Flute extension
4' Flute extension
2 2/3' Nazard extension
2' Piccolo extension
8' Corno d'Amore synthetic combination
Chimes
Tremolo
MANUAL II [Swell]
(Duplicate of Manual I)
PEDAL
16' Bourdon 12 pipes, Exp. I Orch. Flute
16' Echo Lieblich Exp. II unit flute
8' Gedeckt Exp. I Orch. Flute
8' Still Gedeckt Exp. II unit flute
Chimes Exp. II
On coupler rail, by knobs, including player controls
Great to Great 16
Great to Great 4
Swell to Great
Swell to Great 16
Swell to Great 4
Swell to Swell 16
Swell to Swell 4
Great to Pedal
Swell to Pedal
[Player controls]
Ventil
Automatic
Semi-Automatic
Re-roll
Tempo (sliding lever)
Combinations (fixed, not visibly affecting stop knobs)
Manual I: 1-7,0
Manual II: 1-7,0
Mechanicals:
Expression Pedals for Expression I; Expression II
Crescendo Pedal
Sforzando by hitch-down pedal
Repeat
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