Better Pipe Organ Database

William W. Laws (1924)

First Church Congregational, UCC
26 Pleasant Street
Methuen, MA

Images

1930s - Archival picture of the organ in First Church Methuen (Photograph from an archival source: Methuen Historical Society, submitted by Andrew Scanlon/Andrew Scanlon)

Unknown - Nave and Organ Case (Vintage Postcard (ca. 1925) courtesy of Barbara Owen/Database Manager)

2008-05-07 - Console (Photograph by Len Levasseur/Database Manager)

2008-05-07 - Organ (Photograph by Len Levasseur/Database Manager)

1930 - Lafarge window (Andrew Scanlon/Andrew Scanlon)

2000s - Lafarge window (Church website/Andrew Scanlon)

2000s - Church exterior (Church website/Andrew Scanlon)

2024-08-30 - Church exterior (Andrew Scanlon/Andrew Scanlon)

2024-08-30 - Church exterior (Andrew Scanlon/Scanlon Andrew)

Consoles

Laws Console

Organ type: Traditional With a Keyboard Cover That Can Be Lifted To Form a Music Rack
3 manuals
45 stops
42 registers
4 divisions
Key action Type: Electrical
Stop action Type: Electrical
Stop layout Type: Drawknobs in Horizontal Rows on Terraced/Stepped Jambs
Manual compass: 61 notes
Pedal compass: 32 notes
Pedal Type: Concave Radiating (Meeting AGO Standards)
Expression Type: Balanced Expression Shoes/Pedals (Meeting AGO Standards)
Has crescendo
Combination action: Adjustable Combination Pistons
Has combination thumb pistons
Has combination toe pistons
Has tutti thumb pistons
Has tutti toe pistons

Andover console

Organ type: Traditional With Hinged Doors That Enclose Keyboards
Console position: Movable Console
3 manuals
42 stops
45 registers
4 divisions
Key action Type: Electrical
Stop action Type: Electrical
Stop layout Type: Drawknobs in Horizontal Rows on Terraced/Stepped Jambs
Manual compass: 61 notes
Pedal compass: 32 notes
Pedal Type: Concave Radiating (Meeting AGO Standards)
Expression Type: Balanced Expression Shoes/Pedals (Meeting AGO Standards)
Has crescendo
Combination action: Computerized/Digital
SSOS
Has combination thumb pistons
Has combination toe pistons
Has tutti thumb pistons
Has tutti toe pistons

Notes

2007-05-14 - Identified through online information from Joseph Olefirowicz. -- This organ was originally the residence organ of Edward Searles in his Great Barrington, Massachusetts mansion, "Kellogg Terrace". - With a case design, by Henry Vaughan (which unfortunately for the "pineapples" on the pedal towers) which has been slightly altered to fit into the room. (This done by the Laws electrification/installation in 1924.) -Database Manager

2008-05-09 - Updated through online information from Len A. Levasseur. -Database Manager

2009-06-08 - Updated through online information from James R. Stettner. -- The organ was initially installed "as is" by Wm. W. Laws. Electro-pneumatic pull-downs were added to the original chests. The original console shell was retained and an Austin-style interior retro-fitted into the shell with stopkeys over the top manual. According to the church website, "During the 1930s, two [Swell] stops (Mixture V ranks and Clarion 4') were removed and substituted with two stops of string tone. Other than that the organ was totally intact." The replacement stops were still present when I played/documented the organ in March 1988. The dedicatory Recital was played by Everett E. Truette on Thursday evening, April 10, 1924 at 8:00 p.m. Mr. Truette was the organist at Eliot Congregational in Newton, Mass. at the time. Also, the original top, center of the Great Barrington organ and the two figures atop the Pedal towers are present on the Ballroom organ of the Searles Pine Lodge Estate residence in Methuen. -Database Manager

2022-07-04 - New console in old shell by Andover Organ Co early 2000s -Andrew Scanlon

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