2014-09-20 - Organ Case (Photograph courtesy of Len Levasseur/Database Manager)
2014-09-20 - Organ Case, Keydesk, and Pedalaboard (Photograph by Len Levasseur/Database Manager)
OHS convention: 2015
2014-11-13 - Updated through online information from John Igoe. -- In March 2013 S. L. Huntington & Co. completed a thorough renovation of this notable instrument. The restoration has followed strictly the newly revised OHS Guidelines for Conservation, carefully analyzing details of the organ-s history and construction, recreating the original casework and faux-grain decoration, including the reinstatement of the 1850 gilded façade pipes (found still in use but well hidden inside the 1874 case), and replication of a missing rank of Stopped Diapason pipes. -Database Manager
2015-04-17 - Updated through online information from Scot Huntington. -Database Manager
2015-04-25 - Updated through online information from Scot Huntington. -- The organ was purchased for $100 in 1914, delivered up the steep two-mile mountain road to Heath by ox-cart, and installed by George Ryder of Boston. The Whately records do not indicate any allowance made on the old organ by Estey, and it was not their usual practice at this time to take organs in trade for resale. The available sources imply the Heath congregation purchased the organ directly from the Whately church. <br> In 2013, S.L. Huntington & Co. of Stonington, Conn. restored the instrument, reversing all previous alterations but retaining the Swell Bass installed at an unknown date but prior to 1874 by Johnson, and including a reconstruction of the original 1850 case and decoration. -Database Manager
stoplist following restoration Source: Source not recorded Date not recorded
Heath, Massachusetts
Union Evangelical Church
Wm. A. Johnson, Op. 16, 1850 (original silver nameplate missing)
Altered Johnson Organ Co., 1874
Moved by George Ryder, 1914
Restored by S.L. Huntington & Co., 2013
Compasses: 54/17
(*) 2013 labels replacing non-originals
Cone tuning intact and restored.
A441, equal temperament
W.P. 68mm
GREAT
Op. Diapason 1-5 open wood; 6-20 facade, zinc with original gilding; remainder common metal
St. Diapason Treble f18-b24 stopped pine; from c25 reconstructed chimney flute (2013), common metal (1)
St. Diapason Bass 1-17 stopped pine
Dulciana from f18, common metal
Principal* 1,2 original gilded zinc facade; 3-5 zinc, remainder common metal
Flute from c13, common metal chimney flute; 50-54 open trebles
Twelfth* common metal
Fifteenth* common metal
SWELL (enclosed, 37-note chest)
Op. Diapason Sw. from f18, common metal
St. Diapason Sw.* from f18, 18-24 stopped pine; remainder common metal chimney flute
Principal Sw. from f18, common metal
Hautboy Sw. from f18, 50-54 open metal flue trebles (2)
Bellows Signal Stopped pine bass 1-17,added pre-1874, unenclosed (3)
PEDAL
Dou. Op. Diapason 13 pipes, stopped pine remade out of the original open-wood pipes (4)
Pedal Coupler 17 notes
Coupler Gt. & Sw. Swell to Great
(1) Replaces the 1874 Johnson Melodia 8', itself a replacement of the original St. Diapason Treble.
Following Johnson practice, the new pipes are an identical copy of the Swell Stopped Diapason.
(2) Common metal bells on zinc stems, tapered shallots with reverse-bevel shallot bottoms,
atypical tuning wire and block design, common metal boots.
(3) Added by Wm. A. Johnson behind the Great walkboard, using the Bellows Signal stop action,
with its original label found under the organ in 2012 and restored to place.
(4) The organ was begun as a G-compass instrument, and altered prior to its installation to C-compass,
as evidenced by the Great and Pedal windchests, and Pedal pipework. The Pedal pipes were built
prior to the organ's conversion as a unison open wood Diapason from 10 2/3' G, 13 pipes, shortened
and rebuilt as a C-compass 16' Sub Bass, but retaining the original pitch markings, resulting
in this stop being an unusually large scale for a Pedal Bourdon. Dated newspaper shims indicate
the organ was begun at least as early as 1849.
[Received from Scot Huntington 2015-04-26.]Regrettably, it is not possible to display the information about the sponsor of this pipeorgandatabase entry or if there is a sponsor. Please see About Sponsors on Pipe Organ Database.