Today was a little different! While the Casavant team has handled 99.9% of this project, today they got a little help from some dedicated Grace parishioners, my associate Noah Klein, and me! We WASHED the 11 largest Gallery facade pipes! These pipes were painted and decorated in 1886, as part of the Hutchings Gallery organ installation. And they haven’t been cleaned since AT LEAST 1960 when the organ was last renovated and rebuilt. Furnace dust, general downtown smut, candle smoke, and yes, even a bit of incense have combined to create a thin black layer over most of these beautiful pipes. And these big babies are heavy! Made of zinc, and being up to 16′ long, it was like bathing elephants. The crew may be on heating pads tonight! Thanks to Bob Baxter, Robert Bennett, Noah Klein, Marc Schrank, and Val Schrank for their efforts. We have about 60 more to clean but they are much smaller and more manageable!
Then the Casavant team had the big job of hoisting low C and low C# (Gallery Pedal Double Diapason) back to the gallery. It was exciting to watch. It’s so much more fun to see pipes going BACK into place rather than coming out!
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