Proudly dominating Audubon Circle in the historic Irvington district of Indianapolis is the imposing Tudor structure that is the home of Irvington United Methodist Church.

 

The Irvington church boasts one of the city's great music programs, under the direction of Dr. Mark McCreary, organist and music director. 

 

For many years, it has been a dream of the church to renovate and improve the fifty year old sanctuary pipe organ.  The instrument is an early Holloway organ, and has been much changed since it was built.

 

Although much of the original Holloway windchest work remained in good condition, several of the later additions had not fared as well.  The reservoirs were in poor condition, and needed replacement.  Likewise, the blower, which was located in an unheated area of the basement, was a problem.

 

The original tonal design of the organ had been planned and executed by Ernest White, during his association with Holloway.  Typical of many of White's instruments, the Irvington organ tried to imitate "baroque" tonal concepts.  In the case of this particular organ, however, this concept did not allow sufficient warmth or tonal variety to accompany choral work or to play a really wide repertoire.  The later addition of a Positiv division to the organ did nothing to help these problems, and, in fact, made the sound of the instrument even more harsh.

 

Retaining the existing Holloway chests for the Swell, Great, and Pedal divisions, we redesigned the organ tonally.

 

The key structural issue was to provide enough space to accommodate the additional ranks needed.  To do this, we moved the Great and Pedal main chests forward, cantilevering them in two directions.  Behind the Pedal division, on the left side of the case, we removed the Positiv pipes and chest, and  installed an enclosed Choir division of nine ten ranks, including a five rank mounted Cornet.  Behind the Great division, we included a 16' Lieblich Gedeckt for the Pedal and a wooden 8' Offenflote, both composed of "experienced" pipes that were completely reconditioned in our shop.

 

The redesigned organ has a  Principal ensemble that combines new pipes with stops that were extensively rescaled to broaden and warm their tone.  Where the effect of the full organ in the past was strident and harsh, the organ's new sound is much warmer and more colorful.

 

A problem with the organ in the past had been that, since the choral singers sit directly under the cantilevered chests of the organ, it was often difficult for them to hear the organ without being overpowered.  We solved this problem by including, via the MIDI system, a small Accompaniment division of 5 stops.  These stops are not part of the organ's tonal hierarchy, but are a convenience for singers and accompanists.

 

The old console was particularly bad.  It had been an open key-desk style console (reminiscent of those of Holtkamp), which had suffered a great deal of wear and tear, both to the fitments and to the console cabinet.  We felt that, in replacing this inelegant console, we had the opportunity to provide something really special, and, with the congregation's support, installed a beautiful console cabinet that was constructed in the 1920s of quarter-sawn oak.  The design of this console is ideal, both in period and appearance, for the Irvington sanctuary.  In our shop facilities in Marion, we completely refinished and reconditioned this cabinet, and installed all new fitments, including stop jambs, keyboards, music desk, and adjustable bench.  The organ is equipped with a Peterson ICS4000 control system with a 100 level combination action and full MIDI capability.

 

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