On July 7 fire damaged the IV/38 J.W. Steere & Son organ at The Baptist Temple in Brooklyn. The three-alarm fire broke out after 11:30 pm in the Swell Division; there was significant water and smoke damage. Organ curator Keith Bigger, who had led the restoration of the instrument in the 1980s, had left that day for a convention in Buffalo.
At Baptist Temple, Edward Morris Bowman, a founder of the American Guild of Organists, established the largest volunteer choir in turn-of-the century America, of which Alexandre Guilmant was an honorary member.
The Baptist Temple organ was one of only two four-manual Steere instruments still in original condition and had been awarded a historical citation by the Organ Historical Society.
Built in the 1890s, the Baptist Temple was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995 for its architectural and engineering significance.
July 9, 2010
The Diapason
