Wallace & Co. Pipe Organ Builders, Gorham, Maine, has completed the restoration of Hook & Hastings Opus 1487 at Saint Joseph’s on Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.
Built in 1891, the organ comprises three manuals and pedal, 26 stops, 30 ranks, and 1,616 pipes. Manual/pedal key compass is 58/27.
All interior components of the organ received what has become a “standard” Wallace & Co. restoration. Every part was carefully cleaned, fixed, refinished, and adjusted. The windchests for the Swell, Great, Choir, and Bourdon/Violincello received a full renovation including new top and bottom tables. The key action received special attention. Rollerboards were renewed with new cloth bushings and replacement replica “arms” where necessary. All new replica key action squares were accompanied by new trackers for all three manual divisions and the Pedal. The pneumatic assists for the bottom twenty notes of the Swell and Great were faithfully restored. Once in place, each pneumatic was carefully adjusted for proper function.
This project also included the return of the feeder bellows and hand-pump mechanism. The original feeder bellows were still in the gallery at the time of disassembly. They had been removed from their location underneath the reservoir to make way for the previous blower windline. A new blower was provided inside of a silencing cabinet on the right-hand side of the organ. A new windline and curtain valve were designed and constructed to fit into the organ without alteration. Based on shadows and old screw holes, the new hand-pumping system mimics the original as closely as possible.
The most visible part of this project was the restoration of the thirty-five façade pipes.
The organ is featured on the cover of the May 2026 issue of The Diapason:
https://www.thediapason.com/sites/diapason/files/Diap0526_FullIssue.pdf
https://www.thediapason.com/content/cover-feature-wallace-co-restoration-hook-hastings-opus-1487
Builder’s website: wallacepipeorgans.com
Church website: stjosephsdc.org
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