some bad news...

[smilingvox]

On the night of July 8th, a large portion of the Steere & Son, at New Baptist Temple (Brooklyn, NY), was lost in a fire. It was built in 1917 and one the largest unaltered Steeres, if not the largest.

By the looks of the footage I watched, the fire was in the Epistle side (Schermerhorn Av. side), where the Swell (?) was. I'm guessing that the Great, Choir, and Pedal, on the other side, are okay. The Echo is in the far corner from where the fire started.

I don't like to go by what the media say. I, myself, would talk to someone at the church to get the real stuff.

[Contratrombone64]

so .... did you talk to the church and get the facts?

[smilingvox]

Not yet. I'm going to try tomorrow.

[teddy]

Always sad when something like this happens. Hope it was not arson. There is nothing worse than mindless destruction.

teddy

[smilingvox]

No, it's not arson. It was something I suspected... electrical. Started in the Swell Organ chamber, but not in the division itself. A lot of older buildings in NYC have wiring that's out of code. Same thing happened at St. John the Divine's gift shop, back in 2001.

I spoke to Keith Bigger, curator. He said that the only damage to the rest of the organ was smoke damage. The console sits in the middle of the choir loft, but was untouched by flame.

An organ company in NJ is being considered for rebuilding. I think Keith said that he has records on the pipe scales, so plans call for replicating the original Swell. Plus, there's a Steere in Jersey with a similar Swell for reference, as well. The church was well insured, so they're looking at rebuilding soon.

[wljmrbill]

A blessing that they were insured as I am sure it will be expensive to replicate.