MOUNT VERNON — Christopher Liberati has been the pastor at Gay Street United Methodist Church for only 10 months, but in that time, a significant amount of money has been invested inside the church.
The project with the highest price tag so far has been the church’s pipe organ, costing roughly $500,000. The church’s first pipe organ was built in 1886 by the A.B. Felgemaker Company of Erie, Pennsylvania, costing $1,800 — a stark contrast to today’s price.
“We decided we are fortunate to have a substantial investment of money for the church,” said Ken Grove, chair of the church’s board of trustees. “So we decided to borrow from ourselves.”
The investment Grove mentioned comes from members of the church who invested into the church’s endowment fund or left part of their estate to the church.
The organ was rebuilt where the current church resides in 1926, adding a three-manual console and increasing the size to 24 ranks. Between the 70s and 90s, tonal additions and changes were made and the console was converted to a multi-level control system and solid state coupler, according to the Muller Pipe Organ Co.
The organ was in need of repairs, and it was time to invest in the church’s future a generation ahead.
The new organ’s design meets the acoustical and musical requirements of the church, Grove said. The pipes allow a richness and warmth not found in an electronic organ.
About five years ago the conversations began on if the church was going to obtain a new organ, Liberati said. The organ committee within the church brought the recommendation forward to install a new pipe organ roughly two to three years ago, which passed, he said.
The organ is designed to have 42 ranks — 17 of the 42 were reconditioned and reused from the 1886 and 1926 organs.
A rank is a family of pipes, which are alike throughout the keyboard and usually consists of 61 pipes on the manuals and 32 on the pedals, Liberati said.
When all is said and done, the new pipe organ will have 2,442 pipes, compared to the original 1,400 pipes.
The church is currently waiting for the organ’s reed pipes to come in. Once those pipes arrive, the organ will be complete, Liberati said. The expected date for the reed pipes to arrive is between the summer and fall.
A couple of the ranks the church received came from a cathedral in Cincinnati, Liberati said, where an organ was being retired.
The organ isn’t being used for worship currently due to total work that needs done on each pipe, which will be completed next week, Liberati said. Instead, the church is using a baby grand piano for its hymns.
“In the fall when we get the reed pipes in they’ll have to install them and do another session of tonal work to get those pipes tuned to the space.”
A collection of gold pipes can be seen on the walls of the worship hall, acting as display pipes for the church. Behind, there’s several pipes ranging in size that play notes produced by a blower air system in the basement.
Air travels through the duct underneath the organ, where channels direct the air to particular pipes.
Around 500 pounds of structural steel holds the pipes along the walls, Liberati said.
Liberati sees the new organ as an investment in the future of the church and community.
“This is the last or probably the last organ this church will ever invest in because it’s built for a lifetime, a hundred years or more,” he said.
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