Vestavia Hills, AL
Residence: Eugene Blackstone

Notes from the owner, posted to PIPORG-L September 1, 1997

As of October 1, I have accepted a new position with the Cleveland
Clinic in Cleveland, OH.  The toughest part of making this decision was
the pipe organ.  Richard believes that it is, then, even more important
to document this instrument before it get dismantled and moved (and I
have hardly begun to think how this will be accomplished).  Of course,
the problem is that this makes for a long post, and the material should
be put into the archives rather than posted to the list.  Maybe under
the circumstances I can be forgiven this one time.
 
Rather than give the stop list, let me just spell out the pipe work
with a few comments.  Unless otherwise stated, the term "new" means
that this was newly constructed pipework by Tommy Anderson (Boston)
while "reworked" generally means pipes were disassembled and
reconstructed by Tommy.  The specifications and the subsequent voicing
of the new pipework was accomplished by John Hendriksen (Boston).  So
in specification, pipe construction, and voicing, this is essentially a
new Aeolian-Skinner instrument configured, constructed, and voiced by
former A-S people.
 
Chest construction/winding was by Roger Colby (antiphonal by Bill
Durst).  Its action is electro-mechanical throughout (Kimber-Allen for
the most part; antiphonal Justin Matters), using full 2" toeboards. The
instrument is controlled by a Devtronix computer and software system
(table look-up type system).  The four manual console is from Aeolian
Opus 1664, built in 1927 -- solid walnut -- that was salvaged from the
fire at its original location, White Chapel Memorial Cemetary, Detroit,
MI.  It had been partially electrified by (name escapes me, but
Barbara's former husband -- she did the Skinner story).  The ozone used
for ridding the Chapel of smoke caused all the cotton insulation to
fall off, as reduced the pneumatics to a pile of dust.  Thus the
console interior was completely stripped, Peterson linear pots were
attached to the shoes, Harris drawknobs were installed in one jamb, and
the Klann drawknobs and tilt tablets retained in the other and across
the top.  Harris made reversed the position of the drawknob switching
so that the musical "cough" heard in some installations that have
switched from pneumatic to electronic is avoided--an important detail.
 
Visual design/layout of the instrument was by Randy Wagner, but with
considerable input from the residence architect, John Fuller -- the
house and organ were designed in concert with one another.  Thus, the
instrument is not "encased" (though in a house you might say the house
is the case!), and although there is cantilevering, this was done using
modern architectural methods so that one is not aware of it.  The organ
itself "gobbles up" roughly 14" by 12' of space (pedal)--that is, it is
"all 'way up in the air" so that it intrudes little on the living space
of the house (except for the console, but Aeolian consoles are very,
very shallow front to back).
 
I should acknowledge that both my parents invested 6 months of "slave
labor" in the wiring of the main organ and the pipe racking.  My family
and I have also invested uncounted time in the project since its
inception in 1971.  The house was completed in 1976, the organ first
played Easter Sunday, 1988, and the antiphonal was installed  in
1995.  After hurricane damage in the fall of 1995, the instrument was
cleaned (under a State Farm Insurance settlement) and made more
mechanically reliable by Richard Schneider and his colleague (I have
not asked permission to divulge name).