THE DIAPASON FEBRUARY, 2007
Austin Organs Milestones 1893 – 1937 – 2007 Cover feature on pages 30–31
Copyright © THE DIAPASON. Used with permission. Cover feature: Austin Organs Milestones 1893 – 1937 – 2007
The old factory
pany was producing over 80 new pipe organs annually. This trend continued until the crash of 1929 and ensuing depression era. The company soldiered on, a bit weakened because of the lack of new business, tremendous overhead (the factory was expanded over three times from its original footprint), and company financing of new instruments to church- es, from which payments only dribbled in. In July 1935, THE DIAPASON pub- Key for the cover illustration lished the announcement that the Austin 1. Original factory building, 158 Wood- Organ Company would close its doors. land Street. Occupied from 1899–1937. The Austin mechanism 2. Opus 2, Sweetest Heart of Mary Non-specific Austin assets and raw mate- Church, Detroit, 2 manuals, 20 stops. Still in rials were sold, and remaining contracts regular service. early instruments, Opus 2 from 1894 organ continues to be heard in regular were completed (the final A.O.C. con- 3. Opus 500, Panama-Pacific Exhibition, for example, continue to play well year concerts and events. Dr. Carol Williams tract was number 1885). A few folks San Francisco, 4 manuals, 121 stops. Dam- after year. retains the position as Municipal remained to complete warranty work and aged in a 1989 earthquake, it remains in stor- A discussion of the Austin mecha- Organist, performing regularly to hun- move the Austin tools and machines into age awaiting completion of restoration and nism would easily consume an entire dreds (www.sosorgan.com). This organ storage. At this time, young Frederic installation. volume, but in digest form, the organ was originally built for the Panama-Cal- Basil Austin and long-time employee 4. Opus 2536, Trinity College Chapel, Hartford, 3 manuals, 62 stops. utilizes one manual motor (primary ifornia Exposition, before being re-gift- Harold Dubrule kept the fires burning 5. Opus 2719, Our Lady of Czestochowa, note action) for each note, or key, in a ed to the city. by completing some small rebuilds and Doylestown, Pennsylvania, 4 manuals, 65 division, and one stop action motor for Meanwhile, up the coast in San Fran- service jobs. It was this association that stops. each stop on a main windchest. The cisco, the Panama-Pacific Exposition in inspired John T. Austin’s nephew to con- 6. Opus 453, The Organ Pavilion, Balboa valves under each pipe are not leather San Francisco would open just two sider purchasing the company, a process Park, San Diego, 4 manuals, 62 stops. pouches, such as one might find in a months later and run concurrently with that was completed in 1937. 7. Opus 323, City Hall Auditorium, Port- Skinner, Möller, or other electro-pneu- the San Diego event. Austin was chosen land, Maine, 5 manuals, 124 stops. matic instrument, but in an Austin, they from a list of about 31 builders to con- The second Austin milestone: 8. Opus 2768, St. Mary’s College, Moraga, 1937—reorganization and move California, 4 manuals, 68 stops. are simply mechanical valves connected struct the organ for this exposition, and 9. Opus 2782, Fountain Street Church, by wooden trackers (yes, trackers!) to was given a stiff timeline: six months! It into a new facility Grand Rapids, Michigan, 4 manuals, 139 stops. the manual motor for each particular was completed the very morning that the The “new” Austin Organs, Incorporat- 10. The “new” factory building (1937), as note. This mechanism is reliable and exposition opened. When the exposition ed opened its doors in February of 1937. expanded several times. inherently self-adjusting. Springs and was concluded, the organ was moved to The transition from the old management Center: The Austin Universal Airchest felt guides allow wild changes in the Civic Auditorium. The city’s new to the new Austin was as seamless as logo, including the crest with the motto: Sci- humidity and temperature with no municipal organist, Edwin Lemare, could be expected. They were able to entia Artem Adjuvat. The motto and crest are degradation in performance. The whole specified scores of tonal and mechanical return most employees to their worksta- said to have been the design of former Austin employee Robert Hope-Jones. concept is, in a word, brilliant! changes that he required the Austin tions, however, in a scaled-down facility Background: The background is a blue- In 1899, perhaps the apex of the Company to complete upon re-installa- located directly behind the behemoth print, Opus 2786, Assumption Church, West- American Industrial Revolution, John tion. Of primary concern was the fact structure that had been home to the port, Connecticut. T. Austin was just 30 years old when he that the organ was being moved from a company for the previous 36 years. For moved into the facility on Woodland space that seated 3,000 to an auditorium the first few years, the company leased The first Austin milestone: Street in Hartford, Connecticut. Leg- with a capacity of over 10,000. The organ the property from G. F. Heublein & Bro. 1893—the first instrument end has it that that the crew (including had many years of fame, but fell to near- Distributors—liquor distributors for The Austin story begins like so many JTA) was installing the organ at the obscurity in the late 1950s. In 1963, the much of the East Coast, famous for their tales of European emigration. It was in Fourth Congregational Church (Opus Austin firm built a stunning black lacquer pre-mixed “Club Cocktails.” A wooden the year 1889 that young John T. 22, now the Liberty Christian Center) drawknob console. It saw a bit more use, guard mounted to an ancient band saw Austin sailed for the shores of the new when the factory in Detroit burned to but the horrific 1989 Loma Prieta earth- that is still in service in the Austin mill is world with a man he met who was vis- the ground. Actually, John T. Austin was quake rendered the organ silent. The actually a trespassing warning sign from iting England (the Austin family native in Woodstock, Ontario, supervising the organ sustained some damage due to the pre-1937 Heublein days. Within a soil) and was returning to California. construction of the first and only Austin falling debris. Funds were eventually few years, the property was purchased by The Austin family was considerably organ constructed by the Karn-Warren allocated to repair and re-install the the Austin corporation, and over the next well off: Jonathan Austin (the father) Company. The date of the fire was Feb- organ. The organ was returned to Hart- three decades the buildings were was a “gentleman farmer,” whose ruary 2, 1899 (the feast of Candlemas!). ford, and much work had been complet- expanded several times. hobby was tinkering with organs and On March 31 of that year, the Austin ed, but a few months into the project, a organbuilding. During the voyage, all Organ Company was incorporated in directive from the city ordered the organ of John’s money was liberated from his the state of Maine. The company actual- to be returned to San Francisco. It person before arriving in New York, ly signed a contract for a new organ on remains in storage beneath the city, presumably the result of the kindness March 1 of that year and rented factory much like that final scene of Indiana of his traveling companion! space in Boston—just down the street Jones’s Raiders of the Lost Ark! Penniless, he used his extraordinary from the first, soon-to-be Skinner organ Opus 558 would be the company’s wits to find his way to Michigan, and factory. The following August, the board first five-manual instrument, built for was immediately hired by the Farrand of directors authorized the acquisition the Medinah Temple (Masonic Lodge) & Votey firm in Detroit. In a few years’ of the Hartford facility. in Chicago. This organ also had a sister time, he had become plant superinten- The business moved along quickly. It stopkey console of four manuals. Dur- dent, and in his free time he developed would be safe to say that most instru- ing this period, the company production a concept for a new type of windchest. ments of this period were of moderate averaged over 60 new pipe organs a The new factory (current configuration) After building and servicing bar and size; literally dozens of three and four- year! The next major instrument would slider (tracker organ) windchests, and manual instruments were delivered be for the Eastman Theater (for the The original factory was rather certainly seeing many of the new elec- between 1900 and 1915. This was the Eastman School of Music); Opus 1010 foursquare—four stories, small foot- tro-pneumatic actions coming on the point in Austin’s history when some was a unique theatre organ—the largest print. Then a separate wood frame scene, he was convinced that there rather significant and interesting instru- ever—of 229 stops! It was, sadly, structure was built that served as an must be a better way. The folks at Far- ments were installed. For example: removed in the 1970s. There were addi- erecting room, then a fire, then the mill rand & Votey were not interested, so in Opus 323, The Kotzschmar Memorial tional notable instruments during this and new brick erecting room, additions 1893 he built and sold a new organ that Organ (www.foko.org) was built for the time: the University of Colorado to the main building that became pneu- he built at the Clough & Warren (reed City Hall in Portland, Maine. It was one received a four-manual, 119-stop instru- matic departments, more voicing organ) plant. of the first municipal organs installed in ment in 1922. The Cincinnati Music rooms, console and cabinet shop, etc. His concept was innovative, because the country. The organ has been played Hall awarded a contract for Opus 1109, The design department and metal pipe you could simply walk right into the and maintained with loving care. A an 87-stop instrument that utilized shop grew along the railroad tracks, windchest (he called it an airbox) and handsome, new five-manual drawknob much of the existing Hook & Hastings requiring the private rail siding to be service the complete mechanism. console was built for the organ by the pipework. Opus 1416, a four-manual moved. In the late 1960s, the final addi- Inside the airbox of many of these early Austin firm in 2000. instrument of 200 stops, was built for tion was the large shipping/receiving instruments were also the motor for the This organ was followed a few years the Sesquicentennial Exposition in and casting room. This expansion bellows and the electric (direct current) later by Opus 453, the Spreckels Organ Philadelphia. The final large concert required a somewhat more adventurous generator. He started selling these new in Balboa Park, San Diego, on New hall organ of this period, Opus 1627, move: purchase of land from the instruments with alacrity. It is an often- Year’s Eve, 1914. The largest and most four manuals and 102 stops, was built N.Y./N.H. & Hartford Railroad. Some- held belief that Austin organs have renowned outdoor organ, it was the gift for Hartford’s own Horace Bushnell how, it was pulled off; the centerline of tracker-like lifespan, and this is evi- of businessmen John D. Spreckels and Memorial Hall in 1929. the main rail appears to have been denced by the fact that several of these his brother Adolph B. Spreckels. The By the mid-1920s, Austin Organ Com- moved slightly north, and the siding was
30 THE DIAPASON Copyright © THE DIAPASON. Used with permission. completely eliminated. The sprawl of the factory now reached nearly 50,000 square feet. Sometimes it was not enough, but it is as efficient as any multi-story manufacturing space can be. A charming, vintage Otis elevator allows safe and uncomplicated material transport between floors. Systems throughout the factory are up to date, and have been carefully maintained by conscientious staff and the foresight of F. B. Austin’s son, Donald. Assuming the role of president in 1973, Don was a formidable figure in the organ industry. He was a very private person, well respected by his colleagues and employ- ees. Aside from his devotion to the com- pany and care of the physical plant, he maintained the Austin tradition of assid- Some current Austin personnel at work: (top row) Jordan Burill, Ginny Sica, Benton (Ozzie) Osgood, Rafael Ramos; (bottom uous design trends. row) Keith Taylor, Jadwiga Majewski, Stewart Skates, Colin Coderre & Tony Valdez The well-regarded voicer, David Broome, who retired as tonal director at Austin in 1998, describes the “Austin sound” as never one of extremes. Austin has, as he expresses it, not traditionally been a leader in any new tonal move- ment in organbuilding. That being said, the company has always built a well-bal- anced chorus. Even instruments from the 1930s, when so many of our hal- lowed builders (now gone) built the most tubby-sounding diapason chorus- es, one can hear the gentle articulation and effects of moderately scaled Austin pipework. We can argue about the sound of the vintage Austin trumpets and oboes, etc., but we never find reeds Lathe in one corner of the machine like them—they not only remain in shop tune, but have good, steady tonal color as well. The construction of reed pipes In 1999, Don Austin retired from was just one of the more than four active participation in the daily opera- dozen patents that the Austin Company tion of the company. He appointed his was granted through the years. daughter Kimberlee as president. He Factory superintendent & designer continued as CEO until his death in James Bennett at work in the latter role. the fall of 2004. In early 2005, Kimber- lee Austin resigned her position with the company. On an otherwise pleasant Monday in Michael Fazio (l), Richard Taylor (r) March of 2005, I received a phone call from Trinity College Organist John seminaries, and for a short time was a Rose. He told me that as of that after- novice in a small Franciscan religious noon, the Austin Company would be order. Leaving all that behind, I applied closing its doors. I was shocked. It felt science to music, and was working with as though my slightly peculiar but lov- Berkshire Organs in its final years, able old uncle had passed away. (We where I discovered the absolute won- were at that time competitors, of der of the technology that transmits course.) We wondered how in the world music from the organist, through the this could happen. Austin was always so console, windchests and eventually Daniel Kingman (senior voicer) and . . . solid. The truth of the matter was evokes sound from the pipework. Antonio Valdez from the pipeshop at the that, in fact, the company did not Following the demise of Berkshire Mormon Tabernacle, repairing pipework The company motto—Scientia Artem “close”, but just temporarily ceased Organs in 1989, we formed American from Aeolian-Skinner Opus 1075 Adjuvat—was not just a clever market- manufacturing new organs. There was Classic Organ Company. While remain- ing concept for the Austin family; it was no bankruptcy, no liquidation of tooling ing a modest-sized operation, we com- right now (Opus 2790) and other Austin a way of life. Many of the machines in or assets. Don Austin’s wife, Marilyn, pleted several new instruments and projects. We have also recently com- the factory that are used for Austin were retained the services of business consul- built a respectable service business. We pleted extensive repairs and historic made right here. So, we have the tants; the result of their consultation located the workshops in sleepy renovation on several sets of vintage machines that repair the machines, was basically a public offering in the Chester, Connecticut in 2000. Aeolian-Skinner pipework at the Mor- right here in the factory! The now form of a letter sent to nearly every We came into the Austin picture dur- mon Tabernacle. We continue to cast organbuilder or supplier in the country, ing the summer of 2005. Through a our own pipe metal, and manufacture while Marilyn and a few employees series of events, we received a letter both flue and reed pipes. kept the phones answered and made proposing financial investment or pur- The company is celebrating the mile- small parts for existing instruments. chase. After several weeks of soul- stones of 114 years since the first Austin searching and discussions, we were able organ was built, and 70 years since reor- The third Austin milestone: to come to an agreement. In January ganization and move into the current 2007—a new direction 2006, we purchased the assets and lia- factory. We are on solid footing and in In the late 1960s, Richard Taylor, a bilities of the company. Almost immedi- good shape to complete projects large former Aeolian-Skinner employee and ately a dozen employees returned to and small, with confident vision of sig- New England Conservatory graduate, their benches, sales representatives nificant growth and expansion. arrived at Austin Organs to assume the arrived back at the door, and the com- In quiet moments around the factory, position of the soon-to-retire Les Bar- pany has begun to rebuild. Several new you can hear the faint, yet distinct foot- rows, who had been purchasing manager people have since been added to the steps of John, Basil, F.B., and Don for 59 years. After a couple of years roster of Austin employees. The new Austin, as their spirits permeate every working in the plant and in the service management aims to build team spirit, process and instrument. The memories department, the day finally arrived when stay nimble, and remain rational in the of so many gifted and wonderful people he would occupy a small desk in the cor- face of terror! who have literally spent their lives here ner of the factory offices on the second Among the projects completed this continue to affect our days. They are all floor. At the rather generous rate of year have been dozens of action orders a constant reminder of our commitment $2.00 an hour, he was fairly pleased with for existing Austin organs (often deliv- and challenge to continue Austin’s her- his position. In the early 1970s, there was ered ahead of schedule). We designed, itage in American organbuilding. We a brief drop in organ sales, and Don built and delivered a mahogany four- are humbled to bring new life into this Edward Dubrule at work on the amaz- Austin decided to cut back in every manual drawknob console in 62 days. It venerable institution, and the many calls ing pedal action machine department. He decided that there was was constructed on the traditional and notes we receive encourage us to no need for a purchasing manager. So, Austin steel-frame system. We com- move forward to celebrate whatever famous seven-headed monster that is Mr. Taylor moved on to other industries, pleted a major project on an instrument might be the “next milestone.” used to build pedal and stop action among them, purchasing manager–mili- in Lansing, Michigan, which required a —Michael Brian Fazio blocks was originally built in the front tary operations for Colt Firearms. By the new console, utilizing the existing
FEBRUARY, 2007 31 Copyright © THE DIAPASON. Used with permission.