Philadelphia

2016 PHILADELPHIA THE ORGAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY’S 6OTH ANNIVERSARY PHOTOGRAPHY LEN LEVASSEUR Longwood Gardens ~ The Main Conservatory OHS 61st Annual Convention Guide by Michael Krasulski WELCOME BACK! AFTER TWENTY YEARS, the annual con- places where anyone could live freely and well as the natural resources found in its vention of the Organ Historical Society worship, or not, as they saw fit. So suc- countryside. Such exploitations allowed returns to Philadelphia. History, culture, cessful was Penn’s “Great Experiment,” Philadelphia to become a center of ship- and a vibrant city provide an exciting the Quakers soon found themselves a ping and railroad transportation, textiles, backdrop for the 2016 OHS conference minority in their own colony as non- chemicals, pharmaceuticals, manufactur- attendees. The city and its environs pro- Quaker English, Scots and Irish, French ing, banking, and insurance. Those well- vide a unique blend of the classic and the Huguenots, and Germans settled in Phila- heeled Philadelphians founded, funded, modern, the old and the new. All of this delphia and the surrounding countryside. and endowed institutions of learning and and more is in store for you and your com- In this milieu of religious toleration and healing as well as their religious congre- panions from June 26 to July 2, 2016. ethnic diversity, a leading city grew. Phila- gations. Found within the walls of the var- Metropolitan Philadelphia is rich in delphia was once the second-largest city ious congregations across the region are history and central to the founding of in the British Empire, once the capital of pipe organs of the highest quality, wait- the nation. Although Philadelphia is com- the United States, once the nation’s larg- ing to be heard and appreciated by a new monly referred to as the Quaker City, the est city, and once the capital of the Com- generation of enthusiasts. first Europeans to settle permanently monwealth of Pennsylvania. As the city was a center of manufac- were the Swedes in the 1640s. William As the centers of American politics and turing, it should come as no surprise that Penn arrived some forty years later, and commerce shifted elsewhere, 18th- and many of these instruments were made Philadelphia came into being. Penn, a 19th-century Philadelphians grew rich locally. Builders such as Henry Knauff, Sr. Quaker, envisioned his city and colony as exploiting its position as a leading port as and Jr., William E. Haskell, Bates & Cully, C. Barnes, the collection includes some On MONDAY, the focus of the con- of the most important works by Renoir, vention will be centered in and near the Van Gogh, and Matisse. city’s Society Hill neighborhood, includ- Further to the east is the Indepen- ing Third, Scots, and Mariner’s Presbyte- dence National Historical Park. This park rian Church, also known as “Old Pine.” includes Independence Hall and the Lib- Old Pine Street Presbyterian Church erty Bell. To the north of the Mall is the was founded in 1768 and is the oldest National Constitution Center. The neigh- Presbyterian edifice in the city. Inside borhoods that border Independence this Greek revival building, we will National Historical Park are Old City and hear the 1892 J.W. Steere & Sons organ, Society Hill. They are a reminder that Op. 344; this instrument was relo- while Philadelphia is steeped in history, cated from Robert Whiting’s estate in the city is still very much alive. Old City is Schwenksville, Pa., and originally built located next to Independence Mall and for the First Universalist Society, Elgin, still boasts charming cobblestone streets Ill. We travel about one block to the 1758 and plenty of 18th-century charm. Visi- Georgian-style St. Peter’s Church (Epis- tors and residents alike love the neigh- copal) to hear its 1931 Skinner organ, borhood for its fashionable boutiques, Op. 862. The unmistakable pipe case great restaurants, eclectic galleries and in the gallery dates from 1767 and was theaters, and vibrant nightlife. created for the parish’s first permanent Society Hill is to the south of Inde- organ, built by Philip Feyring between pendence Mall and is one of the city’s 1763 and 1767. When the organ was most sought-after neighborhoods. In the colonial period, Society Hill was the central residential district in the city. By the late 19th century, the neighborhood slipped into a state of decline. Yet many of the neighborhood’s historic buildings remained, which inspired city planners to Carmelite Monastery of Philadelphia craft a plan to revive Society Hill and help Hook & Hastings, Opus 1977 (1902) convince people to reconsider the con- veniences of city living. The experiment and Hilborne Roosevelt built organs here worked. Space does not permit a com- and delivered them to a nationwide mar- plete list of activities and sights to see in ket. Examples from several local manufac- Philadelphia. If you are looking for more turers, as well as nationally known build- to do, ask a local. ers such as Boston’s E. & G.G. Hook & Hast- Convention registration opens on ings and Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company SUNDAY with free time and an invitation and Hartford’s Austin Organ Company will for small groups to experience a private be highlighted during the convention. visit to a du Pont estate. Hear Aeolian The cultural and historical sites are lo- Op. 1512 (1921) in a program featuring cated near the heart of Center City. The Stowkowski’s legendary DuoArt roll. After world-famous Wanamaker Organ at Ma- dinner on your own the Convention offi- cy’s Department Store and the associated cially opens with the four-manual Austin noonday concerts are certainly enough organ, Op. 1416 in the 1928–1929 Irvine to draw any OHS convention attendee to Auditorium of the University of Pennsyl- Center City. While you are here, there are vania. Just a short walk from the conven- other sites worthy of a look: The Philadel- tion headquarters hotel (the Sheraton phia Museum of Art, or the “Parthenon Philadelphia at 3549 Chestnut Street), on the Parkway,” is a world-renowned Irvine Auditorium was designed by Phil- museum located at the end of the Ben- adelphia architect Horace Trumbauer in jamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia’s the style of the French monastery Mont Champs-Elysées. The museum’s west en- Saint Michel. The 1926 Austin was built for trance looks toward City Hall, and these the Sesquicentennial International Exhibi- steps were made famous in a scene from tion in Philadelphia. After the Exhibition, the movie “Rocky” (1978). Several blocks publishing magnate Cyrus Curtis pur- to the south of the Philadelphia Museum chased the organ, and he subsequently of Art is the Barnes Foundation. Found- donated the instrument to the University Highway Tabernacle Church ed by pharmaceutical magnate Albert of Pennsylvania. Hilborne L. Roosevelt, Opus 148 (1884) estates line Germantown Avenue, the neighborhood’s “main street.” German- town was the site of a Revolutionary War battle (a British victory) and the birthplace of the American abolitionist movement. While in Germantown, we will visit St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. The congregation was founded in 1811, making it rather new by Germantown standards, and the present Gothic-style edifice was conse- crated in 1876. C.C. Michell, in conjunction with Cole & Woodberry, built the organ in 1894. From Germantown we head to North Broad Street, and the city’s West Oak Lane neighborhood, to visit the Carmelite Mon- astery of the Discalced Nuns. This Hook & Hastings organ, Op. 1977, originally built for the First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Englewood, N.J., was relocated and rebuilt by Patrick J. Murphy in 2002. After our visit to the monastery, we head north on Old York Road, across the city line, to Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel in suburban Elkins Park. Founded in 1847, “K.I.,” as it is affection- ately known, is Philadelphia’s fourth-oldest Jewish congregation and its first Holy Trinity Church reformed congregation. Formerly located Hook & Hastings, Opus 1524 (1892) in North Philadelphia, K.I. relocated to its present campus in 1955. At K.I. we will restored in 1991, David Harris, of Whit- Monday evening we are back in Cen- have lunch and then hold our Annual tier, Calif, designed and built a new ter City to hear the 2006 Dobson organ, Meeting, followed by a concert that will console in the Aeolian-Skinner style. Op. 76, at Verizon Hall in the Kimmel Cen- be performed on their three-manual 1961 Five blocks to the west we explore the ter for the Performing Arts. Designed by Austin, Op. 2348. We will then continue non-English heritage of colonial Phil- the Uruguayan architect Rafael Viñoly, the north into Montgomery County and visit adelphia. Built in 1789, Holy Trinity Kimmel Center and Verizon Hall is the first the Bryn Athyn Cathedral, the episcopal Church at Sixth and Spruce Streets is the U.S. major concert hall to open in the 21st seat of the General Church of the New third-oldest Catholic parish in the city. century. The elegant cello-shaped audi- Jerusalem. This imposing early Gothic- The parish was established to serve the torium combines warmth and richness style structure, reminiscent of Gloucester city’s burgeoning German community. of design within extraordinary sightlines Cathedral, was designed by famous Bos- In fact, Holy Trinity was the first Ger- and acoustically advanced technologies. ton architect Ralph Adams Cram. John man national Roman Catholic parish in TUESDAY takes us north to the city Pitcairn, industrial magnate and president the United States. Conference attend- limits and beyond into the immediate sub- of the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company, ees will hear its 1892 Hook & Hastings urbs in Montgomery County.

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