Noteworthy: Restoration of historic pipe organ reaches a milestone

CEDAR RAPIDS A restoration that is breathing new life into a historic pipe organ at Coe College took a major step forward last week, when the lungs of the instrument were reinstalled after a year of repair.

The airtight maze of metal ducts and two large turbines were installed in the new environmentally controlled blower room beneath the Sinclair Auditorium stage. The blower provides the air, or wind, that makes the sounds for the Skinner organ.

Doug Cornell from Climate Engineers checks the fit of segments of pipe as he works in the organ chamber in Sinclair Auditorium at Coe College. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette-KCRG)

This is the lungs of the colossus, said Jeff Weiler, a 1981 Coe graduate and organ curator based in Chicago who is leading the restoration. What this represents is the first major phase of a multiphase, multiyear project that will restore this instrument to its 1929 condition.

Its important for the college and the Cedar Rapids community to understand that they are home to one of the most important pipe organs in the world, Weiler said.

Its an enormous cultural asset, he said. Its iconic in terms of its heritage value.

Constructed by esteemed builder Ernest M. Skinner, considered the best of the best in American organ building, it will be one of few Skinner organs in the country to be fully restored upon completion of this project in several years, Weiler said. And the Coe organ represents the work of the Skinner firm at the zenith of the company, he said.

Skinner organs are no longer made. To build something like this today would cost millions of dollars, and certain materials used in the instrument are no longer available, said Weiler, a Traer native.

The old blower room was located in an unsuitable environment, next to where steam entered the building, he said. Burst steam pipes on several occasions caused water and mold damage to some of the old blower components, so a few portions were rebuilt with new materials.

But the rest of the blowers original parts were restored in this project, Weiler said. The blower also will be restored to full voices, since the instruments power was tamped down in the move to Sinclair Auditorium in 1952.

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Noteworthy: Restoration of historic pipe organ reaches a milestone