Parishioners at Christ the King Episcopal Church, on the northwest side, will soon enjoy the unique sound of a rare instrument: a pipe organ.
And this is not just any pipe organ. It is a historic Aeolian-Skinner Opus 1192, one of only three ever built in Arizona. Aeolian-Skinner was a renowned American organ builder that went out of business in 1972.
"We are preserving an instrument that is impossible to re-create … and to have the only one built in Tucson, we were fortunate," said Mike Smith, rector of Christ the King Episcopal Church, 2800 W. Ina Road.
The church is planning a "Procession of the Pipes" celebration as part of its July 18 service to kick off the installation of the organ. The organ will first be played in August, and the first public recital will be in October.
The other two Aeolian-Skinner Opus 1192 pipe organs are in Tempe and Phoenix, said Smith.
People are also reading…
In Tucson, the Episcopal Parish of St. Michael and All Angels, 602 N. Wilmot Road, installed an Aeolian-Skinner Opus 1352 a few years ago. That organ was originally built in 1959 for a church in Cincinnati.
"(In the country) there are many, but in Arizona there's not too many," said Larry Wilson, the parish organist.
Wilson, like other Christ the King Episcopal Church parishioners, is excited about the new instrument for worship, but he has a special reason.
The new pipe organ, bought for $22,000, was acquired from a real estate developer who bought it within a property formerly owned by First Church of Christ Scientist in Tucson, and Wilson used to play it during his college years.
"I always loved it, and this is a much better room to listen to it. It has a better resonance, and that just makes it sound better. It's a fine organ," he said.
The church bought the pipe organ in 2008, and an organ builder, Michael O'Sullivan, oversaw its dismantling and placed it in storage in Marana.
O'Sullivan has worked to restore the pipe organ. When complete, the organ will be 21 feet wide and 18 feet long and will have all ranks originally specified by Aeolian-Skinner, with some additional ranks, including one from the 1950s bought on eBay, said Wilson.
A rank is a set of pipes, and each rank has a common timbre and volume.
"When it's done, it will be 26 ranks," he said. "The biggest organ in Tucson is at St. Michael and it's 65 ranks. We are a much smaller church - we don't need more."
The new organ will have 636 pipes, Wilson said. To raise money, parishioners have been "buying" pipes. They cost about $75 each. Those people will be honored in a Book of Pipes.
The majority of the money, though, has come from one parishioner who directs a foundation, said Smith.
Wilson said the church is not only doing its part to preserve the Aeolian-Skinner organ for generations to come, it was also time to upgrade the church's 15-year-old Allen organ.
"I'm predicting this one will last about a hundred years," Wilson said.
Contact reporter Mariana Alvarado at 573-4597 or malvarado@azstarnet.com
Nancy Guthrie's Tucson neighbors: Life with streamers 'unbearable'
