DETROIT (WXYZ) — The Detroit Masonic Temple is the largest Masonic Temple in the world, and one of its finest jewels may be a nearly 100-year-old pipe organ that hasn't been played in concert in about 20 years.
However, it will be played this month at a fundraising concert to help restore it.
Two men who are the principal chorus behind the passion project invited me up into the rafters to see the impressive pipes for myself.
The powerful pipe organ is a rare, "unaltered" Skinner Organ nestled in the Masonic Temple's Cathedral Theatre since 1926.
Renowned organist Stephen J. Warner is practicing for the organ's first public concert in two decades.
"We have some beautiful strings and flutes. So you can see I’m actually missing a lot of notes," Warner told me, after playing some keys that were barely audible. "This is actually the next project is to restore what’s called the Primary."
Warner should know. He's the man tasked with restoring the organ, and he's pulling out all the stops to do it right.
He's currently the Director of Music at Jefferson Avenue Presbyterian Church and the owner of an organ restoration company — Stephen J. Warner & Associates Pipe Organ Services.
The work is not for the faint of heart.
I also got a look at the "Great Division" of pipes – literally one of five cavernous chambers hidden inside the theatre's walls and ceilings.
Warner said there are over 4,000 pipes in the instrument, and each will be carefully cleaned. But he explained that the real work lies below.
"We just have to take it apart and refurbish all of the perishable materials which are basically leather and felt and cork," Warner said.
“All of the action underneath all of these pipes are very small leather diaphragms which have to open to play them, and also another set of leather diaphragms which open to control them.” Warner said.
“So, what caused the need for this restoration?” I asked.
"Well, the first impetus was actually water that came from the floor above through this light fixture right onto this chest," Warner said, pointing to a wooden part of the organ that is holds dozens of pipes.
Returning the organ to its original glory will be costly.
And that's where Brandon Langford comes in. He is the Curator of Organs at Detroit Masonic Temple.
He's a lover of music, a bagpiper himself, and is possibly best known for spending more than 1,300 hours last year painstakingly restoring two antique chandeliers in the Masonic Temple's Crystal Ballroom. Now, he wants a full stop on the pipe organ's decline.
“When I found out that this was just kind of sitting in disrepair, I decided to start a nonprofit to fund the restoration because this instrument is so deserving of a restoration," Langford said.
One of the organ's two consoles is located in his office.
"This is a Skinner organ. What does that mean?" I asked.
"Skinner organs were considered to be the best when they were made in the 1920s," he said.
Ernest M. Skinner is acclaimed for advancing the organ's electro-pneumatic action. The pipework can be located in just about any nook of the building while the consoles holding the keys and pedals could be hundreds of feet away operated by a single organist.
“Normally when you would restore an organ, you might convert it to completely electric," Langford said. But he aims not to change this organ.
“As far as we know, there are only a handful of these that are still in the original condition," he added.
Langford said the organ cost $48,500 in the 1920s. He estimates it will cost about $500,000 to restore it.
And that tedious job will take quite some time.
"I think the project will probably carry on for a good decade," Warner said. "I think it's going to be taking care of just, you know, one little section at a time."
And it will be music to their ears when the pipe organ's impressive sound is fully restored.
You can hear the playable parts of the organ in action at a special fundraising concert this month:
Aaron Jonah Lewis & Stephen J. Warner
Ragtime Banjo & Pipe Organ Fundraising Concert
Sunday, November 12
3:00 p.m.
Masonic Cathedral Theatre
500 Temple Street
Detroit, MI 48201
(313)548-1320
Doors open at 2:30 p.m.
Tickets are $35 and you can buy them on the Masonic Temple website, or you can donate to the Masonic Temple Organ Restoration program here.
