Our Organs

Skinner Opus 712

The Skinner organ at St. Paul's represents Ernest Skinner's creativity at its peak.  He was 63 years old in 1929 and had worked in the organ industry since 1886, founding his own company in 1901.  Dedicated in the weeks before the Great Depression began, Opus 712 represents one of the last instruments personally supervised, constructed, and installed by Ernest Skinner.  Unlike other instruments of the 1920s and '30s, Skinner's design provides complete tonal families necessary for organ literature, and it accompanies all types of vocal music so well because of its excellent voicing and expressive capabilities.  The contract for the organ as we know it was signed on May 29, 1928;  the final cost including display pipes was $35,875.  The organ contained 51 ranks, 51 stops, and 3,473 pipes which ranged in length from 1/4 inch to 32 feet.  Robert Edward Lasater donated the Skinner organ to St. Paul's as a memorial to his daughter, Nancy Margaret Lasater.

The 1990s witnessed a revival of interest in vintage Skinner organs.  For instance, Old South Church in Boston discarded a new instrument in favor of a mammoth 1921 Skinner, and Princeton University restored its 1927 Skinner, discarding later additions.  St. Paul's Church engaged the A. Thompson-Allen Company of New Haven, Connecticut to restore the 1928 Skinner organ at a cost of $401,940.  The work took 18 months, beginning in January 1996, and the restored organ was dedicated at a Festival Choral Evensong on October 5, 1997.

C.B. Fisk, Inc. Opus 131
Schreiner Pipe Organs, Ltd., Opus 6

The Samson-Loetzer Memorial Organ was dedicated on February 26, 2006.  It was the generous gift of Miss June Louise Samson, Professor Emerita of Music at Salem College.  It was given in honor of Miss Samson's grandparents and parents, Christian Ernest Loetzer, Louisa Esther Bacher Loetzer, Junius Hayden Samson, and Ida Edna Loetzer Samson.

The organ is comprised of 18 voices, 21 ranks, and 1,160 pipes.  The organ arrived in December 2004, and parishioners helped with the unloading of the organ by carrying pipes and all the other parts of the organ.  The final voicing took place in January, February, June, and October 2005.  The organ has had the time to become acclimated to its environment, and it is now perfectly suited to this marvelous space.