David E. Wallace & Co., LLC, Pipe Organ Builders, Gorham, Maine
Hook & Hastings informs the design of Wallace & Co. Opus 81
Among the most enjoyable aspects of being a pipe organ builder is that every project is different. The churches, communities, and geographic locations are all unique. Wallace & Co. has had an exciting few years with instruments across the East Coast. Our most recent projects are superb examples of the quality craftsmanship from the Wallace & Co. team. We have been working on a combination of old and new mechanical-action organs, each discipline informing the other. All organ projects have a distinct history, and it is gratifying to revive and build such storied instruments.
We have had the good fortune to renovate several Hook & Hastings organs from the latter part of the nineteenth century. In recent years our shop has fully restored or participated in work on H&H opuses 1129, 1176, 1178 and 1192, all from the year 1883! During this period Hook & Hastings was producing between 75 and 100 organs a year. A dizzying pace that no organbuilder today can fathom. This was possible in part because of their substantial workforce and the uniformity of their designs. Four of the H&H organs that passed through the Wallace & Co. shop had manual windchests that could have been interchangeable. There is no doubt that they were made from the same scale stick and pipe-layout templates. From this repetition comes confidence and reliability.
Saint Alban’s Episcopal Church, Staten Island, New York City
Hook & Hastings Opus 1192 was built for the Baptist Church in Trumansburg, New York, and was the penultimate project of the year 1883 for Hook & Hastings. Opus 1192 was removed from the Trumansburg church by the Organ Clearing House in 1984 and was reconditioned for placement at Saint Alban’s Episcopal Church, Staten Island, New York, by Angerstein & Associates. The 1984 work included retrofitting the organ with an appropriate size double-rise Hutchings reservoir to replace the missing Hook & Hastings wind system. That project also included the redecorating of the façade pipes to beautifully match the organ’s new home.
The organ served well at Saint Alban’s until key action and wind issues became problematic. The renovation of the organ included design and construction of new feeder bellows and hand-pumping mechanism, a new blower installed within the organ’s casework, internal lighting, and a new tuning access ladder. Each piece of the organ was cleaned, repaired where necessary, or replaced with a replica part made new in the Wallace & Co. shop. The key action for the Pedal division and the two manual divisions was renewed by Rebecca Schnell to make the action crisp and responsive.
Opus 1192 was returned to Saint Alban’s in the spring of 2023 and reassembled with the able assistance of the Organ Clearing House crew. Tonal finishing was completed by Nick Wallace and Nami Hamada. Opus 1192 is a Hook & Hastings catalog Model 7 and was fully documented during our restoration. Knowing the standardization that Hook employed, this organ has become a guide for our shop when we encounter Hook & Hastings organs of similar size, vintage, and specification.
Saint James Episcopal Church, Prouts Neck, Scarborough, Maine
By the end of the 2022 summer season, the Hook & Hastings organ, Opus 1763 (1897), at Saint James Episcopal Church in the Prouts Neck section of Scarborough, Maine, had reached the point where restoration was critical. Saint James is a charming Maine summer church perched along the rugged coastline just a few hundred feet down the gravel road from renowned illustrator Winslow Homer’s studio. The organ had suffered from years of rodent damage and a round of tonal modernization in the early 1970s. The rodent debris and damage had made the key action hard to play and adjust, had left scores of chewed pipes silent, and had made the inside of the organ a very unpleasant place to be.
The attempt to bring this nineteenth-century stock model Hook & Hastings into the vagaries of the 1960s Organ Reform Movement left the organ with only four of its original stops. The Great Open Diapason and Octave were re-scaled to be louder while the Swell Stopped Diapason treble was joined with the Great Melodia bass. The Pedal 16′ Bourdon was left untouched. The remaining Hook & Hastings ranks were discarded and replaced with mismatched pipework from a myriad of sources. In multiple stops, pipes from various sources were used within a single rank.
Although Opus 1763 was built fourteen years after the Saint Alban’s organ, many of the internal components were identical, including the original scaling of the pipework. Since Staten Island was fully documented, we were able to re-create all of the missing metal pipework made to original specification by Shires Organ Pipe Makers of Leeds, England. A new Great 8′ Melodia was made by Nick Wallace, mirroring the Saint Alban’s Melodia, to complete the tonal restoration of the Great division. The Stopped Diapason was moved back to its original placement in the Swell division along with five new tenor pipes made in our shop to replace the pipes that had been removed. The original Swell 8′ Oboe was also discarded in the 1970s. The harsh seacoast environment undoubtedly corroded the Oboe’s brass components. To avoid a similar fate for a new Oboe, we chose a nineteenth-century James Cole labial Oboe to fill the spot. The restored pipes are an excellent fit tonally, and there is no brass to turn green in the salty air.
The key action for Opus 1763 was significantly renovated with materials modeled after the original Hook & Hastings components. The new parts have stainless steel pins and precision bearings to avoid the corrosion present in the original squares and trackers. All of the key action was carefully adjusted to be in the proper playing position to mitigate the former stiff and cumbersome feel of the action. At the same time, a new silent blower enclosed in a silencing cabinet was installed alongside the restored original hand pumping mechanism. During the 1970s revisions, the Swell to Great Octave coupler had been removed from service. It was carefully repaired and, with re-created stop action, successfully returned to the organ. The organ was equipped with new console lighting as well as a wealth of new interior lights. To stave off the mice and squirrels, the chamber was equipped with ultrasonic anti-rodent devices.
The tonal finishing was completed in time for the 2024 summer season at Saint James by Nick Wallace, David Wallace, and John Morlock. The Portland chapter of the American Guild of Organists held a celebration and demonstration of the organ in October 2024.
The intent was to bring the organ back to the quality of construction and the diversity of sound that the organ had when it was originally installed in 1897. With careful planning our hope is that this seaside community can enjoy this historic Hook & Hastings for many picturesque Maine summers to come.
Current and future
One good Hook & Hastings deserves another. Expanding the list of H&H instruments is our current project, Hook & Hastings Opus 1487 (1891) from Saint Joseph’s on Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C. It is an exemplary three-manual organ that is in need of its century-mark renewal. As with all Wallace & Co. projects, the goal is to bring the organ back to comfortable and reliable playing condition. Each piece of the organ will be cleaned, repaired, or replaced if necessary. Included in this project is the addition of a Pedal 16′ Trombone modeled after the same stop in similar vintage Hook & Hastings organs. We are documenting our progress on this project on our social media pages.
Following our work in Washington is our next new organ project, Wallace & Co. Opus 81, which will be a two-manual, 32-rank tracker organ for Saint Stanislaus Catholic Church in Nashua, New Hampshire. Tonally and visually, Opus 81 will follow the style of the nineteenth-century Boston builders. The design will employ mechanical key action and electric stop action with modern combination action. Opus 81 will feature new construction throughout, though it will incorporate select historic nineteenth-century ranks of pipes from the former Saint Stanislaus organ. The scale and sound of these select vintage ranks is appropriate for the planned tonal scheme of the new organ. Early planning and design work is already underway. More details of Opus 81 will be published when the organ is complete, installed, and ready for celebration.
Wallace & Co. is a small organbuilding company with a diverse work history of new organ construction and revitalized historic instruments. Our projects can be visited throughout the United States and abroad. We take great pride in each project, from developing a concept into detailed mechanical design to the final voicing. There is much satisfaction in sculpting and blending each rank of pipes to allow the organ to sing and perform beautifully in its unique setting.
—David E. and Nick Wallace
Saint Alban’s Episcopal Church, Staten Island, New York
Hook & Hastings Opus 1192 (1883), Wallace & Co. restoration 2022–2023
GREAT (58 notes)
8′ Open Diapason
8′ Melodia (#13–58)
8′ Dulciana (#13–58)
8′ Unison Bass (#1–12)
4′ Octave
2′ Fifteenth
SWELL (58 notes, enclosed)
8′ Stopped Diapason (#13–58)
8′ Viola (#13–58)
8′ Stopped Diapason Bass (#1–12)
4′ Harmonic Flute
8′ Bassoon (#1–12)
8′ Oboe (#13–58)
Tremolo
PEDAL (27 notes)
16′ Bourdon
Couplers and Accessories
Swell to Great
Swell to Great Octave
Swell to Pedal
Great to Pedal
Bellows signal (wind)
10 stops, 10 ranks, 525 total pipes
Saint James Episcopal Church, Prouts Neck, Scarborough, Maine
Hook & Hastings Opus 1763 (1897), Wallace & Co. restoration 2023–2024
GREAT (58 notes)
8′ Open Diapason
8′ Melodia (#13–58) *
8′ Melodia Bass (#1–12)
4′ Octave
2′ Fifteenth *
SWELL (58 notes, enclosed)
8′ Stopped Diapason (#13–58) **
8′ Viola (#13–58) *
8′ Unison Bass (#1–12) **
4′ Harmonic Flute *
8′ Oboe (#13–58) *
Tremolo
PEDAL (27 notes)
16′ Bourdon
Couplers and Accessories
Swell to Great
Swell to Great Octave **
Swell to Pedal
Great to Pedal
Bellows signal (wind) **
*New pipework
**Returned to original location and function
9 stops, 9 ranks, 467 total pipes
Saint Stanislaus Catholic Church, Nashua, New Hampshire
Wallace & Co. Opus 81 (2025–27)
GREAT (61 notes)
16′ Bourdon
8′ Open Diapason
8′ Melodia
8′ Dulciana
4′ Octave
4′ Flute
2 2⁄3′ Twelfth
2′ Fifteenth
1 3⁄5′ Seventeenth
1 1⁄3′ Mixture IV
8′ Trumpet
8′ Cremona
SWELL (61 notes, enclosed)
8′ Violin Diapason
8′ Stopped Diapason
8′ Salicional
8′ Vox Celeste (TC)
4′ Principal
4′ Flute Harmonique
2 2⁄3 Nazard
2′ Flageolet
1 3⁄5′ Tierce
16′ Bassoon
8′ Trumpet
8′ Hautboy
PEDAL (32 notes)
16′ Double Open Diapason
16′ Bourdon (Gt)
8′ Principal
8′ Flute (ext 16′ Bourdon)
8′ Violincello
4′ Choral Bass
16′ Posaune
8′ Trumpet (ext 16′ Posaune)
Couplers and Accessories
Swell to Great
Swell to Great Octave
Swell to Pedal
Swell to Pedal Octave
Great to Pedal
Zimbelstern – with rotating star
Mechanical key action
Electric stop and combination action
Crescendo pedal
32 stops, 32 ranks, 1,795 total pipes
Saint Joseph’s on Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.
Hook & Hastings Opus 1487 (1891), Wallace & Co. restoration 2024–2025
GREAT (58 notes)
16′ Open Diapason
8′ Open Diapason
8′ Doppel Flöte
4′ Octave
3′ Twelfth
2′ Fifteenth
1 1⁄3′ Mixture III
8′ Trumpet
SWELL (58 notes, enclosed)
16′ Bourdon (#13–58)
16′ Bourdon Bass (#1–12)
8′ Open Diapason
8′ Stopped Diapason
8′ Viola
4′ Flauto Traverso
4′ Violino
1 1⁄3′ Dolce Cornet
8′ Oboe & Bassoon
CHOIR (58 notes)
8′ Geigen Principal
8′ Melodia Stopped Bass
8′ Dulciana
4′ Flute d’Amour
2′ Piccolo
8′ Clarinet
PEDAL (27 notes)
16′ Double Open Diapason
16′ Bourdon
8′ Violincello
16′ Posaune *
Couplers and Accessories
Swell to Great
Choir to Great
Swell to Choir
Great to Pedal
Swell to Pedal
Choir to Pedal
Bellows signal (wind)
Foot Trundles
Great Piano
Great Forte
Great to Pedal Reversible
26 stops, 30 ranks, 1,616 total pipes
*New pipework added
Cover photo: Nick Wallace
