Organs

Platt Rogers Organ

Saint John's Cathedral's pipe organ was given "To the glory of God and in loving memory of Platt Rogers (1850-1928)" a former mayor of Denver, by his daughter, Mrs. Lawrence C. Phipps. It was dedicated at a recital by Palmer Christian on 18 May 1938.

The organ, built specifically for Saint John's by the W. W. Kimball Company of Chicago, Illinois, has been cited by the Organ Historical Society as "an instrument of exceptional historic merit, worthy of preservation", a citation that has been granted only to about 350 instruments out of some 8,000 historic pipe organs that have been catalogued by the society. The Platt Rogers organ has been regularly maintained by Norman Lane and Co., especially important since many of Kimball's beautifully crafted pipe organs built between 1896 and 1942 have been destroyed or neglected beyond repair. It is the largest intact American cathedral organ in use built before World War II and the largest organ erected before the Kimball Company suspended their organ-building operations at the outbreak of the war.

The organ consists of ninety-six ranks of pipes, totaling 5,949 individual pipes. It plays sixty-one harp notes and twenty-five chimes and is powered by a 25 horsepower motor. One of the unique features of the organ is the placement of the pipes on the opposite side of the nave from the organ console.

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E. & G.G. Hook Organ

SJC purchases temporary instrument

Saint John's Cathedral has purchased an historic American organ as a temporary instrument for use while its 1938 Kimball organ undergoes a restoration for the next two years. The Cathedral has installed an instrument built in 1869 by the Boston, Mass. firm of E. & G. G. Hook, which was formerly in the First Methodist Church of Lawrence, Mass. near Boston. The present congregation using that building did not need the Hook for their worship and offered it for sale through the Organ Clearing House, a non-profit organization that specializes in brokering and transporting pipe organs for both buyers and sellers.

The Hook, which was Opus 476 of the firm, is a two-manual, 17-stop, tracker-action instrument contained in a beautiful free-standing walnut case with Victorian-stencilled facade pipes. It has been restored for its new space, and placed on the floor of the nave in the back of the Cathedral, facing forward for maximum sound projection. The choirs are also temporarily located adjacent to the organ.

The Kimball organ restoration is part of an effort of Saint John's to make repairs and improvements to several aspects of the building as part of its 150th anniversary celebration in 2010-2011 that also will mark the 100th anniversary of the current cathedral building. (The parish was founded in 1860, and the cathedral was dedicated in 1911.)

Elias and George Greenleaf Hook started building organs in 1827, and the firm they founded ultimately grew to be the largest and most prestigious organ manufactory in New England, later known as Hook & Hastings. The company constructed more than 2,600 instruments by 1935, when it closed due to the effects of the Great Depression. Coincidentally, Saint John's had a relationship with the Hook firm, purchasing two organs from them in succession: first, a small organ in 1875, which was used in its original church building in downtown Denver, and then a second, large three-manual organ in 1881 for the first Cathedral, which was located at 20th and Welton Streets. The small organ was used in the Cathedral's undercroft, and both unfortunately were destroyed when the building burned in 1903.

Hook organs of the post-Civil War era that still survive are especially noted and prized for their silvery choruses, bright, almost-liquid flutes, robust reeds, pungent but clear strings, and deep, pervading bass tone. The Hook gives forth a rich sound in the Cathedral space, even recognizing, of course, that it is considerably smaller in tonal resources than the Kimball. It brings a unique American 19th-century aesthetic to the cathedral, as well as to Denver, but one that supports a wide variety of liturgical, choral, and instrumental music well. It is Saint John's intention to continue its extensive music program in the interim, including recitals on the Hook.

Adapted from an article by Michael Friesen
Organ Task Force

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