Help Save the Pipes From Our Beloved 1911 Cassavant Organ

This 1911 Cassavant, 2 manual, 20 rank organ, was built into the First Congregational church just before WWI. Following the war the beautiful Rose Window was added to the profile of the pipes in memory of those lost in the war. The congregation was one of the first to join the newly formed denomination of the United Church in 1925.

This organ is a rare and beautiful instrument with pipes from the golden age of Cassavant organ building. The building that once housed the First United Church was sold to the Chinese Community organisation to create a community centre. At that time, provisions were made for the organ and the Rose Window to be cared for, within the sale of the building. However, the community stopped using the building, power was turned off, and it fell into disrepair, seven years ago, before it was purchased, recently, by a new Centretown Mosque community. While it is wonderful that the building will again be used as a house of prayer, the organ is not a centre of worship within the Muslim liturgy. So, we are in a position of needing to find homes for the organ pipes.

We need some money to make this happen. I know there are a million places in this hurting world that need financial support and so, I am asking for support to save this historic instrument, even though it will now only become an organ donor--pun intended.

The costs will include:

Sylvain Brisson and Tate Humphrey will be working on site for two full days which will total close to $3000 once tax is included.

We will need to to buy pipe boxes for the metal ranks that must be stored in a very particular way. These will be approximately $700.00

We will need to rent a large truck for three days which will be approximately $1300.

We will need to pay someone to remove a large television screen that was installed in front of the organ and...put it back up again. This isn't a cost we have an estimate for but it will be a two full day job for two professionals so I'm going to assume approximately $1000.

And we will need to purchase a storage container to house the pipes while we look for homes--The pipes will be stored at my farm until they are rehomed but we will need to buy a large, at least 20 x 10 storage container that will be weather tight and this will likely cost upwards of $3000 with delivery to the farm.

That totals $9000 and, of course, there may be surprise costs that show up.

Unfortunately, the console was destroyed when being removed, prior to our knowing about these events, and so while we have found a home for the pedalboard, we will be looking for homes for these pipes, in organs that have space to expand, new organs being built, and those being restored. Without a console this might take some time so we need to remove the pipes and make preparations to safely store them while we attempt to find them new ways to sing.

That's where humans come in. We will also need some volunteers to help on May 1 and 2, at the Centretown Mosque as we begin the removal process and some volunteers on May 3 to unload and safely store the pipes on my farm in Green Valley, ON.

These historical instruments will never be recreated and the century of witnessing, accompanying, and beauty that this instrument participated in can only be preserved if we work together to save these rare and irreplaceable pipes.

If you have the stretch in your financial world, please consider helping this work of art and holder of a million hours of musical memories sing on in a new way into the future.