ST JOHN CANTIUS ORGAN RESTORATION

In 1926 The Votteler-Holtkamp-Sparling organ company in Cleveland installed a new instrument in St. John Cantius Church.  The instrument was well built and has withstood the test of time.  It will soon be 100 years old.  However, like most things, the organ has aged, and many parts of the organ pipes have slowly been cut off during the years as wind chests were seeping wind through deteriorating leather and causing undo strain on the organ blower.

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We agreed it was time for a complete make-over of our instrument and contacted the Holtkamp Organ Company in Cleveland for a complete restoration – the original family builder.  The current president, Chris Holtkamp agreed that this unique ‘orchestral’ style is indeed one of the only surviving instrument built by that company.  Holtkamp was able to locate the original 1926 contract and schematics for our instrument.  We are going to completely restore the instrument to its original state in 1926 including wind pressure, stops, and nomenclature. 

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We believe the instrument will be a glory to the orchestral style of organ building before the 1930’s when organ building began to change.

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We were able to fund raise most of the moneys but discovered the wind chests also needed replaced.  This added $61,000.00 to the current project but we are going ahead with removing the instrument as you can see from the pictures below.  If you would like to contribute to our Organ Restoration Fund, please contact the pastor at St. John Cantius for further information.  When the project is complete, we plan on a dedication and concert highlighting organ music that utilizes an orchestral style organ from this historic period.