Lutheran Church of Saint Mark, Glastonbury

We were initially approached by church member William Wamester on behalf of St. Mark's in the Winter of 2003. Bill had originally donated a small Austin unit organ, which the Church Music Committee ultimately decided was too small for their sanctuary. This Austin was subsequently donated to a church in Wethersfield.

Bill resumed his search, and eventually happened upon Wicks Op. 2805 (1948), a II/12 pipe organ originally installed at the United Church of Christ in Bernville, PA. The organ was being offered for sale by Buch Church Organ Co., who had taken the instrument in partly in trade for a new digital organ.

After meetings and discussions with St. Mark's Organ and Worship Committees, a proposal to rebuild and relocate the Wicks was accepted. The organ had been given some additions in the 1970's, including some roughly voiced supply house pipework and a Reisner console. In addition to our rebuild work, the console was fitted with a new solid-state capture and control system from Solid State Organ Systems.

Voiced in a neoclassical style, the 1970s supply house additions did not blend well with the rest of the instrument. Holly's revoicing of the existing pipework and the additions remedied this to excellent effect. A new 2' Super Octave on a new chest filled out the missing space in the Great Chorus.

The organ was installed in July of 2003 in chambers built to dimensions we supplied to the Church. Building of the chambers was a volunteer effort led by Property Committee Chairman Ronald Kraatz, who did a superb job. The organ was officially dedicated in the late fall of 2004.