Whitehorse church pipe organ, damaged by fire, gets a new lease on life - Action News
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Whitehorse church pipe organ, damaged by fire, gets a new lease on life

The nearly 100-year-old pneumatic pipe organ at Trinity Lutheran Church in Whitehorse has been silent since a fire in 2017. Now a restoration specialist from Calgary is working to bring it back to its former glory.

Restoration specialist will rebuild 1926 pneumatic pipe organ that burned in 2017

This past week, Jason Barnsley, a pipe organ restoration specialist from Calgary, dismantled and boxed up the many pieces of the mechanically complex, century-old organ. They'll spend the coming months restoring the various parts. (Mike Rudyk/CBC)

Members of Whitehorse's Trinity Lutheran Churchbelieved their beloved pipe organ was beyond repair. It was damaged in a fire at the church in 2017.

But Jason Barnsley, a restoration specialist from Calgary, says itcan be rebuilt. It needs a new console and wiring, but the rest of the organ's parts survived the fire.

This past week, Barnsley and his small crew of three were at the church in Whitehorsedismantling and boxing up the many pieces of the mechanically complex, century-old organ. They'll spend the coming months restoring the various partsin Calgary.

The organ's parts were boxed up this week to go to Barnsley's workshop in Calgary. (Mike Rudyk/CBC)

"It's like a jigsaw puzzle constructed by a crazy person,"saidBarnsley.

"I actually know where everything goes, but if a layperson were coming into this they would go, 'I think you're nuts trying to put this all together ... there are a million and one pieces here.'"

Barnsleycan even guess what started the fire inside the organ its agingcontrol centre.

The organ after the fire. It needs a new console and wiring, but the rest of the organ's parts survived. (Mike Rudyk/CBC)

"Those are all modern now, using solid-state control systems versusthe original hardwiring and a lot of electricity, which is ultimately what caused it to catch fire because there was so much wiring inside," he said.

He says the pneumatic pipe organ's inner workings are as complex as those of fine Swiss watch.

Barnsley says the organ's analog electrical systems were ahead of their time when it was built in 1926. Hecompares it to "very early, early computing."

From Pennsylvania to Whitehorse

The pneumatic pipe organ's 762 individual pipes plus numerous parts originally made their journey from Pennsylvania to Whitehorse 40 years ago.

Whitehorse church members had seenan ad in amagazine, and ended up buying the organfor a dollar.The organ's previous owner, a church in Pennsylvania, wanted the organ to have a northern home.

The organ filled Trinity Lutheranwith glorious sound for decades and it's hoped that will continue soon.

Some of the old wiring in the organ. (Mike Rudyk/CBC)
Some of the parts from the pipe organ. Barnsley says 'it was ahead of its time ... it was very early, early computing.' (Mike Rudyk/CBC )

Once all the parts are at Barnsley's shop in Calgary, he'll fix it upwith modern wiring. It will likely be returned to Whitehorseand rebuilt in about a year.

"We are hoping that by revitalizing the pipe organ we will be able to offer a really fine instrument in an intimate concert venue to the larger Whitehorse community," said Deb Bartlette, a minister at Trinity Lutheran Church.

Corrections

  • An earlier headline on this story stated that Whitehorse's Trinity Lutheran Church has Yukon's only church pipe organ. In fact, there is a pipe organ at St. Paul's Anglican Church in Dawson City, though that organ is currently out of order.
    Jan 27, 2020 2:56 PM CT