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The new A. E. Schlueter pipe organ at the Episcopal Church of the Advent was built to embody design elements that would have been prevalent in the late 1700’s to early 1800’s and that would have found their way into the design of an organ actually built in this period. Our firm considered it very important to design an organ that was in harmony with the church architecture, albeit changed.

The balcony location defined the proportion of width to depth and therefore it became important in the design to post the individual pipe elements the give a feeling of loft belied by the actual height of the organ case. The carved pipe shades are loosely modeled after the work of early East coast organ builders and are covered in an antique gold to soften their visual impact against the case and gold gilded pipe mouths. The exposed façade pipes are all functional and are from the 8’ principal rank of the organ.

The organ case is built of mahogany with a light stain. The drawknobs are turned from ebony. The woods are designed to develop a natural umber as it ages with the church. With the location of the choir on the side of the case, the organ was built with expression opening to the side of the organ case, in addition to the front. The console is modeled after early American design and stop layout. Although older in appearance by design, the console incorporates numerous modern features for the convenience of the organist.

The tonal concept of the organ was jointly drawn up by Arthur Schlueter III and Carl Klein in consideration of the support of literature and choral on congregational support. As is the practice of our firm, the tonal finishing of the organ has occurred with several repeat trips to work with the pipes and then evaluate the results. We find that this method of tonal finishing results in a finer degree of voicing than is possible from one concentrated trip.