The organ is buried way in the back of Fleisher’s sanctuary room, a room that frequently holds weddings, meetings, parties and classes for Fleisher students.
You probably know the Fleisher Art Memorial, located at 719 Catharine St. in Bella Vista, is home to some of the highest quality art classes and programs in the city. What you might not know is Fleisher’s building, which is a converted church, features the last factory-installed Wurlitzer pipe organ in Philadelphia.
The organ is buried way in the back of Fleisher’s sanctuary room, a room that frequently holds weddings, meetings, parties and classes for Fleisher students.
Nobody at Fleisher knows the exact date it was installed, or whether it was installed while or after the building was utilized as a church. But one thing is certain, and it’s that the organ, which bears the name and emblem of one of the most storied musical instrument manufacturers of all-time, is a relic of musical history. There’s just one problem: It doesn’t work.
“The impetus has come up because we had developed a master plan for our campus,” said Dominic Mercier, Fleisher’s director of communications. “These buildings are pretty old and one of the resolutions we were exploring was potentially building another building across the street in the parking lot because we own the parking lot as well.”
But another part of the master plan was what Fleisher plans to do with the pipe organ. According to experts Fleisher has hired to examine the organ, the full price of getting it back up and running is somewhere in the vicinity of $250,000 to $500,000, which isn’t exactly in Fleisher’s budget. For Fleisher to foot the bill, two major things have to happen.
“We would have to have a very generous donor with significant interest in restoring and maintaining organs,” Mercier said.
But before that happens, Mercier said, Fleisher has to create programming around the organ.
According to Mercier, Fleisher has been in communication with two local music programs — Ars Nova and Bowerbird Productions — to see if they’d be interested in using the organ if it were to be fixed up. Nothing’s been made official yet, but if and when it is, Fleisher will be one step closer to looking for donors.
In 2007, Fleisher hired local pipe organ expert Brantley Duddy to take a look at the instrument.
“Wednesday morning was one of those moments in one’s life when a pleasant surprise really brought a smile,” Duddy wrote in a letter addressed to a Fleisher representative. “The instrument is a small jewel, unseen and unloved for more years than we can contemplate.”
Unfortunately, Duddy also wrote that “the reality is that a complete overhaul is absolutely necessary for any protracted usage.”
Mercier said, according to Fleisher’s research, wealthy donors with a keen interest in pipe organs “do exist,” and that “there’s been some interest” in the organ. Mercier wasn’t at liberty to identify the potential donors, but their funding would likely be needed only once. Once the organ is fixed up, the cost of regular maintenance on the organ is more than nominal, but still within the means.
“It’s not a crazy amount of money to maintain it and keep it going,” Mercier said. “It’s just the startup cost” that makes the feat so financially difficult.
For more information about the Fleisher Art Memorial, visit fleisher.org.
