An Organic Matter
Fans of the world's largest musical instrument say its owners silenced it during a recent renovation.
By Jad Davenport | Online Only | Mar. 21, 2003
Although workers damaged the organ, they have no plans to repair it.
Credit: Atlantic City Convention Hall Organ Society, Inc.
While New Jersey business owners and hoteliers cheered the recent $90 million renovation of the 1929 Atlantic City Convention Hall, for some music aficionados, the applause fell on deaf ears. The building, since renamed Boardwalk Hall, is home to the world's largest and loudest musical instrument—the Midmer-Losh Organ. The 700 members of the Atlantic City Convention Hall Organ Society say renovations not only excluded the organ but also crippled it.
Built between 1929 and 1932 for $349,630 at the height of the U.S. Depression, the organ was designed by State Senator Emerson L. Richards, an amateur organ player. Its 33,112 pipes range in size from a fraction of an inch all the way up to 64 feet. In his book Atlantic City's Musical Masterpiece, author Stephen D. Smith notes the organ is so powerful it can produce a trumpet note six times louder than a steam locomotive's whistle.
The New Jersey Sports & Exhibition Authority, which oversaw the renovation, say they never intended to restore the organ. "It's a neat instrument," says media spokesperson Barbara Lampen, "but it was never part of the restoration plan. It isn't even functional right now." It would be a major task to get it up and running again, she says. "You are looking at several million dollars. First you need to find the funding, then you need to find the people who can work on it." Not only did the work exclude the organ, but in many cases it actually contributed to its demise, says Charles Swisher, vice president of the Atlantic City Convention Hall Organ Society. "The organ was working right up until the renovations started in 1998," Swisher says. "We actually made a recording that year."
Water damage from a rusted drip pan on an HVAC air handler
Credit: Charles Swisher
After the work on the hall, however, the organ sits in silence. "It was a heavy duty, massive construction project," Swisher says. "They had to cut out all of the original balconies to rebuild the new ones. As a result, there was a tremendous amount of cement dust in the air. That dust got into the instrument and the pipes; now it has to be cleaned and dealt with."
What angers Swisher is that his group tried to work with the Sports & Exhibition Authority before the construction work began to minimize damage. "We offered up a list of recommendations on how to seal the chambers to protect them from dust intrusion. We also advised that no one be allowed in the sensitive chamber areas without an onsite organ professional."
But the group didn't follow any of the recommendations, Swisher says. "The intrusion of dust and particulate matter got out of control," he notes. "Workers stepped on pipes and broke things. It wasn't well handled."
It isn't the first time the instrument has suffered damage. When it first debuted during the Depression, the public was so outraged by the perceived extravagance that they gradually neglected the organ and the hall. The roof leaked, and rainwater warped pipes and floorboards. In 1944, a severe storm flooded the hall's basement, ruining a large portion of the organ. Despite these setbacks, however, the organ played on.
Some pipes measure 64 feet high
Credit: Atlantic City Convention Hall Organ Society, Inc.)
When Swisher considers how an icon came to languish in contemporary times, he is at a loss. "If they had only done their homework and followed our recommendations, the damage wouldn't have been that bad," he says. "It wasn't purposeful or wanton, but it was damage all the same."
Swisher's group is working hard to bring about the organ's restoration. It has consulted with two organ-restoration experts, who estimate that repairs will cost $10-$12 million. Swisher hopes to find funding from the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, which gives a percentage of casino revenues to municipal projects. Perhaps the National Park Service will step in, he says. "Not long ago, they gave out $20 million in tax credits for the preservation the hall. Unfortunately, it was all eaten up by asbestos removal. The organ didn't get a cent." Swisher remains hopeful for funding but says the Sports & Exhibition Authority first has to set up a nonprofit organization able to receive funds and manage the restoration. "They've been dragging their heels," he says. "It's been under discussion for over a year and nothing has happened. There is nothing anyone, including the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, can do until that is set up."
L. Curt Mangel, III, curator of the world's second-largest pipe organ—the Wannamaker Organ at the Philadelphia Lord & Taylor store—recently visited the Atlantic City organ. Unlike smaller organs with façade pipes and open keyboards, there's not much for tourists to see except a locked kiosk where the organists sits, and some grillwork. But what Mangel did see made him angry. "After all the free advice the Sports & Exhibition Authority was given by experts around the world, they simply chose to ignore it and carry on with their construction."
Mangel says he is pessimistic about the future of the instrument, and doubts the current owners of the building—and the organ—have plans to resurrect it. "It's heartbreaking that they don't take their stewardship of this international treasure seriously."
If there is any good news in the melancholy that haunts the Atlantic City organ fans, says Swisher, it is that the damage is reversible. "You can go in and clean up the dust and repair the broken pipes," he says. "It's not like the fairy tale. You really can put Humpty-Dumpty back together again."
For tours of the building (but not the organ), call (609) 348-7000. For more information, visit www.boardwalkhall.com.
Jad Davenport is a freelance writer and photographer in Colorado.
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Comments
Submitted by Gui at: April 7, 2010
This is the Eighth wonder of the world. It must be resurrected. We would be criminals not to resurrect this instrument.