Project 46

This historically significant organ, built by renowned New York organ builder John Gale Marklove in 1867, is thought to be Marklove’s largest mechanical tracker-action pipe organ still in existence, with 25 ranks of a total of more than 1,200 pipes, ranging up to 16 feet in length.

The Marklove organ was originally installed in Trinity Church in Elmira, New York, and was moved to St. Mark’s in 1922. It received the national Organ Historical Society’s firsl historical citation in 1975—one of only two Marklove organs to have received an OHS citation—and has been called an outstanding example of mid-nineteenth century organ design.

While the organ has been regularly maintained, by 2016, so much of the organ was unworkable that St. Mark’s had to decide to either seek bids for a total restoration or dismantle or sell the organ and buy an electric organ in its stead. In October 2016, St. Mark’s contracted with Parsons to perform a total restoration. That restoration involved moving the organ to our shop in January of 2018, where it was repaired and restored to reflect the workmanship and intentions of the original builder before being reinstalled at St. Mark’s in January 2019.

Visually, the tall and narrow façade is a bit deceiving as to the size of the instrument. The chamber it occupies, a bit wider than the façade, is quite tall and deep. Pipes of the pedal division occupy the back and right-side walls of the chamber. The Great division sits just behind the main façade pipes at the impost level, and behind it is the Swell expressive box that has horizontal shades on the front of the box to control the volume of that division. The large reservoir sits just off the floor underneath the windchests, where it occupies the same space as most of the organ’s mechanical action.