American Guild of Organists
Washington DC Chapter

In 1939, the National Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC engaged Clarence Dickinson, known as the Dean of American Church Musicians, to design a pipe organ that would be built by M.P. Moller of Hagerstown, MD, under the guidance of Richard Whitelegg. Mr. Whitelegg had come to America after servingas apprentice to Henry Willis, the famed English organ builder, where he learned his craft and applied it to the pipe work at Westminster Abbey and other instruments. The Willis organs are known for the quality of their rich reeds and sumptuous strings, and Whitelegg brought that tradition with him to the Moller organ company for a very short period of time. His work is extant in this organ today, one of the few Whitelegg Mollers to have survived without significant revoicing. In particular, the Swell and Solo reeds are stunning, and the strings throughout the organ are lush and romantic.

In 1967, when the National Presbyterian Church was preparing to move to itscurrent location on Nebraska Avenue, the organ was purchased and moved to Capitol Hill. The design of the Capitol Hill church was altered slightly to

accommodate the instrument, but certain elements were left behind for lack of space, including the original harp, and other adjustments were made to facilitate the move, resulting in a very cramped layout in the chambers. In December of that year, the legendary organ virtuoso Virgil Fox played the first recital in the new location, the new edifice of Capitol Hill United Methodist Church.

Since then, the organ has undergone necessary maintenance, including an unfortunate replacement of the leather with “Perflex” which was thought to be a long-lasting replacement for the natural material. It wasn’t, and the organ was re-

leathered in the early 80s. The organ had never had a complete and thorough restoration. After long consideration and efforts to determine the best course of action, the decision was made to engage David Storey of Baltimore to remove each section of the organ separately beginning in 2007. The scope of work was to clean all the pipes, repair and/or replace the mechanical elements, refinish the console while maintaining the original ivory keys, replace the failed combination action with a fully electronic system, restore the harp, return the big Principal to the Great (it was moved to the Pedal in 1967), make slight tonal expansions and carefully balance every single pipe for a unified, balanced and smooth-sounding instrument as we believe Whitelegg would have intended. The restoration was completed in late 2009.

Over seventy years after its creation, this rare gem once again sparkles in Washington, DC, and with its luster restored, is now ready to shine for decades to come.