Holy Rosary Catholic Church
35 Essex St.
Lawrence,
MA
01841 US
Sanctuary; rear gallery
Organ ID: 26037
Identified through online information from Joseph R. Olefirowicz. -- Carvings on the pipework helped solve the mystery of the origin of the instrument, after the 1934 Laws rebuild and installation into the current church. Robert Reich pulled the bass pipe of the Great Fifteenth during a touch-up tuning before an organ recital, and found the Hook's opus number and year carved into the pipe. E. & G.G. Hook & Hastings' Opus 599 was originally in Asylum Hill Congregational Church in Hartford, CT. According to church records there, a new organ replaced this instrument in 1911, but there is no documentation about the instrument between 1911 and its appearance as a new installation by Laws in Lawrence, Massachusetts. This information can fill in the blank to the II/30 organ at Asylum Hill Congregational in Hartford, Connecticut (1871, Opus 599, E. & G.G. Hook & Hastings) - whose documentation of current location is incomplete.
Identified through online information from Joseph Olefirowicz. -- Restoration of rebuilt E. & G. G. Hook & Hastings. A common "victim" to Laws electrification ca. 1930, this organ was completely restored by the Beaudry Organ Company in ca. 1984 and is in excellent playable condition. - Its roots are presumed to be of Hook origin. The entire organ is under electro-pneumatic action, with a faux facade at the back of the church in the choir loft.
Nave and rear gallery, showing organ facade: Photograph by Joseph Olefirowicz, submitted by ANdrew Scanlon. Taken approx. July 2019
Console (Laws, Austin style): Photograph by Joseph Olefirowicz, submitted by Andrew Scanlon. Taken approx. July 2019