Hook and Hastings Organ

WHAT IS A “HOOK & HASTINGS?”

If you have been at St. Timothy’s for the past 9 years you will have heard the words “Hook and Hastings” bandied about. If you are new to the parish you may never have heard the words. So just what is a “HOOK & HASTING”?

A Hook & Hastings (H&H) is a pipe organ. The particular H&H organ we have here at St. Timothy’s is opus 1801, an 1898 3 manual (keyboards) and pedal instrument originally built for Winslow Congregational Church in Taunton, Massachusetts. The organ was purchased from the church in 1996 when the Winslow congregation sold all the church’s furnishings prior to the razing of their church building. The organ was purchased from the church and in 2000, the instrument was given to St. Timothy’s.

Two brothers, Elias and George Greenleaf HOOK, began the Hook & Hastings organ company in 1824. Their company was originally known as E. & G. G. Hook. The Hook brothers, cabinetmakers by trade, apprenticed to the famous Boston organ builder William M. Goodrich. Leaving the Goodrich shop in 1825 they set up their first organ building shop in their hometown of Salem, Ma. Due to rapid growth of the business, in 1831 they once again moved, this time to Boston. During the next 40 years the company produced more than 600 instruments establishing a reputation as one of the best firms in the country.

Francis H. HASTINGS started working for the Hook brothers on the first of August 1855, at the age of nineteen. First a draughtsman, later a representative, he entered into partnership in 1872. After 1881 the partnership became know as Hook & Hastings. His artistic skills and good business judgment assured the company a period of prosperity which extended well into the 20th century. When the company ceased operations in 1936, it had built more that 2,500 instruments.

The Hook & Hastings pipe organ owned by St. Timothy’s was built in 1898 and in keeping with the decorative styles of the late 19th and early 20th century, the façade (visible front pipes) is painted in basic red and yellow ochre and stenciled with gold leaf stylized fleur-de-lis and other original designs.

Stenciling use is known to exist from earliest of times probably beginning with ancient cave dwellers. Using their hands their hands as a stencil, they placed their hand on a wall and blew colored pigments around it.

Stencil decoration has been found throughout the world including such places as the Fiji Islands, Alaska, and South America. Unfortunately the materials used to make the stencils were perishable (leaves, animal skins etc) and this stenciling material has not survived time. In Egypt stencils were used on the walls of the tombs. In ancient Greece stencils were used to outline mosaic patterns. In Rome stencil lettering was used on signs directing people to the games. China and Japan developed highly sophisticated use of stencils on cloth, murals and ceramics. From Asia the knowledge of stencils spread gradually across the trade routes to places reaching like places like Turkey in the 8th century. During the Middle Ages, conquests and the crusades spread the art of stenciling throughout Europe. By the 16th century stenciling, woodblocks and brushing were used to illuminate manuscripts and in religious paintings. Once the printing press was invented, stencil pattern books were circulated throughout Europe. The first known book to use stenciling was the Bible.

Early American settlers, unable to afford imported wallpaper or furniture hired itinerant artisans to directly stencil their walls in the style of the European wallpaper patterns. From about 1760 to 1840 these artisans took their brushes, pigments and stencils as they traveled from house to house in New England.

By the early 20th century the use of stenciling had all but disappeared as a decorating tool. It was kept alive by the Arts and Crafts movement and the Bloomsbury Set. There was a resurgence of stenciling during the Art Deco period in the 1920’s and 30’s. By 1970 the art stenciling started a new revival, as people, tired of wallpaper, began decorating to their own tastes.

Stenciling of organ pipes began around 1860 in America and lasted until 1905. The Victorian era style of stenciling sacred spaces spilled over to the organ. While most organ stenciling ceased around 1905 there are some examples found on organs into the first decade and a half of the 20th century. There are still many examples of 19th organ façade stenciling in churches and museums and even today contemporary builders utilize stenciling on their new instruments.

Great Organ Middle Keyboard

CHOIR ORGAN STOPS (lower keyboard)