Flood-damaged Cedar Rapids theater organs are far from lost causes

Cedar Rapids' historical theater pipe organs were silenced by the floods of 2008, but not forever.

Both instruments, which debuted in 1928 in the Paramount Theatre and the Iowa Theatre Building, can again fill their downtown homes with the sound of music. It will just take awhile.

The Iowa's Rhinestone Barton is on the first leg of a journey expected to take until the end of March 2011. The console is being rebuilt in Reno, Nev., by Kenny Crome of Crome Organ Co.

The new structure will be based on the designs and techniques used in the 1920s, said Paul Montague, 62, of Swisher. He is treasurer of Cedar Rapids Barton Inc., the non-profit group that owns the organ in what is now known as Theatre Cedar Rapids.

Because all the inner workings were destroyed when submerged in floodwaters, the new shell will return to the orchestra pit with new inner and outer workings, including new keyboards and a new pedal board. That phase will take about seven months and cost $90,000, Montague said.

Covering the shell with fabric and the original type of glass glitter is expected to cost between $11,000 and $12,000.

“Ajram Fabrics in Cedar Rapids has located a match for the original fabric,” Montague said. “Monroe Screen Printing in Cedar Rapids did a lot of research and will be able to duplicate the original glitter pattern silk-screened onto the fabric. Then Ajram's upholstery side will apply all of that cloth to the organ.”

Montague said it's important to understand that even though the floodwaters ruined the consoles of the Rhinestone Barton and the Paramount's Mighty Wurlitzer, that doesn't mean the demise of the instruments.

“In the organ world, when you say ‘organ,' it doesn't mean the thing with the keyboards. It means the thing up there in the chambers with the pipes,” he said.

The chambers in both theaters are housed high above the floodwaters' reach. The solo chamber on the left side of the TCR stage has sustained residual moisture damage, Montague said, but that can be fixed.

Jeff Weiler, 51, a 1981 Coe College graduate and pipe organ conservationist in Chicago, will do that restoration work. The project is expected to take a year and cost $138,000, Montague said.

FEMA funds will be used for the Barton's long-term restoration, Montague said, while a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities covered the cost of moving the instrument out of the theater.

Weiler also is working with OPN Architects Inc. in Cedar Rapids on a detailed survey of the Mighty Wurlitzer's existing condition “and chart a course forward” for the organ, beginning early next year.