History

St John's Chapel is "one of the great Shingle Style buildings in California, and it is unquestionably one of the most enticing of Earnest Coxhead's churches" (David Gebhard, Guide to Architecture in San Francisco and Northern California, Gibbs Smith Publishers, 1986).

St John’s is acclaimed by as as “a compilation of fragments, suggestions, and allustions stemming from a simple, rational floor plan (based, to be sure on British Gothic Revival ideas), as has rarely been encountered in church architecture—before or since.  Here, in shorthand form, is a wide range of Christian architectural expression compacted into a small building that can barely handle it all. St John’s stretches architectural … .” (Robert Winter, Toward a Simpler Way of Life: The Arts and Crafts Architects of California, University of California Press, 1997).

St John’s Chapel is noted especially for its fairy tale, wraparound roof. “The surface pattern of the shingles changes and varies, sometimes curving up and over to emphasize a window or a door, or an occasion to draw attention to dormers and windowhoods. The scale of the church is that of the perfect dollhouse (even though it was cut in two and extended). This is best seen on the south side of the building where the roof is brought close to the ground, and the door and window protrude into the low roof. The childlike quality of the exterior is equally realized within, where space and details are reduced to an Alice in Wonderland world." (David Gebhart, Robert Winter and Eric Sandweiss. The Guide to Architecture in San Francisco and Northern California . Layton, Utah: Gibbs-Smith, 1985.

"St. John's Episcopal Church in Monterey (1891) carries its surface pattern of straight and wavy shingles down over the roof and the eaves onto the walls, and, like the bark of a tree, right down to the ground." John Beach, 1988, in The Bay Area Tradition 1890-1918. In Bay Area Houses: New Edition , ed. Sally Woodbridge. Salt Lake City: Peregrine Smith Books, pp. 23-98.

All we parishioners can say is that it's a lovely place in which to glorify God.

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THE GOOD SAMARITAN WINDOW

Researching this—check back!

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ABOUT THE ORGAN AT ST. JOHN’S CHAPEL 

 The organ at St. John’s Chapel is a real pipe organ, originally installed in 1981 by the Reuter Organ Co. of Lawrence, Kansas (the firm is still in business and doing well).

Our organ is a two-manual instrument which was originally comprised of nine ranks of pipes and a set of bell chimes. In 2001, we raised $50,000 and completely revoiced the original pipes, adding a full rank of new Geigen (string) principals and a half-rank of soft bass dulciana pipes to be used in the pedal for soft music and choir accompaniment. We also threw away the old pneumatic chime mechanism, which was patched with many layers of duct tape and even a band-aid or two—and we replaced that with a new electromagnetic hammer action. In addition, we added a Zimbelstern bell unit and a coupler to the console which gives the effect of a second mixture stop and much added brilliance to the registration—very necessary in a heavily carpeted building!

The pipe chamber is on the left side of the chancel behind acoustic fabric. This organ is totally under expression, which is a set of pneumatically actuated shutters in front of the chamber by which the organist can vary the volume of any given registration. The organ is heavily unified, meaning that each rank of pipes can be accessed at several pitches. Most of the ranks are “extended,” meaning that extra octaves of notes are added to satisfy the need for brightness and fullness. The effect of unification is that our organ has the response and fullness of a much larger instrument, utilizing the pipework to maximal capacity. There are close to a thousand pipes in the chamber, and it’s totally full; there is no room for more.

The organ is blown by a three-phase blower that directs air into a set of storage bellows under the wind chests. The main organ operated on several inches of wind pressure, but the trumpets are winded by a separate, higher-pressure storage chest.  Leaving the storage bellows, the wind fills wooden chests on which the pipes sit. Under each individual pipe is an electromagnetic valve assembly. When the organist selects a stop and presses a key, the console sends a signal to that particular magnet which instantaneously opens the valve under the pipe, allowing the note to sound. This is called “direct-electric action”. More common are electro-pneumatic actions, which use a small pneumatic bellows under each pipe to open the valve. It’s a toss up which is more reliable. The console has a transformer, which converts alternating electric current to direct current, and it’s the direct current that send the signals to the organ’s brain, thence on to the action under the pipework.

It’s amazing to see all the gossamer copper wire in the organ’s control cabinet, which is located in the wind room. In “olden times” the direct current needed by the console and action was not produced by a transformer. Instead, there was a large, belt-driven D.C. generator connected to the motor, which also drove the blower. Typically, this unit would produce ten volts D.C. and would power the console stop action and the organ action. In the old electric room of the chapel is an old belt-driven DC generator from a previous organ. Anyone who collects old electrical equipment is welcome to have it! It weighs about 60 pounds and looks like a large electric motor. The blower motor itself is a German unit.

 As organs go, ours has been reasonable to maintain, but has been experiencing the effects of aging in the past couple of years. We treat it with great care and do not allow it to be played by visitors, but the electrical components are experiencing normal replacement and repair issues. For this reason, we established an organ fund for repair in 2001 with some of the money from the fund drive. Typically, on a yearly basis, we have four scheduled visits by Phil Browning, organ builder and technician for tuning and maintenance. We also have been averaging one or two annual emergency visits for breakdowns. This is not excessive for a twenty-seven-year-old organ, but it is a fragile instrument and needs careful use and diligent maintenance.

 In between visits by our technician, Clay Couri keeps the organ in tune and can often be seen in the chamber before choir rehearsal touching up the sour notes. Most organists know nothing about tuning, but Clay was fortunate to have some very timely hands-on instruction in that area from the keeper of the organ at Pomfret School, Pomfret, Ct. during the 1990s. Clay’s fortuitous expertise saves St. John’s considerable money, as otherwise we’d need more tuning visits from the technician. Our organ is very sensitive to temperature changes; more so, it seems, than average. For this reason, we are careful to keep the heat in the chapel constant and have auxiliary heaters in the pipe chamber and wind room. However, rapid, severe outdoor temperature shifts can outsmart the heaters, and then Clay must tune each week. Ingrid Ambrus has been Clay’s trusty console assistant on Sunday mornings, holding notes so the tuning can finish in time for the service. Otherwise, Clay has to hold down the note with a pencil, and then go around outside to the chamber for each note—that’s a lot of exercise. There is no inside access to the organ chamber: the door is on the west side of the building, next to our “orchard.”

 WHAT’S IT WORTH? You may be surprised to learn that our organ is worth about a quarter-million dollars to replace in kind. Generally, quality pipe organs cost about 20-thousand dollars per rank of pipes, plus console and associated infrastructure. It’s probably St. John’s largest capital asset. It’s true that used, decommissioned organs are available for a lot less—but they need major work to play again as well. So treating this organ with respect and protecting it from misuse become paramount.

 Yes, it’s true that electronic, digital organs have proliferated. They are a respectable “appliance” but nothing satisfies the ear like the real thing, complete with wheezes, grunts, and the occasional tin whistle. It’s a great pleasure to serve St. John’s as director of music and organist. If anyone would like a detailed tour of the organ, please see Clay.

Clay C. Couri

Director of Music