April 13, 2009
Behind the Scenes with Patti Payne
Published: April 13, 2009
Sounds of history
Some beautiful sounds are coming from a building saved from the wrecking ball a year ago, and said to be the oldest house of worship in downtown Seattle. The 100-year-old First United Methodist Church structure, with its red tiled dome and huge stained glass windows, was purchased in a $32 million deal stitched together by Kevin Daniels, preservationist and president of Daniels Development, a sister company of Nitze-Stagen. It is now known as Daniels Recital Hall.
“It started construction in 1906 and finished construction between 1908 and 1910,” says Daniels. “It was the first Byzantine-style church in America,” he says. “We’ve recorded it with the National Trust (for Historic Preservation, of which Daniels is a member) and eventually we’ll get credit,” he says.
Now its walls are being restored to their former glory and, inside, its giant pipe organ, some 32 feet tall, with 4,000 pipes and 49 stops, is being heard again in monthly lunchtime concerts, free to the public.
Playing this instrument is artist-in-residence Mark Andersen, a nationally known organist who also owns International Artists, a recording and talent agency based in New York City. Andersen has experience running concerts in New York, Paris and London and has a TV program called “Crescendo” on a Time Warner station in New York and on the public access channel in our area.
He says this particular organ, an American classic style, is designed to be flexible enough to play all styles of music and is especially suited for playing big French classics and music from the era of Beethoven. On April 23, a concert is scheduled to feature the music of the baroque, especially that of Johann Sebastian Bach.
“It’s very awe inspiring,” says Andersen, of the organ. “The building has one of the finest acoustics (halls) in the city of Seattle. It’s a wonderful thing to have an instrument like that on which to perform.”
The March concert was heard by almost 500 people. When the balconies are redone, possibly in May, the capacity will enlarge to 1,200. In the summer, Andersen says they will increase the schedule to two concerts a month, every second and fourth Thursday.
Maybe somewhere in the hall, during the concerts, the ghost of Arthur Denny, one of Seattle’s founders, whom Daniels says was the first member of the congregation, will hear the grand sounds and approve.