Geo. H. Ryder
Opus 175, 1893 before

Ryder performed a major rebuilding and enlargement of the 1849 Hook. Given the wealth of the city and its number of up to date instruments, it is surprising Christ Church took so long. The documented changes were the expansion of the Swell to full compass, the enlargement of the pedal, and the enlargement of the case to accommodate the expansive additions. Without confirmation of additional details, based on the design parameters of the typical G-compass Hook of its era, with a short-compass Swell and certain Great stops also of short compass, typically a single-stop pedal of limited compass, no combinations, and a recessed keydesk with vertical stop jambs and non-overhanging keyboards, it is easy to imagine the basic changes a builder in the 1890s might envision to update an instrument considered so old-fashioned by the standards of the day. Not long afterwards, the organ was electrified by the Hall Organ Co. with pneumatic pull-down machines. The organ was replaced by a succession of imitation organs beginning in 1972, at which point the surviving Hook pipework and Great chest were salvaged by local builder Richard Hamar, and this material was eventually recycled into a new instrument made from old parts by Jeremy Cooper for Our Lady of the Good Voyage in Gloucester, Mass. At the point the pipework was removed, [except for the 1849 Hook facade pipes], the case depth was cut in half to accommodate the relocation of the imitation organ console and choir seating back to the right transept organ gallery. A victim of gross mismanagement, the church closed in 2021.

Identified through information in Descriptive Catalogue of Superior Church Organs Manufactured by Geo. H. Ryder & Co., published in Boston, January, 1896. Dates are not included in the publication; the one given here is conjectural.