Original Catalogue Specifications:
-
Welte
Number ???
- Date: 1908
- Integral case and chassis format.
- Single full-automatic roll mechanism with windmotor forward drive.
- Uses Welte 75-key rolls, B type.
- Height: 8' 11"
Width: 6' 0"
Depth: 3' 4"
- Price circa 1907: $1,800.00.
44 Note Musical Scale:
- 44 Wald Flöte pipes from GG-g''', open wood with cylindrical mouths.
- 44 (estimated quantity) Zinn pipes from GG-g''', stopped wood
pipes in the bass end, then polished tin pipes.
- 25 (estimated quantity) Violin register, scale unknown.
- 44 (estimated quantity) Octave register, 4' pitch, open wood
pipes.
- 25 Trompette pipes from g' - g''', with wood boots and tunable free
reeds, brass resonators forming the center sunburst arrangement. The top
7 treble pipes are open wood flues.
- 6 Posaune pipes from GG, AA, C, D, E, F, with wood boots and tunable
free reeds, brass resonators. These are the three brass pipes visible on
the left and right sides of the center sunburst arrangement.
- Triangle
- Snare drum (single beater with reiterating pneumatic action)
- Bass drum, with cymbal (loud and soft stroke)
- Kettle drum (tympani effect using two beaters)
Notes:
- The notation shown above is in German, whereby the English "a#" = German
"b," and the English "b" = German "h."
- There are 44 playing notes, beginning with GG, AA, C, D, E, F, then
chromatically up to g'''.
- The instrument contains 6 pipe ranks, four of which are automatically
controlled from the music roll.
- Another automatic register controls the crescendo function (swell shades).
- The music roll frame is of the Welte fully automatic type: the music
roll rewinds at the end of the roll and then shuts off automatically when
fully rewound.
Chronological History:
Circa 1906
Manufactured by M. Welte and Söhne, Freiburg,
Germany.
1907
Zaharako's Confectionery, Columbus, Indiana.
Established
in 1900 by three brothers from Greece, Zaharako's Confectionery, is still operated
by the Zaharako family, and is world famous for its decor and turn-of-the-last
century elegance. For mechanical music enthusiasts, the Welte Style 3 Cottage
Orchestrion, which was installed in 1907, continues to provide a wonderful visual
and musical treat for visitors. But perhaps even more remarkable is that not
only is it still used in its original commercial location, but the confectionery,
as of this writing in 2001,
is still doing business much like it did in 1907, a very rare happenstance afforded
any kind of orchestrion that has somehow survived to this day.
Located in downtown Columbus, Indiana, on a cheerful looking tree-lined street,
very little about the building itself suggest that something historically significant
lies inside, except perhaps for the geometric outline of glowing incandescent
light bulbs faintly visible through the front display window, or the small bronze
plaque designating the building as a historical landmark. To the north of Zaharako's
is a limestone bank, which was built around 1865, and to the south is a small
office building recently converted into a shoe repair shop. Originally the building
front looked a bit different, according to Lew Zaharako, grandson of one of
the founding brothers, who related that during the 1950's someone accidentally
drove their automobile through the front of the place. To repair the damage,
the original double, swinging quartered-oak doors were replaced with a new glass
door, typical of the 1950's, and a large display window replaced the original
but much smaller one. The signage was changed, too, dropping the old familiar
name of "The Greeks," with the Zaharako name alongside, to a more simpler "Zaharako's."
The interior of Zaharako's still glitters with old fashioned color and elegance.
But rather than attempt to duplicate the work already artfully compiled and
beautifully illustrated by Marilyn Brackney (on her site for children), to read
about the history and enjoy a photographic tour of Zaharako's Confectionery
please go to Marilyn Brackney's web site at
http://www.kid-at-art.com/htdoc/zaharako.html.
During normal business hours the Welte Style 3 Cottage Orchestrion, which
can be seen through the lighted archway forming the entrance to the dining area
at the rear in the photograph above, can be viewed and enjoyed, as well as can
a wonderful selection of edible treats, too. The address for Zaharako's is as
follows:
Zaharako's Confectionery
329 Washington Street
Columbus, Indiana 47201
(812) 379-9329
2006
Bashor collection, Hidden Hills, California.
In March, of 2006, the famous Zaharako's Welte Orchestrion was sold to a
California mechanical music collector. The old confectionary store had been
closed due to health problems suffered by Lou Zaharako. The fate of the old
store remains unknown. However, the historic Welte has been carefully dismantled
and moved to Baltimore, Maryland, to the Historical Instrument Restoration facilities
owned and operated by Durward Center, who is a leading expert in the history
and restoration of Welte mechanical music instruments.
2007
Zaharako's Confectionery, Columbus, Indiana.
On December 24, 2007,
The Republic Newspaper, serving Columbus, Ohio, ran a front page story,
by Harry McCawley, about the historic Zaharako's Welte orchestrion coming back
to Columbus. The story, reprinted by permission, follows below:
|
Pipe organ to return to Zaharako's
By Harry McCawley harry@therepublic.com
Zaharako's historic pipe organ is coming back to Columbus.
The 100-year-old player organ, thought to have been
irretrievably lost to the community when it was sold to a California
collector in 2006, has been repurchased, according to Tony Moravec,
owner of the popular confectionery under restoration.
The Welte pipe organ, manufactured by a German company in 1907 and brought
to Columbus by the Zaharako family the following year, will once again
be the centerpiece of the downtown ice cream parlor that is scheduled
to reopened in 2009.
The instrument, which plays
music on punched paper rolls, is being restored, according to Moravec.
Although the confectionery will not officially reopen
until sometime in 2009, Moravec intends to restart another Columbus
tradition during the Christmas holiday season in 2008.
"We plan to have that organ in place and playing Christmas music that
can be heard throughout the downtown during next year’s holiday period,"
he said.
Moravec acquired the historic business
earlier this year after its closure due to the illness and subsequent
death of operating partner Lew Zaharako.
The Zaharako
family had sold the organ to a California collector in 2006.
Recognizing the attachment Columbus residents had to the historic instrument,
Lew Zaharako expressed the family’s sorrow in being forced to sell it.
"I hope people will understand and not be too angry,”
he said in March of 2006. “I know we’re taking something away from people
but we felt like we had no options."
News that it
was coming back to the restored Zaharako’s was greeted with Christmas
joy by several longtime residents.
"This is wonderful
news," said Mayor Fred Armstrong, a Columbus native who remembers taking
his children into the ice cream parlor at Christmas to listen to the
organ music. "That organ has been such an important part of so many
people’s lives."
Local historian David Sechrest,
who manages the Web site historiccolumbusindiana.org, said, "I’m so
happy. I used to work at Zaharako's in the mid-60s, and I can still
remember how the family practically played it nonstop during the holiday
season. When a roll would come to an end, one of the Zaharakos would
immediately hurry back to put a new one on."
Moravec
began his pursuit of the organ shortly after he acquired the business.
"It was obvious to me that the organ was an integral
part of Zaharako's," he said. "We had talked about possibly replacing
it with other instruments, but I knew that we had to get that organ
back to Columbus."
His negotiations with the California
collector took several months, and his initial offers were rejected,
but the deal was eventually finalized.
The instrument
has been in Baltimore for several months undergoing restoration by an
acclaimed expert in the field, Kentucky native Durward Center, who described
the instrument as an old friend.
"I’ve known about
the Zaharako organ since I was a teenager growing up in Kentucky," he
said last week by phone from his Baltimore studio. "In fact I made a
special trip to Columbus in 1967 just to see it."
Center said his restoration process will take several more months. He
has essentially started from scratch, taking the instrument apart piece
by piece.
“There had been some work done on it in
the past, but for the most part it amounted to putting patches on top
of patches. There’s even some of the original leather still on it.”
When completed, Center intends for the organ to have
the sound that endeared it to so many local residents but with a clarity
that it had lost in recent years.
Moravec has invested
hundreds of thousands of dollars into restoring the restaurant, starting
with a new roof.
"We’ve also reopened three skylights
that were in the original building that had been closed off through
the years," he said.
Moravec also acquired other
historic items, such as the entire inventory of a New York ice cream
parlor that dates to the 19th century.
To accommodate
those added items and to provide display space for them and hundreds
of items that had been stored by the Zaharako family, Moravec also purchased
an adjacent building with plans to expand into the first and second
floors.
Moravec’s efforts were applauded by Mayor
Armstrong.
"We’re so fortunate in this community
to have people like Tony Moravec who just want to do the right thing."
 About
the organ:
Style: Welte Style 3 Pipe
Organ.
Type: A player organ, it plays music
recorded on punched paper rolls.
Manufactured:
In 1907 by M. Welte and Söhne, Freiburg, Germany.
Acquired:
By Zaharako family of Columbus in 1908 and placed in the dining area
of the downtown Columbus confectionery.
History:
Quickly became a Columbus institution, especially during the Christmas
season when its holiday music could be heard throughout the downtown
area. It was featured in several national newspaper, magazine and television
reports, including a visit to the confectionery by the "Today" show
staff in 1980.
Sold: In 2006, due to the illness
of operating partner Lew Zaharako, the organ was sold to a private collector
in California.
Returning: In 2007, the organ
was repurchased by Columbus businessman Tony Moravec after he purchased
the confectionery. The organ is being restored in Baltimore.
Future: Plans call for it to be put back in place at
Zaharako's in 2008 in time to provide Christmas music for the downtown
during the holiday period. Zaharako's will reopen in 2009.
Tony Moravec is bringing back the pipe organ for Zaharako's.
Courtesy of The Republic
Newspaper (Harry McCawley, author), Columbus, Ohio.
|
2008
Zaharako's Confectionery, Columbus, Indiana.
Zaharako's Ice Cream Parlor has long been known as a beautiful example of an old fashioned ice cream parlor,
but was closed two years ago due to health issues in the Zaharako family,
and the Welte 3 Cottage Orchestrion sold to a California mechanical music collector. Tony Moravec,
the new owner of the historic confectionary, purchased the ice cream parlor
in 2007 and is currently in the process of renovating the building. As part of the renovation he was able to acquire the same Welte that was in Zaharako's for close to 100 years,
which is now undergoing a complete restoration. He also has plans for a mechanical music/soda parlor museum next door to the restaurant. Reopening is
scheduled for 2009.
Zaharako's has recently established a web site at
www.zaharakos.com, which provides historic pictures of the establishment
and updates on the renovation process.
Credits:
Historic information provided by Marilyn Brackney, Durward
Center, Terry Hathaway, the Republic Newspaper (Harry McCawley, author)
and Zaharako's.
Technical information provided by Durward Center.
Photographs:
Zaharako's photographs by Marilyn and Larry Brackney.
