Restoration Update
Scaffolds go up in the Chicago Temple’s main sanctuary as Schantz Organ Company workers prepare to remove Opus 414.
As Opus 414 continued to deteriorate, its simple operation increasingly relied upon stop-gap measures.
The restoration of Opus 414 is well underway, with the organ having been extracted from the sanctuary of the Chicago Temple and relocated to the workshops of the Schantz Organ Company in Orrville, Ohio.
Timeline
December, 2025
Integrated Organ Technologies, IOTI, is chosen to design and supply the digital system that will control the electronic system of the new organ console. This is the most important element of a modern organ console, and IOTI has provided fiber optic reliability for numerous organs throughout the world, including organs at the Mormon Tabernacle (Salt Lake City), Iglesia ni Cristo (Quezon City, Philippines) Uppsala Cathedral (Uppsala, Sweden), Christ Cathedral (Garden Grove, CA), Cathedral of St. Paul (St. Paul, MN), First United Methodist Church (Coral Gables, FL), among many others.
November 2, 2025
In the grand D-major chord at the end of Louis Vierne’s Final from his First Symphony for organ were the last sounds heard from the former version of Opus 414 during Sunday church services, following a formal farewell liturgy before the benediction. A celebratory luncheon in Dixon Chapel and James Parlor after the 11 a.m. service was provided by the Organ Restoration Committee.
November, 2025
The restoration project receives a major grant from The HAS Foundation, Inc., raising the total funds committed to more than $2.8 million.
January, 2025
The Opus 414 Society is formed to expand fundraising options for the restoration project and to assume long-term management and promotion of Opus 414 following its reinstallation in the fall of 2026.
May, 2024
A formal contract with Schantz Organ Company of Orrville, Ohio is signed as fundraising reaches more than $1.5 million in gifts, pledges and bequests.
December, 2023
Fundraising exceeds $1 million.
March, 2022
The Organ Restoration Committee engages a professional fundraising consultant to reset fundraising efforts after the pandemic closed the church to in-person worship for eighteen months.
December, 2019
The first fundraising letters are sent to members and friends of the church.
Winter 2017 - Spring 2018
Bids on the organ restoration were received and reviewed. Schantz Organ Company of Orrville, Ohio was awarded the contract by a unanimous recommendation of the Committee for the restoration of Opus 414.
December, 2017
Determining that restoration was preferable to replacement, the Committee for the Restoration of Opus 414 commissioned three leading organ builders to bid on the restoration of Opus 414.
July, 2017
The Committee for the Restoration of Opus 414 is convened to address the mounting operational problems experienced by Opus 414.