Saint Andrew's Church is a historic Anglo-Catholic parish in the heart of downtown Stamford, adjacent to the University of Connecticut campus. A few years ago, during a period of decline, it was on the verge of being closed. Now, under the new leadership of Father Richard Alton, former rector of St. Mark's Church in Philadelphia, the parish has been experiencing a revival.

The recent sale of its unused rectory and surrounding land for development has enabled the congregation to make much-needed improvements to the buildings and grounds. High on this list was the replacement of the ailing organ, a 1919 Möller which had been rebuilt and enlarged several times, with increasingly unfortunate results. In April 2011, the church learned of a 2 manual, 21 stop, 1987 J. W. Walker & Sons tracker which was available at the Salisbury School in northwestern Connecticut. After seeing and playing this English instrument, the rector and organist thought that it would be ideal for St. Andrew's. Unlike many tracker organs of the 1980s, the Salisbury organ had warm principals, lipid flutes, a Swell Salicional and Celeste, and full-bodied reeds.

We inspected the organ in early May and agreed with their assessment. After that, things fell rapidly into place. By the end of May the Möller organ was removed and our proposal for moving the Walker organ to Stamford accepted. In late June an Andover team consisting of Craig Seaman, David Zarges, Al Hosman and Project Team Leader Matthew Bellocchio dismantled and packed the Salisbury School organ. They were assisted by Fr. Alton and Yale Institute of Sacred Music graduate organ students Joshua Stafford, St. Andrew's organist, and Ian Tomesch.

On the last Sunday in June, following a parish luncheon after the Sung Mass, the organ was unloaded at St. Andrew’s by enthusiastic parishioners. During the next two weeks, while the south transept was remodeled to receive the organ, Matthew Bellocchio, David Zarges and Fay Morlock, modified the Great windchest and stopaction at our shop to make the 2-2/3’ rank of the Sesquialtera II available separately as a half-draw stop. Andrew Dolby, of P&S Organ Supply, who had built and installed the organ during his time at Walker’s, provided replacement drawknob labels and slider seals.

The organ was re-assembled in mid-July, again with the assistance of Messrs. Stafford, Tomesch and Fr. Alton. Matthew Bellocchio and Ryan Bartosiewicz regulated and tuned the pipework in the following weeks. By the end of July – scarcely three months from the initial contact by the church - the organ was leading the singing at Sunday Mass in its new home! We are pleased and honored to have played a part in this very rapid musical transformation at St. Andrew’s.

"We are so grateful to Andover for accomplishing this unusual project so efficiently and musically."
– Fr. Richard Alton, St. Andrew’s Church