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 1950s 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 1950s, 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, Indiana, 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.
