This Maine father-son team builds pipe organs around the world

Gorham’s Pipe‑Organ Duo Keeps an Ancient Craft Alive

In a quiet shop on County Road, a pair of hands—one 76 and the other 39—are turning timber, metal, and leather into a soundscape that could echo across churches, concert halls, and schools. David E. Wallace, the elder, and his son Nick have been building, restoring, and maintaining pipe organs for almost four decades, and their work is still in high demand, both at home and abroad.

The Wallace workshop is the only one in Maine that still practices the full spectrum of organ building. The business, officially named David E. Wallace & Co. Pipe Organ Builders, was founded in 1982 by David after a formative internship with a Boston‑area organ maker. He had originally set out to become a high‑school science teacher, but the hands‑on craftsmanship of the trade hooked him. When Nick joined the family in his late twenties, the firm shifted focus to new mechanical organs and large‑scale restorations.

“People often think organ building is a dying art,” Nick told reporters. “But the general public is still often mystified by it, and the work is never finished. The instruments are being built better than they ever have been before.”

The Wallace shop sits behind a family farmhouse in Gorham, a rural setting that belies the complexity of the instruments being produced. A wall of wooden studs and metal tubes—some of which will become hundreds of pipes for the next instrument—forms the backdrop of the workshop. The walls are lined with blueprints, wax‑dusted pipe heads, and a keyboard that serves as a test bench.

A Global Reach

Although the Wallace duo’s headquarters are in Maine, their projects span the United States and even Europe. Last year the firm assembled an organ for a church on Washington, D.C.’s Capitol Hill, and has since taken on work in Atlanta, Ancaster, Ontario, and Boom, Belgium. “We do a lot of international work,” David explained. “We often travel to see the instrument before we begin, then return after it’s installed to tune and make sure everything stays in harmony.”

Their most ambitious project at the time of writing is a 20‑foot‑tall, 1,795‑pipe instrument for St. Stanislaus Catholic Church in Nashua, New Hampshire. The team started the build about six months ago and estimates a year before the organ will be playable. “We can’t speed through stuff,” David said. “We don’t want to rush the process; the craftsmanship demands patience.”

The project illustrates the full range of skills required: precise metalworking for the pipes, woodworking for the case, leather‑making for the wind‑chest, and countless hours of hand‑drilling and fitting. “We test each pipe on a keyboard to hear whether it hits the right pitch,” Nick added. “It’s a blend of art and engineering.”

Mentoring the Next Generation

While the Wallaces are the heart of the business, they are rarely the only hands in the shop. Over the years they have brought on a handful of apprentices and helpers. Rebecca Schnell, 72, has worked with them for nine years. A former choir director at Woodford’s Congregational Church in Portland, Schnell moved from tuning to building after expressing a desire to learn how to construct the massive instruments from scratch. “I would have done this much earlier if I knew it existed,” she said.

Ryan Slocum, 24, began as a student of organ performance at the University of Southern Maine. He first encountered the Wallaces while practicing at the Corthell Concert Hall on the university’s Gorham campus. The presence of a maintenance crew doing hands‑on work piqued his curiosity. “It’s opened my eyes a lot,” Slocum remarked. “There’s a lot more you can do with music while still being hands‑on.”

Both apprentices have taken on increasing responsibilities. Slocum has become proficient in multiple aspects of organ construction, while Schnell has helped design key actions and oversee pipe fabrication. “The training we provide is invaluable,” David said. “We’re not just building instruments; we’re passing on a heritage.”

The Business of Sound

The market for new and restored pipe organs remains robust. While some churches in New England face closures or repurposing, new churches are springing up in southern states, and concert halls and schools in Europe and Asia are looking for instruments that blend tradition with modern quality. According to David, a new organ or a restoration can run anywhere from $250,000 to $750,000, excluding travel costs.

The Wallace firm’s backlog reflects this sustained demand. They receive calls “for tunings and repairs” almost daily, and “proposals for projects across the country, and sometimes the world,” David explained. The business is built on a steady stream of work, from the urgent need to fix a leaking wind chest on Portland’s Kotzschmar organ before Anna Lapwood’s performance, to large, multi‑year builds in distant cities.

David’s grandmother was an organist, and his fascination with the Kotzschmar organ grew out of attending its concerts at Portland City Hall Auditorium. The firm’s recent work on a new wind chest for the Kotzschmar organ—replacing one that was leaking and hissing just before Lapwood’s arrival—demonstrates the kind of urgent, high‑profile work the Wallaces undertake.

A Trade That Persists

The Wallace workshop’s story runs counter to the narrative that organ building is a dying art. In their shop, the “general public is still often mystified by it,” but the demand for beautiful, historically faithful instruments persists. “Organs are being built better than they ever have been before,” Nick said again, echoing the sentiment that the craft, though old, is evolving.

When asked why they continue to devote themselves to such a niche trade, David reflected on the early mornings and the meticulous nature of the work. “You have to love what you do,” he said. “You have to want to get up at 4 in the morning to come out and sit down and figure out why you can’t get from point A to point B.”

The Wallace duo’s journey—spanning a small shop in Gorham, international travels, and the training of new craftsmen—illustrates how a centuries‑old art can remain vibrant. Their instruments, whether newly built or lovingly restored, continue to fill the air of churches and concert halls with rich, resonant tones, proving that the pipe organ still has a place in modern culture.