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Fred Seely's Musical History: Finding the Perfect Pipe Organ for Asheville's Grove Park Inn
- Heath Towson
- Mar 30
- 33 min read
Come explore some of the musical history of the Grove Park Inn, in Asheville, North Carolina. We'll take a deep dive into not one, but TWO different pipe organs that entertained guests of the famed Grove Park Inn from 1916 to 1929. Sit back with a cup of coffee and enjoy photos, recordings and documents related to the history of these incredible instruments!
For a more reader friendly version of this article, download a PDF here:
And now... on to the show!
Fred Seely’s Musical History: Finding the Perfect Pipe Organ for Asheville’s Grove Park Inn
The Skinner Op. 295 Organ in the lobby of Grove Park Inn – Buncombe County Special Collections, Pack library
When Fred Seely constructed Asheville’s finest resort, the Grove Park Inn, entertainment for his guests was top of mind. Asheville had limited options for entertainment or evening nightlife at the turn of the 20th century. Seely wanted to keep his guests on the property of Grove Park Inn as much as possible, to provide the best of service to them. During the winter of 1916, the Inn installed a movie screen and projector, showing two movies nightly after dinner. Seely personally screened any movies to be shown at the Grove Park Inn, to make sure they were of the highest quality. Beyond showing movies and hiring dance bands, Seely sought to curate higher caliber entertainment for his high-profile guests.
Fred Seely – Image Courtesy of UNCA Special Collections
When it opened in the summer of 1913, The Grove Park Inn had musical programming in the evening, as well as lecturers on various topics for guest entertainment. Three years after its opening, Seely decided to purchase a pipe organ for the lobby to entertain his guests with regular recitals. Seely had become acquainted with pipe organs years before while living in Atlanta, when he purchased a small pipe organ for his home. Starting around 1906, he began a subscription to one of the leading publications on pipe organs in America, The Diapason magazine.
The Grove Park Inn, photo by George Masa – Courtesy of UNCA Special Collections
The Diapason is an international journal devoted to the organ, harpsichord, carillon and church music that has been in circulation for more than 100 years. Seely was an avid reader of The Diapason magazine and would have yearly compilations of Diapason issues bound in beautiful leather binding by The Roycrofters book works in East Aurora, New York. Roycroft is also known for providing the majority of furniture and fixtures for the Grove Park Inn, as well as Seely’s personal home, Overlook Castle. Seely even wrote several critical editorial letters about the his perceived lack of expertise by writers of articles in The Diapason.
The Diapason Magazine, February 1916 issue – Seely Seeking organ
Usage of organs in the United States was also changing dramatically during this period. Staring in about the 1830s, the organ would not be used exclusively for Christian worship and would start to enter secular life in the 1830s and 1840s. Boston Music Hall would get their first organ around 1864. Many municipal buildings and civic auditoriums would begin to install organs in the 1860s. After the Civil War, many wealthy individuals began installing pipe organs in their homes during the Gilded Age. Organs then began to be installed in locations like yachts, car dealerships, Masonic Temples, Synagogues and musical theaters.
Organs in this period were used for many purposes including movie theaters for accompaniment of silent films, to provide the soundtrack for silent movies. In the Grove Park Inn, however, Fred Seely viewed the organ with much reverence and would not allow it to be used for accompanying movies or for dance music. The organ at the Grove Park Inn was to be used for serious classical music recitals only. A small harmonium and piano were purchased for use in the grand lobby of the Grove Park Inn, which would be used for dance music or more pedestrian performances.
To find the perfect organ for Grove Park Inn’s lobby, Seely put out an anonymous classified ad in The Diapason magazine regarding the organ specifications he required for the Inn. He received a flurry of responses from organ builders across the country. In this period, it was not unusual to have an organ in a resort hotel like the Grove Park Inn. Some of the more prominent hotels that had organs installed for guest entertainment were The Waldorf Astoria in New York City, The Stonewall Jackson Hotel in Staunton, Virginia (now named Hotel 24 South, still retains its Wurlitzer organ) and the Mission Inn in Riverside, California (has a 1911 Kimball pipe organ.) Although several other noted hotels had organs located in a ballroom, mezzanine or small theater, none seemed to have them as prominently placed as Seely’s design for an organ in the Grove Park Inn lobby.
The Grove Park Inn Lobby, Image Courtesy of UNCA Special Collections
Seely received bids from several organ makers, including M.P. Moller Organs, Estey Organs, Wurlitzer and Hook and Hastings among others. Seely insisted that any interested organ makers come visit the Grove Park Inn, to understand “the tonal possibilities available” in the lobby of his hotel.
Seely ultimately decided to purchase an organ from Henry Picher and Sons of Louisville Kentucky. Pilcher and Sons, one of the oldest organ builders in the country, was a very sought-after and recognizable brand, which was appealing to Seely for marketing purposes. It was founded by Henry Pilcher in 1852, an accomplished organist and organ builder from England, who had immigrated to the United States in the early 1800s. He would retire in 1858, with his sons Henry Jr. and Robert E. Pilcher taking the helm of the company. In addition to building organs, they sold music, pianos, musical instruments and even published music.
Organs are some of the more well documented instruments, each documented with their own “opus” number, which acts as a kind of serial number for the instrument to document its manufacture date and specifications. The Pilcher organ crafted for Grove Park Inn by Pilcher was Opus number 892, built in 1916. (click below for the specifications of this organ)
After securing a contract with Henry Pilcher and Sons for an orchestral organ, Seely knew that he needed to hire an organist and musical director for the Grove Park Inn. He was in regular contact with Edith Vanderbilt, as he was purchasing all his dairy products for the Inn from the Biltmore Estate’s Dairy Farm. It is assumed through connection with the Vanderbilts, that he became acquainted with the organist of All Souls Cathedral in Biltmore Village, Maurice Longhurst.
Maurice Longhurst was born in Windsor, England in 1887. He received his bachelor's degree in music at the Royal Conservatory in Leipzig, Germany and another degree from the College of Organists and the Guildhall School of Music, both in London. Longhurst was a Fellow of London’s Royal College of Music as well. After teaching at the Bridge of Allan private school in Scotland, Longhurst came to the United States in 1913 to be the Master of Music at St. Genevieve’s Preparatory School and College (St. Genevieve of the Pines) in Asheville, as well as the organist for All Souls Cathedral. Seely was able to hire him away from All Souls and St. Genevieve’s to become the first full-time organist and musical director for the Grove Park Inn, which would coincide with the installation of Pilcher Opus #892.
The installation of Pilcher Organ #892 began in February of 1916, being completed around March 5th of 1916. The organ included a self-player mechanism that could play large paper song reels, like a piano player. This gave the inn the ability to have organ music playing, with or without a live organist.
Specifications for Pilcher Op. 892, courtesy of The Organ Historical Society
Intending for the pipe organ to be an attraction for hotel guests and residents of Asheville alike, Seely began planning a series of regular recitals in the evenings after dinner and on Sunday afternoons. By the summer of 1916, Longhurst was regularly giving organ recitals every Sunday in the lobby. Later in the year, the Asheville-Citizen times reported that Grove Park Inn management wanted to expand the organ’s registers, as they did not feel that the organ was large enough to fully take advantage of the acoustic properties of the lobby.
As Seely’s infatuation with the organ grew, he began exploring the possibility of installing one in his home. Overlook Castle, Seely’s personal home, had just been completed in late 1916. It was one of the finest homes in Asheville with a view second to none of the entire city, high from its perch on Sunset Mountain. Seely’s quest for the perfect personal organ generated a tedious chain of correspondence with Robert E. Pilcher. Seely, dismayed with the cost of custom building an organ for Overlook, began to explore a different solution. He wrote to Pilcher about creating a set of 100 or so faux organ pipes that he could install in the space dedicated to a future organ located in his Great Room.
Fred Seely’s Overlook Castle, built on Sunset Mountain, courtesy of UNCA Special Collections
Pilcher and Seely argued about what materials the faux pipes should be made from, as well as their cost to manufacture. Robert Pilcher suggested a set made from zinc, which was used for their real organ pipes, at a quoted cost of $275. Seely, aghast with the quoted cost for these faux pipes questioned Pilcher about why the pipes could not be made from much cheaper black iron water pipe and finished to mimic Pilcher’s real pipes? Pilcher refused to give in to Seely’s demands for making them out of cheaper materials because he did not believe iron could mimic the contour of authentic pipes made of zinc, which irked Seely to no end. After several more letters arguing about the materials and costs for this project, the matter was dropped and forgotten about by both parties.
In anticipation of someday installing an organ at Overlook, Seely did go as far as building out space in the Great Hall of for an organ, as well as a space for the mechanical components of the organ like a compressor and bellows. His search for the perfect organ for Overlook’s Great Room would go on until his death in 1942, never finding the right organ or one at a cost he could agree with. Although an organ was never installed, the Seely’s did have a music room in the castle, equipped with a grand piano. Overlook hosted many musical recitals for instrumentalists and choral groups in Asheville that the Seelys supported.
The Great Hall, Fred Seely’s Overlook Castle, image courtesy of UNCA Special Collections
The faux pipes for Overlook would only be the beginning of tension between Fred Seely and Robert Pilcher. Seely was disappointed with the performance of the Pilcher organ since its installation. A year after its installation, Seely wrote the following letter, considering removing the organ from the hotel and relocating it to Overlook:
“October 22nd, 1917
Dear Mr. Pilcher:
I have been studying over the organ situation ever since I last saw you, and have not come to an absolutely definite decision yet.
I know you will feel very much dissatisfied with me when I tell you that the organ does not yet meet my wishes for our purposes here. In self defense I want to say, however, that there are a great many things at the Inn which are entirely satisfactory and which I am not trying to improve.
If you did not so greatly disagree with some of my ideas about the organ, I believe I would be satisfied with the rebuilding of the main organ along the lines I have suggested, lowering the boxes, etc. and adding to it. But feeling, as I do, that you do not agree with me, I have thought that possibly the best thing to do would be to have you rebuild this organ to fit my house and I would make some other arrangements for the hotel. I think, at all events, that I will take some of the money I have been spending for big concerts and spend it on either an enlargement of or at least a change in the organ situation.
I feel it my duty to you to go over everything with you before I do anything and I wish to know if you intend to be in this vicinity any time soon or if you can come down. I would not care to go into it with you if your factory is crowded and you would to desire to take on any changes or extra work now. “
Always wanting to improve things, Seely continued to refine the Pilcher organ in Grove Park Inn’s lobby and wrote regularly to Mr. Pilcher regarding his dissatisfaction with the installation of their organ. Seely wrote constantly about problems regarding the intonation of the organ, as well as a sticking note or “cipher,” that would continue playing even when the key on the console was not depressed. In 1917, he had Pilcher construct and deliver an entirely new console for the organ, due to his dissatisfaction with the first console. After exploring several modifications and discussing them by letter with R.E. Pilcher, Seely wrote the following letter in 1919, when he began the search for a new organ:
“Dear Mr. Pilcher,
I was away from home when your letter came.
I thank you for writing me, and would be glad enough to talk to you, although I fear your’s and my ideas of what we want could hardly ever be coordinated. I am afraid you halfway know that I have never been very well satisfied with this organ, and I can’t help but feel that the placing of it with the boxes so high off the floor, and all that, is partly to blame.
The console has been a never-ending source of satisfaction. It has been in now I believe, something over two years, and I believe we have yet to experience our first cipher in it, or in fact, any annoyance from it, other than the buckling of the key-bar of the top manual, with which Mr. Haury is familiar.
A number of representatives of large builders have been here. In fact, two were here on last Sunday, familiarizing themselves with conditions, etc., and several more are to come in the next few weeks.
I don’t want to bring you down here with a loss of time and expense to you, but if you still feel that you would like to talk the matter over, of course we will always be glad to see you.”
Following the end of the first World War, tourism was booming in Asheville during the end of 1918 and on into 1919. In 1919, Fred Seely planned an expansion of the southern wing of Grove Park Inn. His thoughts again returned to the Pilcher organ and its potential replacement. He again turned to The Diapason magazine and put out a large, two-page advertisement in the July 1919 issue, seeking a replacement for the Pilcher organ and advertising its sale.
Despite Seely’s dissatisfaction with the Pilcher organ, he had invited notable organists Joseph Bonnet and Clarence Eddy to give recitals on it. In a two-page ad of the July 1919 Diapason magazine seeking his new organ, Seely mentions some of the notable guests at the Inn who were fellow organ enthusiasts. These included industrialists such as Mr. Charles Schwab (owner of an Aeolian organ), Sir John Eaton, Henry Ford (owner of an Estey organ), George M. Holley (founder of the Holley carburetor company) and “others” he did not list by name.
To give context about the setting for organ performances at the Grove Park Inn, Seely described the “superb acoustics” of the organ’s installation in the Inn’s lobby, which is 120 feet long, 80 feet wide and has a 24 foot ceiling.
Seely went on to write in The Diapason:
“The character of the clientele at Grove Park Inn is not found in any other place of this kind in the world. It is maintained on a basis of dignity and quiet, and especially caters to the biggest business men and their families. A list of some of our guests is printed at the end of this statement. In addition to these facts we do not entertain children. We insist upon and maintain absolute quiet throughout our Sunday evening organ recitals. The organist plays one hour in the afternoon after lunch, every day in the year, and about one hour and twenty minutes in the evening, with an intermission of about thirty to forty minutes for motion pictures during which time the organ is not played.” If any guests were being too loud, they would discretely be handed a small card by an attendant of the hotel that would ask them to be aware of their volume and disturbance to other guests.
After lengthy correspondence with organ builders such as Hook and Hastings, M.P. Moller and Skinner, Seely was closing in on a replacement for the Pilcher. After visits from these organ builders and much back and forth, Seely chose to have his newest organ constructed by the Skinner company of Boston, Massachusetts. A Skinner organ was not only known for its exceptional tone and craftsmanship, but also its elite status in the music world, akin to a Stradivarius violin or Steinway piano.
Organ pipe and mechanism coverings, Grove Park Inn Lobby – Photo Courtesy of UNCA Special Collections
Organ pipe and mechanism coverings, Grove Park Inn Lobby – Photo Courtesy of UNCA Special Collections
Echo unit for the organ in southern stairwell, around the corner from the grand lobby (large vent above chairs) that provided echo and swell effects for the organ, photo courtesy of UNCA Special Collections
When Ernest Skinner began constructing the organ for the Grove Park Inn, public regard for the organ was at its zenith. Audiences at organ recitals in large cities regularly exceeded 1,000 attendees. Ernest Skinner was widely regarded for his innovation in both mechanical advancements, as well as tonal improvements to the pipe organ. He began his career working in the mechanical division of the George Hutchins organ company but became frustrated by not being allowed to develop tonal improvements to the organ. After being sponsored by a wealthy anonymous Bostonian, he traveled to Europe where he was inspired by the sound of the organ in various cathedrals and performance halls.
Wanting to bring the tonal range of European organs to the United States upon his return, he set about creating organ sounds or “stops” that would emulate the various sounds of the orchestra such as woodwind, brass, string and percussion instruments so that a full orchestral transcription could be played by the organ. He also began work on a player mechanism called the Orchestrator, that could play orchestral transcriptions on paper player roll, without the need for an organist.
Organ historian and Skinner scholar Jonathan Ambrosino writes of this mechanism:
“The most complicated roll-playing system ever devised, the “Orchestrator” was based on Skinner’s premise that, in the orchestra, a four-note chord is often played by four different instruments. Therefore if the organ is truly to suggest orchestral texture, each instrument — French horn, oboe, flute, violin, etc. — should play as in the score. Further, each voice should be separately enclosed to approximate precise orchestral balance. Skinner designed a system that played pedal, accompaniment and four solo voices — a total of six separate parts (though for some reason, he consistently claimed seven)
In a conventional system, the Orchestrator would have required approximately 475 individual hole possibilities across a roll about forty-one inches wide (something akin to playing a small tablecloth). In a first attempt at miniaturization, Skinner reduced the width and spacing of the perforations. He then settled on 120 holes across a 10-1/4"–wide tracker bar, narrow enough to avoid problems of alignment due to humidity changes in the paper.”
An early organ with a player mechanism (reel in the center of the console) Image courtesy of The Diapason Magazine
Skinner would go on to construct an orchestral organ for the Grove Park Inn as well. The previous Pilcher organ had been more of a “theater” organ, with limited stops and tonal possibilities. It was considered to be “above-average” in prestige and quality at the time. Beyond being technically and tonally gifted, Ernest Skinner was also known to be a charmer and flattered Seely by saying the lobby of the Grove Park Inn was “the most acoustically perfect hall I have ever visited.”
When it came time for Skinner to draw up the contract, Seely was able to negotiate a partial trade in discount with his Pilcher organ. Ernest Skinner was willing to allow a $5,000 credit for the Pilcher organ and a price of $30,000 to construct the Inn’s new organ. Skinner then went on to sell the Pilcher locally to Central United Methodist Church in downtown Asheville.
Central’s organist, Daisy Smith Blanton sought out this instrument as Central was concluding a renovation to their sanctuary in 1919. She had been playing on a Felgemaker organ, which was lost in a fire while the church temporarily occupied the city auditorium in 1903 during the construction of their new sanctuary. Daisy was an accomplished organist, who had studied with several teachers, including Maurice Longhurst. She would go on to have a career as Central’s organist for 50 years, before she retired in 1948.
Skinner’s workers rushed the installation of the Pilcher organ at Central, which caused many problems with its performance. Fred Seely tried to intervene between Pilcher and Central United Methodist in an act of goodwill, funding repairs to the organ despite not being involved in its sale. He even went as far as writing Mr. Pilcher, who was reluctant to help Seely after Seely’s many years of tense correspondence and critique.
After Seely’s request for Pilcher to help Central United Methodist, the company wrote on Mr. Pilcher’s behalf, the following letter:
“April 1, 1924
Dear Sir:
Your favor of the 19th ult., addressed to Mr. R.E.P. was forward to him in California where he has been spending the winter, and he asks us to reply.
We have heard from other sources that our organ now in the Central Methodist Church at Asheville, had been greatly abused by the Skinner men when erecting it, and we have been in correspondence with the Pastor preliminary to taking the matter up with the church officers, in regard to restoring the organ and making any necessary changes to meet the requirements of larger building.
With an organ acknowledged to be a splendid instrument, it was a despicable thing for Skinner to discredit it in the way he did, and then use it as had frequently been done since, by his salespeople, to our great disadvantage.”
Robert Pilcher wrote to Seely on April 21, 1924:
“Dear Sir,
Your letter of the 17th is before us. It would seem from your statement a certain contract or deal was entered into between Mr. Skinner and the Church in question, that the Church and you should insist on his compliance with the spirit and letter of any such contract.
It happens that all of our outside men are extremely busy in other directions. Aside from this fact, even if we had an expert available for the purpose, we would hesitate to take hold of an unfinished job of this character, for we would then be held responsible for the final outcome. We trust upon reflection you will realize our position; while we naturally desire that the organ (one of our Make) prove satisfactory, under present conditions they could not logically blame us for any defects therin.
Hoping you may be able to adjust the matter satisfactorily to all parties concerned, we are
Yours very truly, R.E. Pilcher”
Despite what seemed to be an incomplete installation drug out over several years, Central made the announcement of a large recital in the Asheville Citizen-Times as early as July 11th, 1920. The Pilcher from Grove Park Inn would serve Central’s congregation from 1919 to 1967, when it was replaced by a Schantz organ, which still serves the congregation today. In Central UMC’s history written in 1967, it states that the Pilcher organ was given to Trinity Methodist Church in West Asheville. At the time of this writing, the Pilcher organ is not installed in the sanctuary of Trinity and no records of this organ were found in their church archives. It is not known if any of the ranks of pipes or other equipment from this organ survive. If you know more about this history, please write mountaineermotortours@gmail.com.
Central United Methodist Church, Asheville NC
Sanctuary of Central United Methodist Church
Skinner Opus #295 was installed in the lobby of the Grove Park Inn during the winter of 1920, starting in February. It was a four manual Skinner organ, with a custom-made inset wooden paneling around the console. The custom panels were produced by woodcarvers at Seely’s newly purchased mountain craft business, Biltmore Industries, located on the southern portion of the Grove Park Inn Property. Seely purchased Biltmore Estate Industries from Edith Vanderbilt in 1917, who had founded it with two other master craftspeople, expert woodcarver Eleanor Vance and her partner Charlotte Yale. These panels appear to have the Dogwood flower design carved into them, a signature pattern of the woodcarvers.
Skinner Organ with hand carved Biltmore Industries Paneling, image courtesy of Buncombe County Special Collections at Pack Library
Specifications for Skinner Op. #295, courtesy of The Organ Historical Society
At the time the Skinner organ was installed at the Grove Park Inn, their sales brochure stated opus #295 was one of only two Skinner organs in North Carolina, the other being at Roxboro Methodist Church.
On April 7, 1920, Seely made a grand announcement in the Asheville Citizen-Times about the installation of the Skinner organ:
“It is with no little pride that we are able to state we have installed at Grove Park Inn the masterpiece of the greatest organ builder the world has ever produced. Mr. Ernest M. Skinner of Boston who is called the Steinway of organ builders, has built for us the masterpiece of his life’s work up to the present time.
In giving Mr. Skinner the contract for this organ, he was directed to build into it every tone and every device that could legitimately go into a strictly orchestral concert organ, and we are proud of the fact that the result has been an instrument which we do not believe is equaled in the entire world.
There are two stops in this organ which had never been used in any other organ. There is one stop which has only two duplicates, and this is the third organ he has built where the piano is played by the organist from the keyboard. It may be noticed that this organ differs from so-called pipe organs and church organs in that it is strictly orchestral in practically all of its qualities.
There are six departments or organs, three in the north end of the room, two including the solo and orchestral organs in the south end, and the echo organ in the hallway of the next building to the south. There are included in this organ the Cathedral Chimes.
It required over sixty miles of wire for the electrical work. It requires a fifteen-horsepower motor to blow it and three months in the factory and four months to install it.
Mr. Skinner has built the most superb organs in existence, such organs as in the College of the City of New York, Cathedral of St. John the Divine and others equally famous.”
This description would be used for many years in the musical programs printed and handed out at the regular recitals at the Inn.
This organ would have closely resembled this Skinner organ in sound and effects:
An Early program for an organ recital, courtesy of UNCA Special Collections
All was not peaceful with Seely and Ernest Skinner, as warranty work would be hard to come by for the many repairs and potential additions Seely wanted done to the organ. The Skinner organ was equipped with a remotely played piano, that used a series of cables and connections tied into the organ console, where it could be used in conjunction with other stops on the organ. Skinner installed a Mason and Hamlin piano, his preferred brand, for the remotely operated piano in Opus #295 which was a factory refurbished unit.
Skinner installed the refurbished Mason and Hamlin piano presumably as a cost saving measure to increase his profit, which was not communicated to Seely. Seely later discovered that the Mason and Hamlin piano supplied with his organ installation was a used, factory refurbished model after repair work was completed on it. Lack of Skinner’s communication and feeling that he did not have the best piano money could buy troubled him greatly. He wrote letters to Mason and Hamlin, requesting that they purchase the piano back from him or help him find a buyer. It had been financed by Seely at a cost of $2,000 and paid off over two years. Mason and Hamlin did everything they could to reassure Seely the piano was a quality unit, but he could not be assuaged. The piano was eventually sold to an unknown buyer and was substituted with Seely’s personal Steinway piano.
When it came time to maintain the organ, Seely hired Lewis and Hitchcock, premier tuners and technicians of organs on the east coast. They would go on to maintain the Skinner organ at Grove Park Inn from its installation in 1919, until it was sold in 1929. Seely would go on to write them several times a year to repair and tune the organ before each season, making adjustments due to the effects of temperature change on intonation.
Seely then began creating an elaborate musical series for Grove Park Inn. Not only were regular organ recitals given in the lobby, but operatic soloists and small chamber groups would join regularly. Seely worked with local talent, as well as larger booking companies like the Musical Arts Society to book visiting talent for concerts at the Inn.
Hearing of this grand organ in articles appearing in The Diapason magazine, many potential and would-be organists wrote to Seely, offering to perform on Seely’s Skinner organ while touring or vacationing in the southeast. Seely, politely, but flatly refused most of their offers. If he was interested, he would request that they mail him programs of their previous performances and describe in detail their musical training and complete musical repertoire. Typically, organists with less years of experience or who were female were declined.
The organ recitals held at Grove Park Inn were of a serious nature and most required black-tie dress. During the recitals absolute quiet was requested by guests. His one concession was a healthy snack that was distributed during the recitals. Apples wrapped in red bright foil packaging were handed to the guests before these evening recitals. After consuming the apple, guests were asked to dispose of the core and seeds in the foil wrapper, which would then be collected by an attendant.
The apples were sourced from a local musical supplier, Harry Dunham, who owned Dunham’s Music House. The apples came from Dunham’s Orchard on Lynn Cove Road in the Beaverdam community, north of the Grove Park Inn. Seely’s preferred variety of apples were “Fancy Stark’s Delicious” and “Fancy Steyman” apples. Seely purchased much of his sheet music from Dunham, as well as early phonograph equipment. Dunham’s Music House would be known as Asheville’s first and largest music store for many years to come. Seely also loaned an early phonograph called a Grafonola made by Victor for the lobby of the Grove Park Inn. He requested that Dunham’s contact both Victor and Columbia to provide a complimentary phonograph, but both companies declined. Harry Dunham, frustrated that his phonograph seemed to be on permanent loan at the inn wrote politely that if the Inn desired to keep the Grafanola any longer, they would be obliged to charge rent of $5 a month.
For Asheville locals and guests of the inn, this may have been one of the only opportunities to hear classical music performed live. Although Asheville did have a small arts scene during this era, as well as an opera house, a symphony orchestra had not yet been organized. It would not be until 1927 that the Asheville Symphony was officially organized by local flutist and composer, Lamar Stringfield.
Asheville’s first radio station, WWNC, would be established in 1927, broadcasting live from the Flatiron building in downtown Asheville. Seely arranged to have them broadcast his organ recitals, once a week. Seely would read the following announcement prior to the first WWNC broadcast:
“Friends of the Radio world in the Land of the Sky, and in any land that our voices may reach, I am speaking to you tonight to dedicate and to give you the Music of our Organ at Grove Park Inn.
It no doubt will be of interest to you to know that tucked away here in the hills of the Blue Ridge, in these Majestic Mountains, we have without doubt the world’s finest organ. No it is not the largest in the world. Size does not make quality in an organ. It is not the most costly in the world for an organ the size of this could be built for about $75,000.00 and there are organs that have cost over $100,000. It is as I said the finest organ built so far in the history of Organs.
Ernest M. Skinner of Boston is looked upon by the Musical World as the Best Organ Builder of all time. He has given us the greatest Organs in existence from the standpoint of quality and music producing ability. Mr. Skinner built the organ in the Church of St. John the Divine, New York, St. Thomas Church – Trinity Church New York. The Cleveland Auditorium, which seats 13,000 and for which organ they paid $120,000.00. The Princeton University Organ and thousands of others where the finest instruments were required. But in this particular organ to which you will listen tonight and I hope many nights, Mr. Skinner put more of himself and gave it more care in the building than any great organ he has ever built.
He said he considered this the most wonderful music room in the world – that he had dreamed that somewhere – sometime – an ideal room from the sound standpoint would be built and that it was his opportunity to put the finest organ in it he could build.
He voiced the pipes almost alone. He designed it personally to give the effects it has given so beautifully, and of it he made a Stradivarius of Organs.
But you will sense all of this as you listen to it from time to time. You will draw in its lovely tones as they are given out to you by the master hand of Dr. Potter our organist. You will close your eyes at times and drift away with the Heavenly plaintive tones of the Vox Humana. You will be aroused to martial impulses by the thrilling tones of the French Horn and you will be carried back to childhood when you hear the echos of “The Old Oaken Bucket” and “The Last Rose of Summer Left Blooming Alone.”
All in all I hope you will be charmed and entertained by it. It is yours to enjoy and in our giving it to you we feel that we are only grasping a privilege that gives us the greatest pleasure.
About our music – I would say it always has been my idea that there is nothing more to be gained in compelling people to listen to unpleasant or unmusical music that to compel them to eat tasteless or unpleasant food. And in line with that idea we try to make up our programs of the most harmonious, the most enjoyable compositions known to the art.
Music should be made to be enjoyed – not endured. It should inspire its hearers to better lives and to loftier things. It should soothe and quiet trouble breasts. It should be a blessing to all.
Our composers in nearly every instance, gave us our greatest musical works through privation – through poverty and in many instances through suffering. Beethoven who gave us his ninth symphony – which is conceded to be the outstanding composition of all time – had lost his hearing nearly 8 years before he composed it.
Chopin suffered the pangs of want and lived for years in an attic. Cesar-Franc whose hundredth anniversary was celebrated only a few years ago, - when he gave his best work, had but two people in his audience.
From such circumstances have come our greatest harmonies – and from lives that have been tried by fire and toil come our highest achievements.
This instrument with its miles upon miles of delicate wires – Its thousands upon thousands of pipes – Its carloads of windchests and sound boxes and intricate equipment is the final result of the toil of thousands of men who have striven through the ages to give the world what we have today.
To them I pay humble tribute. To the Great Composers I pay homage. To you I say again we are glad to send this music to you and may you become part of an invisible family that shall sit with us on many evenings and find rich enjoyment in these concerts. I thank you.”
Proving to be dissatisfied with how his organ sounded on the WWNC broadcast, Seely explored the possibility of purchasing his own broadcast equipment for the Inn to create his own regular broadcast. Seely wrote to the Westinghouse company, requesting more information on their broadcasting services for equipment that could transmit up to 1,000 miles. At the conclusion of his letter, he wrote the following description about the programs at the Inn:
“Moving picture organs and orchestras do not use the type of music which would be suitable for a program in the Home. Our programs are arranged to suit the most refined musical tastes, and are free from all semblances of jazz, “Playing the Pictures” and the like. Would your organization be interested in arranging a broadcasting outfit and serving this Organ Recital each evening?”
When Westinghouse replied about his rquest to broadcast his organ recitals, Seely decided not to go further after learning the cost of the equipment and broadcast licenses.
As Seely’s music programming became more complicated, he had difficulty finding players who could fulfill his ambitions. Maurice Longhurst left Grove Park Inn during 1921 to pursue a teaching position at Dartmouth College, which he would go on to hold for many years. Seely would run through a string of organists after Maurice Longhurst including Frankin Glynn, Charles Courboin and his last organist, Dr. Ben Potter.
Potter would be the recipient of frequent critical memos from Seely regarding his personal appearance, demeanor at the organ and musical technique. Several examples of these memos from Seely convey the following:
“December 22nd, 1926
Dear Mr. Potter;
It is with a great deal of reluctance that I feel compelled to write you with regard to your appearance at the afternoon recitals.
It would seem to me that you would be interested in upholding the dignity of your position and your profession as well as the art of music but I am compelled to call to your attention the fact that you frequently appear at the afternoon recitals in a very untidy condition.
You are not asked to dress extravagantly or anything of that kind but a person can be neat and tidy with a minimum of expense.
It is really necessary to remind you that we are only expecting reasonable things here but it seems that it is difficult to have you abide by the few requirements necessary to render pleasing music agreeably.
I cannot help but feel again that there may be reasons why this position isn’t agreeable to you and I should be greatly relieved if you would make up your mind as to that point, very definitely.
Very truly yours,
FL Seely”
“April 14th, 1927
Dear Mr. Potter;
I stood outside the door last night with Mrs. Seely waiting to come in for the pictures and noticed that you were chewing gum at a terrible rate while at the organ.
I wonder if it doesn’t occur to you that these things are not refined and I wonder why I have to continually complain about such things.
F.L. Seely”
Despite his constant frustrations with Dr. Potter, Seely’s musical programs kept increasing in their sophistication. Although Seely’s creation of a lavish music program was a source of pride for him the business of running the Inn was becoming much more complicated. The Inn’s namesake, financier and Seely’s father-in-law Edwin Grove was determined to make life for difficult for Seely. Grove and Seely had a complicated father and son-in-law relationship. They had maintained a tense relationship during the majority of their collaboration, starting at Grove’s pharmaceutical company, The Paris Medicine Company – which Seely ran for many years. After Seely left The Paris Medicine Company, he and Grove co-founded a newspaper in Atlanta, Georgia: The Atlanta Georgian beginning in 1906. After running the paper for six years, both Seely and Grove were exhausted with its operation and sold it to newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst.
The profits from the sale of the paper were used to finance the construction of the Grove Park Inn. Although Grove had received proposals from numerous architects to design the inn, it was Fred Seely’s design that he liked the best. Seely then took over the supervision of the Inn’s design and construction from Grove and worked at a vigorous pace until it was completed in 1913.
When the Grove Park Inn was completed, Seely and Grove made an agreement that Seely would lease the Inn from Grove on a yearly basis, with the contract being renewed annually. Despite all of Seely’s involvement in the creation of this one-of-a-kind resort, he was never given any ownership or stock in Grove’s corporation that owned the inn.
On the heels of Seely’s success growing the clientele at the Grove Park Inn, Grove began buying up neighboring large hotels like the Manor Inn on Charlotte Street and the Battery Park Hotel in downtown Asheville to put pressure on his son-in-law.
In 1925, Seely would go on to file a lawsuit against his father-in-law for what he viewed as a revision of Grove’s original will, which completely excluded Seely from the Grove estate. The drama between Seely and Grove culminated in a month’s long court room battle in St. Louis, Missouri, where Seely sued Grove for damages of $5,000,000. Grove’s attorneys were able to produce a copy of Grove’s original will, which was said to include no provisions for Fred Seely and the case was dismissed by the court. After Grove’s death on January 27th, 1927 Seely leased the inn from Grove’s estate until December 31, 1927. Grove’s second wife Gertrude and his son by her, Edwin Grove Jr. did not hide their dislike of Fred Seely and began selling much of Grove’s real estate holdings in Asheville and beyond shortly after his death, which were held by a trust that would only distribute funds to Gertrude Grove, Edwin Grove Jr. and Evelyn Grove Seely (Fred Seely’s wife).
Seely’s contract to manage the inn was not renewed and Grove’s estate sold the inn in 1929. As far as dealing with the organ, Seely had purchased the organ personally through his corporation, Biltmore Industries. The organ was property of Biltmore Industries and remained at the inn until 1929. Seely was able to work with the Grove Estate to keep the organ in place, until he could find a proper buyer, so as to not have to put it in storage.
Before Seely sold off the GPI’s organ, he again explored the possibility of installing it in his Asheville home, Overlook Castle. He had recently completed an addition on the western end of Overlook in 1925, which included a 2,500 square foot library, private study and counting house (highly secure room with a vault for his valuables). His initial thought was to relocate rather than sell the Skinner organ but found that it was too large for even his 20,000 square foot grand home. He wrote to Skinner about the possibility of rebuilding it to fit his home, but Skinner warned him that it would negatively affect the tone of the instrument, as well as being cost prohibitive. The Grove Park Inn is said to have kept their Skinner organ for the shortest amount of time compared to other installations of the same size in Skinner’s history.
Overlook Castle as it appears today, photograph courtesy of Tim Burchfield, Line of Sight Technologies
Seeing that keeping the Skinner organ would not be a possibility, Seely listed it for sale on a full-page ad in the December 1927 issue of the Diapason magazine, for a price of “$65,000 - $75,000.”
December 1927 issue of the Diapason Magazine advertising the sale of Skinner Op. 295
The Skinner organ was sold to First Presbyterian Church of Baltimore, Maryland in 1929 for $15,000. In addition to the purchase price, First Presbyterian also had to pay $7,000 for shipping and set up of the organ. Prior to its sale, First Presbyterian’s organist, Franklin D. Weaver came down to inspect the Skinner at the Inn.
First and Franklin Church, Baltimore Maryland (formerly First Presbyterian)
First and Franklin Church, Baltimore Maryland (formerly First Presbyterian)
The organ was dismantled and removed from the inn around August of 1929. When the organ arrived at the church, there was some confusion as the church had the understanding that the remote piano would be conveyed in the sale. After his debacle with the Mason and Hamlin piano, Seely had brought down his personal Steinway piano to replace the rebuilt piano. The Steinway had been given to his wife Evelyn by her father Edwin Grove as a wedding present. Because of this sentimental connection, he wrote that he was not willing to part with this piano and was apologetic for the confusion.
Phillip Sieff, a technician of the Stieff company which helped facilitate the installation of the Skinner organ at First Presbyterian wrote to Seely upon installation of Skinner Op. 295 in the church, urging him to travel to Baltimore to hear the organ for its premier performance.
Seely wrote the following reply on December 4,1929:
“Dear Mr. Stieff:
It is a great pleasure to have your letter of the 29th and it is the first word I have had regarding the opening of the organ.
I had begun to grow just a little anxious lest you had been disappointed and that the instrument did not show up with the grandeur I had so much hoped for.
I could not begin to tell you how much I wanted to be there, and on the other hand I really did not want to come for there is a feeling that I should never be able to quite lose in connection with that wonderful instrument and its association with the highest peaks of the musical side of my life.
When I look back over some of the occasions such as we have had here and realize that the people who now have the Inn are so unappreciative, I cannot help feeling just a little bit disappointed and unhappy. Then on the other hand, the gratification that I feel over the thought of the organ having such a marvelous home outweighs the unhappiness……”
First Presbyterian Church (now First and Franklin) used this organ in their church from 1929 until 1961, when they purchased a replacement organ and it was sold again. The church does still have some ranks of pipes from the GPI Skinner organ, as well as the echo unit still in use. They have also retained some pieces of the console when it was dismantled. Skinner Op. 295 was dismantled by the Austin Organ Company in 1961. First Presbyterian’s church history indicates that much of the organ ended up at St. Paul’s First Presbyterian in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Part of the pipework, specifically the C2 register is still currently installed in St. Paul’s.
If you know where the console for Skinner op.295 or other pieces of the organ might be, please write to us at mountaineermotortours@gmail.com. We would love to find the hand carved panels from the console, carved in Asheville by Biltmore Industries.
Even after the Skinner organ was sold to First Presbyterian, Seely again wrote to the Skinner company for a quote to have an organ custom made for Overlook. He wanted a four manual organ, with a player attachment that would play song rolls like a player piano. However, by the late-1920s, there were already beginning to be some doubts about the future of Asheville’s economy and with the amount of money Fred had spent on the additions to Overlook, he decided that the cost of a new organ would be too great. He began to seek a used organ through The Diapason. Older organs in this decade had an extremely poor resale value and depreciated quickly. Most of them were custom made for large homes during the end of the Gilded Age and as their wealthy patrons died off, many large manor homes were being emptied by heirs who were uninterested in the maintenance of these grand estates. Many items, including large organs were being sold for a fraction of their original cost.
During the decade of the 1930s, Seely kept writing regularly to the Diapason in search of a used organ for Overlook. At this point in his life, his focus was running Biltmore Industries and at the beginning of the 1940s, the Haywood Park Hotel after his wife Evelyn inherited it. Seely suffered a nervous breakdown in 1941, due to exhaustion and would have to spend more time during the day resting. Seely’s demeanor seems more strained as he wrote his friend in Albuquerque, New Mexico, noted organist, Frederick Alexander, on December 11, 1941
“Dear Fred:
Upon my return home last week I found your letter which was acknowledged by Miss Hatch in my absence.
I am sorry to tell you that I had a slight nervous breakdown and have not been able to shake it off yet. I think I should have been a musician and lived without working as you seem to be able to do.
Our record player is General Electric, and I shall be more than glad to have a record of your choir.
I often wonder what you look like with long thin gray whiskers, nine to a side. It seems that with all the wealth you must have accumulated in the past 100 years, you could run down to see us instead of living in the bushes up in that God forsaken country.
Very Sincerely, F.L. Seely”
Seely continued to have health problems related to hardening of the arteries, giving him debilitating headaches daily. He died not long after writing Alexander from a heart attack at Overlook on March 14, 1942. When Overlook Castle was sold to Asheville-Biltmore College in 1949, many of his musical ephemera including autographs of famous classical composers and antique classical scores, one belonging to Mozart were sold or given away.
If you know any additional information about any of Fred Seely’s musical ephemera collection, Pilcher Organ Op. 892 or Skinner Organ Op. 295, please contact us at mountaineermotortours@gmail.com
A special thanks to organ historian Jonathan Ambrosino, The Organ Historical Society, all of the staff at Buncombe County Special Collections, Ashley Whittle at the UNC-Asheville special collections, Stuart Smolkin at the Asheville Radio Museum, Pastor Mark and Jason Kissel at First and Franklin and the staff of Central United Methodist Church.
Sources:
Interviews:
-Conversation with Henry McClain, 2/27/25
-Conversation with Jonathan Ambrosino, 2/27/25
-Conversation with Jason Kissell, music director First and Franklin 2/3/25
Websites:
Archives:
UNCA Special Collections – Grove Park Inn Papers – Boxes 14,15,16, 17
The Organ Historical Society – Skinner and Pilcher Archives
Books:
Johnson, Bruce E.
Built For The Ages: A History of The Grove Park Inn
2018 Edition
The Omni Grove Park Inn
Newspaper Articles:
"Music - Grove Park Inn, 1913" Newspapers.com, Asheville Citizen-Times, October 19, 1913, https://www.newspapers.com/article/asheville-citizen-times-music-grove-pa/168801052/
"Sale of Grove Park Inn organ" Newspapers.com, The Asheville Times, September 5, 1929, https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-asheville-times-sale-of-grove-park-i/168799480/
"Organ Recital 1929 - Grove Park Inn" Newspapers.com, Asheville Citizen-Times, January 27, 1929, https://www.newspapers.com/article/asheville-citizen-times-organ-recital-19/168799442/
"Dunham's Music House History " Newspapers.com, Asheville Citizen-Times, September 14, 1955, https://www.newspapers.com/article/asheville-citizen-times-dunhams-music-h/166904658/
"Central UMC Pilcher Organ, Grove Park Inn" Newspapers.com, Asheville Citizen-Times, July 11, 1920, https://www.newspapers.com/article/asheville-citizen-times-central-umc-pilc/166798297/
"Grove Park Inn Organ/WWNC" Newspapers.com, The Asheville Times, February 26, 1928, https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-asheville-times-grove-park-inn-organ/166677691/
"Maurice Longhurst Organ Grove Park Inn, All Souls Cathedral" Newspapers.com, Asheville Citizen-Times, April 8, 1923, https://www.newspapers.com/article/asheville-citizen-times-maurice-longhurs/166185408/
"Expansion of Inn and Organ at Grove Park Inn" Newspapers.com, Asheville Citizen-Times, June 6, 1916, https://www.newspapers.com/article/asheville-citizen-times-expansion-of-inn/164903714/
"Grove Park Inn - First Organ, Pilcher Organ" Newspapers.com, The Asheville Times, February 26, 1916, https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-asheville-times-grove-park-inn-fir/164770864/
"Mrs. B.E. Blanton organist central umc grove park inn organ" Newspapers.com, Asheville Citizen-Times, October 24, 1948, https://www.newspapers.com/article/asheville-citizen-times-mrs-be-blanto/164770246/
"Grove Park Inn Organ Recital" Newspapers.com, The Asheville Times, August 29, 1927, https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-asheville-times-grove-park-inn-organ/164769526/
"Grove Park Inn Organ - Fred Seely" Newspapers.com, Asheville Citizen-Times, March 14, 1920, https://www.newspapers.com/article/asheville-citizen-times-grove-park-inn-o/164765576/
"Grove Park Inn Expansion and Organ Installation" Newspapers.com, Asheville Citizen-Times, September 1, 1919, https://www.newspapers.com/article/asheville-citizen-times-grove-park-inn-e/164764474/
"Skinner Organ Grove Park Inn, Seely" Newspapers.com, The Baltimore Sun, November 7, 1936, https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-baltimore-sun-skinner-organ-grove-pa/164763602/