Undaunted Old South open for First Night

As if the 70-foot crack caused by MBTA work wasn't enough for Old South Church to worry about, now it appears that the publicity over the damage may be scaring some folks away from the building. The church's senior minister, the Rev. Nancy S. Taylor, called today to say that she is concerned that congregants and First Night celebrants are uncertain about the building's stability -- a concern that she says is unfounded, based on assessments by multiple engineers who have examined the crack on the inside and outside of the church's Dartmouth Street wall. The United Church of Christ congregation, located in Copley Square, has been using the building actively for weddings and worship and so on, and on Wednesday night will be hosting New Year’s Eve Concerts for brass and percussion at 6:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. Taylor sent along the following statement:

"Recent damage to Old South’s national historic landmark building (corner of Boylston and Dartmouth Streets), has caused some church members, as well as those in the general public, to worry if the building is safe. It is absolutely safe! A raft of structural engineers, geotechnical engineers and architects all assure us that the wall is completely safe. It is true that the church’s E. M. Skinner organ has been silenced for the foreseeable future but this is a measure imposed for the organ’s safety. Engineers have not been able to assess the condition of a large, inaccessible portion of plaster at one of the cracks. Vibrations from the organ’s great pipes can be felt in the pews and there is some concern that the vibrations could loosen bits or hunks of plaster. If plaster did come loose, it would fall into the organ pit, not onto people. Despite the inconvenience, the church is determined to ring in the New Year with as much pomp and circumstance as it can muster. On First Night Old South will replace their popular, house-filling Organ & Brass Concerts with Brass and Percussion Concerts. The best of Boston’s brass and percussion artists join Harry Huff, Old South’s Minister of Music, in a supersonic concert, playing electrifying arrangements of popular classics by Bach, Copeland, Mussorgsky, and LeRoy Anderson, as well as leading the audience in singing stirring favorites. The evening includes music for trumpets, French horn, trombone, tuba, percussionists and piano."

(Photo, by John Tlumacki of the Globe staff, shows a bicyclist passing Old South Church in a snowstorm on Dec. 19, 2008.)