Buzard Pipe Organ Builders, LLC, has broken ground for a new facility to house its organbuilding operation. Located in Rantoul, Illinois, ten miles north of Buzard’s existing Champaign shops, the new 45,000-square-foot building will house complete workshops for its production, service, and tonal departments, attached warehouse space, administrative offices, design studios, a conference room, and a dedicated area for employees. The building will feature 16-foot ceilings in the shops and offices, and 35-foot ceilings in the erecting room and tonal department’s voicing studios. The erecting room will have sufficient floor space to set up two instruments.
The educational arm of Buzard will have space to administer its apprenticeship program and to mentor interns and students from the University of Illinois School of Music. Music students wishing to learn about pipe organ technology can intern at Buzard Pipe Organ Builders, be paid an hourly wage, and receive academic credit toward their degrees.
The new facility will combine the production shop and administrative offices currently located in “The Women’s Town Club” hotel in downtown Champaign; the service department’s storefront shop, warehouse, and office a block away; and two remote warehouses in the Champaign/Urbana area. The new facility is scheduled for completion during summer 2025, with move-in in the fall.
The Village of Rantoul has offered Buzard Pipe Organ Builders and its new landlord, Rantoul Warehouse Group, attractive financial incentives to build in Rantoul. The new building will be conveniently located on the north end of the former Chanute Air Force base.
Buzard has occupied its downtown Champaign location for 35 years. Forty-four new pipe organs have been built in this shop, beginning with Opus 7 at the Episcopal Chapel of St. John the Divine on the University of Illinois campus, culminating with Opus 50 for St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, Hemlock, Michigan, currently in production.
For information: buzardorgans.com.
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