The tour began at the valley’s oldest church, La Crescenta Presbyterian, which is the only one of the four churches with an intricate, 1,500-pipe organ.
The 122-year-old presbyterian church was built in 1885 and features a collection of stained-glass windows that paint a picture of the old and new testament.
Music figured prominently in all four church tours.
The 40 tour goers — some of whom were members of one of the participating churches, others just curious about neighborhood landmarks — were treated to a 10-minute set of songs by La Crescenta’s organ player Kyle Irwin.
“This is a magnificent organ than can play so many different sounds,” he said.
With 1,500 pipes that snake and jut through many of the church’s crevices, it is one of the largest in the area.
The next stop was a church less than a mile down the road, Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, whose stained-glass windows were the subject of much discussion.
Holy Redeemer, originally built in 1927, was renovated in 2003. Officials took great pains to maintain the historical core of the structure and bring the dozens of stained-glass windows, some of whom had been dirty, others cracked, back to life, Karen Judson said.
Judson, a member of the church and owner of the stained-glass window studio, Judson Studios, lectured the crowd about painting glass, gluing cracked pieces back together and the history of stained glass.
Judson’s studio revamped many of the stained-glass windows at Holy Redeemer.
“Most people didn’t know how to read or write back in the 17th and 18th century,” she said. “These were meant to tell stories.”
