St. Columbkille Roman Catholic Church
321 Market St.
Boston (Brighton), MA
Images
2024-01-13 - Church exterior (Photograph by Andrew Scanlon /Andrew Scanlon)
2023-10-07 - Name of church inscribed above rose window (Photograph by Andrew Scanlon /Andrew Scanlon )
2023-10-07 - Church exterior front (Photograph by Andrew Scanlon /Andrew Scanlon)
unknown - Interior to front (Photograph by Church website, submitted by Andrew Scanlon/Andrew Scanlon)
unknown - Interior and organ gallery (Photograph by Church website , submitted by Andrew Scanlon/Andrew Scanlon)
2022-09-27 - Exterior side (Photograph by Andrew Scanlon/Andrew Scanlon)
2022-09-27 - Exterior front (Photograph by Andrew Scanlon/Andrew Scanlon)
2022-09-27 - 1990 Organ Restoration wall plaque (Photograph by Andrew Scanlon/Andrew Scanlon)
2022-09-27 - Side of case and nave (Photograph by Andrew Scanlon/Andrew Scanlon)
2022-09-27 - Drawer labeled Sw & Ped Combinations; nothing inside. Equivalent on right hand side of console for Great (Photograph by Andrew Scanlon/Andrew Scanlon)
2022-09-27 - Open wood pipes on side of case (notice faded stenciling) (Photograph by Andrew Scanlon/Andrew Scanlon)
2022-09-27 - Great stop tabs (Photograph by Andrew Scanlon/Andrew Scanlon)
2022-09-27 - Pedal and Swell stop tabs (Photograph by Andrew Scanlon/Andrew Scanlon)
2022-09-27 - Builder's nameplate (Photograph by Andrew Scanlon/Andrew Scanlon)
2022-09-27 - Front case detail from gallery railing (Photograph by Andrew Scanlon/Andrew Scanlon)
2022-09-27 - Console (Photograph by Andrew Scanlon/Andrew Scanlon)
2022-09-27 - Organ in rear gallery (Photograph by Andrew Scanlon/Andrew Scanlon)
Early 1900s - Historic image of exterior (Unknown/Andrew Scanlon)
Consoles
Gallery Console
- Organ type: Traditional With Roll Top
- Console position: Console in Fixed Position, Center
- 2 manuals
- 22 stops
- 34 registers
- 3 divisions
- Key action Type: Electrical
- Stop action Type: Electrical
- Stop layout Type: Tilting/Rocking Tablets Above Top Manual
- Manual compass: 61 notes
- Pedal compass: 32 notes
- Pedal Type: Concave Radiating (Details Unknown)
- Expression Type: Balanced Expression Shoes/Pedals (Not Meeting AGO Standards)
- Has crescendo
- Combination action: Setterboard
- Has combination thumb pistons
- Has tutti toe pistons
- Has coupler trundles
Notes
2005-02-26 - Identified from company publications as edited and expanded in <i>The Hook Opus List 1829-1935</i>, ed. William T. Van Pelt (Organ Historical Society, 1991). -Database Manager
2015-09-01 - Updated through online information from John Igoe. -- URL links to video, where organ is played ca. December 2014. -Database Manager
2022-09-27 - Played instrument today. Everything works. Console is in need of TLC, but the sound is absolutely beautiful. -Andrew Scanlon
2022-09-28 - Combination action does not work. Drawers on left and right of console are labeled "Sw & Ped Combs." and "Gr & Ped. Combs." but no mechanism remains -Andrew Scanlon
2023-04-04 - This is an electrification and enlargement of an older Hook organ by Hook & Hastings. The style of the case and voicing suggests this is late 1870s/early 1880s instrument. An investigation of the pipework will reveal the organ number. I have a hunch this is No. 1004, 1880-- St. Columba's Cathedral R.C., listed on the Hook opus list for the same city. The organ's appearance and stoplist fit with a Hook instrument of 1880. There are added chestlets to expand the manual and pedal compass to the top of their respective keyboards. The current pitch of the organ is A437, suggesting the 1929 rebuild repitched at least the fluework, from the original pitch of A450 to A437, most likely with new low-C pipes, moving the old pipework up 1/2 step, and then sharpening the pipes. If they were trying to reach A440 instead of A435, A437 is as far as they could have gotten without damaging the pipework. The organ would be happier at A435. The reeds are in deplorable condition with taped-up scrolls. There is a donor plaque for a restoration of the organ in 1990, at which time all the pneumatic machines were releathered. Other than the tonal effect of the repitching and added stops, the organ does not appear to have been tonally altered. -Scot Huntington
2023-04-08 - Confirming that the majority of the organ's pipework is labeled No. 1004, with the exception of the Pedal Diapason which is labeled No. 2574-- the organ's immediate predecessor in the work list. It is very possible the organ was moved into this building from a previous structure named the St. Columba Cathedral and the H&H rebuild was part of the relocation. -Scot Huntington
2023-10-07 - Adding to Scot Huntington's notes below: this building erected 1875. Columbkille translates to "Columba of the Churches" according to church history guide . Windows depict St. Columba (Columbkille) founding the Iona Monastery. -Andrew Scanlon
Stoplist
Source: Console April 2023
HOOK & HASTINGS CO.
BOSTON
(No. 2575, 1929)
St. Columbkille's Roman Catholic Church
Boston, (Brighton), Mass.
Compasses: 61/30; extension chestlets for notes 58-61 and 27-30
A electrification of an older Hook by H&H.
Verbatim from console tablets, which curiously read
backwards, i.e. right to left
GREAT
BOURDON 16'
OPEN DIAPASON 8'
VIOLA DA GAMBA 8'
MELODIA 8'
DULCIANA 8'
OCTAVE 4'
TWELFTH 2 2/3'
FIFTEENTH 2'
MIXTURE III RKS.
TRUMPET 8'
GREAT 16'
GREAT 4'
GREAT RELEASE 8'
SWELL TO GREAT 16'
SWELL TO GREAT 8'
SWELL TO GREAT 4'
SWELL
OPEN DIAPASON 8'
STOPPED DIAPASON 8'
VIOLA 8'
FLAUTO TRAVERSO 4'
VIOLINA 4'
FLAUTINO 2'
CORNOPEAN 8'
OBOE 8'
CLARINET 8'
VOX HUMANA 8'
TREMOLO
SWELL 16'
SWELL 4'
SWELL RELEASE 8'
PEDAL
OPEN DIAPASON 16'
BOURDON 16'
GREAT TO PEDAL 8'
SWELL TO PEDAL 8'
SWELL TO PEDAL 4'
MECHANICALS
Swell 0, 1-3
Great 0, 1-3
Unknown manual piston: setter?
Gr. to Ped. Reversible toe spoon
Swell expression pedal
Crescendo pedal and indicator lightSource: Taken from Console September 27, 2022
Pedal Bourdon 16, Open Diapason 16
Swell Open Diapason 8, Stopped Diapason 8, Viola 8, Flauto Traverso 4, Violina 4, Flautino 2, Cornopean 8, Clarinet 8, Oboe 8, Vox Humana 8, Tremolo
Great Bourdon 16, Open Diapason 8, Viola da Gamba 8 , Melodia 8, Dulciana 8, Octave 4, Twelfth 2 2/3, Fifteenth 2, Mixture III, Trumpet 8
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