1988-12-27 - Organ case (Photograph by James R. Stettner/Database Manager)
1988-12-27 - Organ case (Photograph by James R. Stettner/Database Manager)
1988-12-27 - Keydesk and stops (Photograph by James R. Stettner/Database Manager)
Note: Not extant. Not playable. (in this location)
2004-10-30 - From First Presbyterian, San Francisco, CA; via First Presbyterian, Portland, OR 1863; via Westminster Presbyterian, Portland, OR 1889; via Vernon Presbyterian, Portland 1897; via Dr. L. Thayer residence 1950s. Restored by Coulter in 1979. Relocated back to First Presbyterian, Portland, OR. -Database Manager
2007-02-19 - Updated through on-line information from James R. Stettner. -- Originally built for a church in San Francisco. Relocated to (old) First Presbyterian in 1863. Moved to new (present) church. Loaned to Westminster ca. 1889. Ca. 1897, loaned to Vernon Presbyterian in Portland. Ca. 1954 loaned to Lewis & Clark College, but installed in College Dean Lewis Thayer's home in Portland. 1978, finally relocated here to Lewis & Clark with restorative repairs. Cherry case painted. Missing original Keraulophon replaced with an 8' Oboe. 1995, finally returned home to First Presbyterian and installed with further restorative repairs by Bond. -Database Manager
Stoplist copied from the console December 27, 1988 Source: Source not recorded Date not recorded
Portland, Oregon
Lewis & Clark College - Agnes Flanagan Chapel (basement)
HENRY ERBEN, 1851 - Original Specifications
MANUAL (Expressive) COUPLERS
[8] Open Diapason (tf) 39 Manual permanently coupled to
[8] Keraulophon (tf) 39 the pedalboard.
[8] Dulciana (tf) 39
[8] St. Diapason Treble (tf) 39
[8] St. Diapason Bass 17 PEDAL MOVEMENTS
[4] Principal 56 Expression (hitch-down)
[2] Fifteenth 56
Tremulant
PEDAL (27 notes)
No independent Pedal registers
ACTION: Mech. Key & Stop VOICES: 6 STOPS: 7 RANKS: 6 PIPES: 285
NOTES
This organ was shipped around Cape Horn to California for its original home. For a
period of time there was some question as to whether it was in a Presbyterian or an
Episcopal church. Research has since yielded the instrument's original home as First
Presbyterian Church of San Francisco. In 1863, it was purchased by and moved to First
Presbyterian Church of Portland, OR. where it was first used at the original Washington
Street & 3rd Ave. location. When the new church was built at 12th and Alder, the Erben
was used in the chapel while the stone sanctuary was being completed. Upon its completion,
a new 3-manual organ by Geo. H. Ryder of Boston (Opus 155, 1891) was installed in the
front gallery. Later in the 19th century, the Erben was loaned to Westminster Presbyterian
Church. After that, it was on-loan to Vernon Presbyterian Church and served there until as
late a 1954. It was next to be loaned to an institution, but there was no interest in it,
so it came to rest in the home of Dr. Lewis Thayer of Portland. The organ remained in the
Thayer home until 1980 when they sold their home. The organ has since come to rest in a
basement conference room of the Agnes Flanagan Chapel on the campus of Lewis & Clark College
in Portland. It was installed here by Eugene, OR. organ builder Kenneth Coulter.
The case is of solid cherry, but was “Colonialized” with white paint sometime in it's past.
Ornaments are painted gold, but molding and trim and the keydesk are still in stained cherry.
The original 8' Keraulophon has been replaced with a tenor F, 8' Oboe of unknown provenance.
Sources: First Presbyterian history, Lewis & Clark files; JRS; extant organ
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