Better Pipe Organ Database

Hillgreen, Lane & Co. Opus 1143 (1951)

Alpine Avenue Christian Reformed Church / City View Church
960 Alpine Ave. NW
Grand Rapids, MI

Note: Not extant. Not playable. (in this location)

Images

2012-09-10 - The Swell (closer) and Great/Pedal (farther) expression openings, tone chute, and backside of facade (Photograph by Shawn P. Keith/Shawn P. Keith)

2011-02-03 - Church Exterior (Photograph by Chad Boorsma/Database Manager)

2011-02-03 - Sanctuary Interior and Console (Photograph by Chad Boorsma/Database Manager)

2011-02-03 - Sanctuary Interior, Chancel, and Chamber Grillework (Photograph by Chad Boorsma/Database Manager)

2011-02-03 - Sanctuary Interior and Balcony (Photograph by Chad Boorsma/Database Manager)

2011-02-03 - Pipe Facade and Chamber Grillework (Photograph by Chad Boorsma/Database Manager)

2011-02-03 - Console (Photograph by Chad Boorsma/Database Manager)

2011-02-03 - Stained Glass Window (Photograph by Chad Boorsma/Database Manager)

Consoles

Main

Organ type: Traditional With Roll Top
Console position: Console in Fixed Position, Right
3 manuals
30 stops
47 registers
4 divisions
Key action Type: Electrical
Stop action Type: Electrical
Stop layout Type: Drawknobs in Vertical Rows on Angled Jambs
Manual compass: 61 notes
Pedal compass: 32 notes
Pedal Type: Concave Radiating (Meeting AGO Standards)
Expression Type: Balanced Expression Shoes/Pedals (Meeting AGO Standards)
Has crescendo
Combination action: Adjustable Combination Pistons
Has combination thumb pistons
Has combination toe pistons
Has coupler thumb pistons
Has coupler toe pistons
Has tutti thumb pistons
Has tutti toe pistons

Notes

2011-02-04 - Identified through online information from Chad Boorsma. -- Alpine Avenue Christian Reformed Church left this facility in 1990 when it merged with another congregation, Highland Hills Christian Reformed Church. City View Baptist Church has occupied the building since that time. While the pipe chambers are located in front and side chambers, the console is located in the balcony. The side (main) pipe chamber is located in an area above the second floor of the educational space. The sanctuary has good acoustics, but a number of the stops currently have many dead notes. -Database Manager

2014-07-25 - The organ was parted out in 2012, and the console sold on ebay; the console went to a private residence in Hixson (Chattanooga), Tennessee. According to factory records, the organ contained pipework from a previous instrument at the church. -Database Manager

2018-08-04 - Information from Hillgreen, Lane & Co. opus list, compiled by Bynum Petty<br> Contract: September 1950.<br> First appearance of a Cromorne in a Hillgreen, Lane organ.<br> Some pipes retained from the church-s old organ.<br> Price: $25,000. -Database Manager

2023-01-23 - In 2012 the instrument was removed and broken up for parts by S.P. Keith & Associates, LLC as it was no longer being used. In spite of the ample chamber sizes the organ had a strange layout with the Choir (and Pedal Subbass) having pride of place behind the chancel, the Swell in the second-best chamber on a high wall, speaking down from an attic chamber, and the Great/Pedal in the worst chamber, also in the attic next to the Swell but more buried in comparison. Both the attic chambers had to speak down into the room through ample tone openings, but the floor of the chambers fully 4' higher than the bottom of the display and 4' back from it, with the Swell expression opening roughly 2/3 blocked and the Great/Pedal nearly 3/4 blocked, speaking into hard plaster walls before the sound could find its way down the tone chute. The console was in the balcony on the other side of the room from the attic divisions and straight down the wall from the Choir, so for the organist to hear the organ was very difficult. The organ could have been quite successful in the room if the divisions and console had been placed differently. Other than the console having been reworked ca. 1980 the organ had not been modified when it was removed. -Shawn P. Keith

Stoplist

Stoplist taken from the console (February 3, 2011) Source: Source not recorded Date not recorded

Grand Rapids, Michigan
ALPINE AVENUE CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH (former congregation)
CITY VIEW CHURCH (current congregation)

Hillgreen, Lane, & Co.    Opus 1143    1951    32 ranks
______________________________________________________________

GREAT:                        CHOIR:
   16' Gemshorn 12                8' Diapason 73
    8' Diapason 61                8' Melodia 73
    8' Melodia [CH]               8' Dulciana 73
    8' Spitzflöte 61              8' Unda Maris [TC] 61
    8' Gemshorn 61                4' Flûte Harmonique 73
    4' Principal 61               4' Dulciana 12
    4' Gemshorn 12            2 2/3' Dulciana
2 2/3' Twelfth 61                 2' Dulciana
    2' Fifteenth 61           1 3/5' Dulciana
       Blank [5]                  8' Cromorne 73
                                     Tremulant
SWELL:                               Blank [4]
   16' Contra Viola 12 
    8' Violon Diapason 73     PEDAL:
    8' Gedackt 73                16' Open Diapason 32
    8' Salicional 73             16' Violone [SW]
    8' Voix Celeste [TC] 61      16' Bourdon 32
    4' Octave 73                 16' Gemshorn [GT]
    4' Koppelflöte 73             8' Principal 32
    4' Fugara 73                  8' Octave 12
2 2/3' Nazard 61                  8' Cello [SW]
    2' Flautino 61                8' Bass Flute 12
  III  Plein Jeu 183              8' Gemshorn [GT]
    8' Trompette 73               4' Super Octave 12
    8' Oboe 73                    4' Blockflöte 32
    8' Vox Humana 73             16' Trombone 12 [SW]
    4' Clarion 73                 8' Tromba [SW]
       Tremulant                     Blank [5]
       Blank [5]

[Received online from Chad Boorsma • February 5, 2011]