Better Pipe Organ Database

Delaware Organ Co. (1970 ca.)

Holy Ghost Lutheran Church
6630 Luther St.
Niagara Falls, NY

Images

1970 - Image from a 1973 catalog (Photograph from an archival source: Delaware Organ Co., submitted by Scot Huntington/Scot Huntington)

Consoles

Gallery

Organ type: Non-Traditional Style, As Consoles by Holtkamp, Schlicker, et al
Console position: Console in Fixed Position, Center
2 manuals
28 stops
32 registers
3 divisions
Key action Type: Electrical
Stop action Type: Electrical
Stop layout Type: Stop Keys Above Top Manual
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: 'Hold and Set' Pneumatic/Mechanical
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

2023-01-18 - This organ was a signature installation for the Delaware company in the early 1970s, and given its proximity to the workshop was a demonstration organ for potential clients. The contemporary church had no acoustical impediments and a live acoustic. The organ was installed on a free-standing plinth in the center of the rear gallery in an ideal acoustical placement. The voicing was fullsome and enhanced by the robust Pedal 16' Principal, a rarity in the bass-poor specifications typical at the height of the treble-rich neo-baroque period. The Great and Pedal pipework was inside a reflective wooden housing behind the facade of Principal basses, which also shielded it from the floor-to-ceiling wall of windows behind the instrument, a tuner's worst nightmare. A fine organ for its time. The church replaced the original console in 2013 with a new 3-manual console by the Heritage Organ Co. reflecting either a planned or executed expansion of the organ with spurious ranks from the 1929 Wangerin built for Calvary Lutheran in nearby Amherst, an organ itself somewhat cobbled over the years to reflect prevailing taste, and which became redundant when the congregation could no longer afford the large 1959 ediface and relocated to a smaller building-- the organ being dispursed across several locations. A subsequent entry for this organ indicates Delaware incorporated 10 ranks from the church's original 1940 Schlicker, a possible reason for the organ's tone having a more broad tonal palette than normal for the period. -Scot Huntington

Stoplist

Source: From console 1973

Delaware Organ Co. (ca. 1970)
Holy Ghost Lutheran Church
Niagara Falls, N.Y.

Compasses: 61/32

All stops independent except as noted.

GREAT
8'  Principal
8'  Hohfloete
4'  Octave
4'  Rohrfloete
2'  Flachflote
III Mixture [1 1/3']
    Chimes
    Swell to Great 16', 8', 4'

SWELL  [enclosed]
16' Lieblichflote  [ext]
8'  Gedeckt
8'  Viola
8'  Celeste [tc]
4'  Spitzflote
2'  Principal
2'  Flote [ext 4']
II  Sesquialtera
II  Cymbel [1']
8'  Fagot
    Tremulant
    Swell to Swell 16', 4'
    Swell Unison Off

PEDAL
16' Principal [ext. 8']
16' Subbass   
16' Lieblichflote [SW]
8'  Principal
8'  Bourdon   [ext. 16']
5 1/3' Quinte [ext. SW]
4'  Choral Bass
4'  Gedeckt   [SW]
2'  Flute     [SW]
16' Fagot     [ext SW]
8'  Fagot     [SW]
4'  Fagot     [SW]
    Great to Pedal
    Swell to Pedal