2024-12-29 - This entry represents the installation of a new organ. Identified through online information from Andrew Henderson (December 29, 2024): From *The Standard* (Saint John, NB, March 28, 1914): "It may be safely said, although at the moment of writing, much remains to be done, that the magnificent organ which has been in process of installation for the past six weeks, by the Warren Church Organ Co., in St. John's Stone Church, is a credit to and worthy of the church and congregation of the church and also of the city, of which this historic old edifice has been such a landmark for close upon a century. There are features in this organ which give it a distinction amongst the organs of the Maritime provinces. In the first place the organ is separated into three distinct portions, divided from each other by the width of the chancel. This disposition is desirable for the purposes of speaking efficiency and telling effect which is enhanced when the thousands of pipes have good speaking room, and the sound waves produced thereby have opportunity of free and unobstructed egress. St. Paul's, Halifax, is the only other organ so constructed. The action linking the various portions of the organ is conveyed by electricity by means of sixty-four cables, each cable containing about sixty-five wires apiece, which connect up the console with the various organs by means of about eight thousand electric contacts operating on over six hundred magnets. These magnets operate on individual pneumatic bellows under each pipe. A very distinctive feature is the system of improved self-adjustable electric pistons, which does away with the old time adjuster. If it is desired to set any particular combination of stops on a certain piston, all that is necessary is to give a slight outward pull to the said piston, let go and the combination is set accordingly, for so long a time as the organist pleases. The electric work throughout this complicated job reflects the greatest credit on Percy Yeoman's, the firm's chief electrician. The Warren Co. model their construction and voicing on the English style and ideal (admittedly the finest in the world) and Samuel Baker, their chief voicer, served his time with, and voiced for the best of the English builders and has had a long experience in the art. In this organ his voicing is fully up to the best English ideals, it being rich and distinctive, and he has certainly responded well to the demands of the specifications which were drawn up by D. Arnold Fox, the organist of the church. The wind supply for such an organ is no small matter, there being three different pressures to provide for. In this instance the wind is generated by an "orgo-blo" situated in the basement containing two rotary fans, one for the heavy pressure and one for the ordinary pressure. These are driven by an electric motor of five horse power capacity, and they make eleven hundred revolutions a minute on a full load, driving the wind through numerous trunks into the main reservoir and thus to the auxiliary bellows up stairs of which there are five. It is safe to say that this fine organ reflects the greatest credit on the Warren Organ Co. and their very capable constructional engineers, Messrs. Walbourn and Bennetto. Four manuals and pedals, built by Warren Church Organ Co., Woodstock, Ont. (operated by Hay and Co.) ... Electric action throughout. Console detached. Perpendicular draw stop jambs placed at 45 degree angle to keyboard. Pedal board Wesley Willis pattern." According to the Saint John Times Globe (Saturday, April 15, 1939), a new console in memory of longtime organist D. Arnold Fox was dedicated, "Douglas C. Thorne, 10 City Line, West Saint John, sis the organ's designer and builder. As both designer and builder, it is his job to design a musical instrument the tones of which will be rich and true, its lines pleasing to the eye, and, last but not least - its operation convenient and reliable. From his own specifications then, he must construct the finished product to satisfy both the organist and his audience ... that one man, a Saint John man, did plan and piece together in his own home workshop each and every section of a modern pipe organ console, will be proven tomorrow at the morning service in Stone Church. It is the first electrically operated console to be constructed in Saint John and probably the only instrument of its kind to be put together in the Maritime provinces, Mr. Thorne said." The organ and was rebuilt with a new console by Hill, Norman and Beard in 1953-1954. -Andrew Henderson
3 adjustable thumb pistons to Great, Swell and Choir; 2 pistons controlling all combinations and tablets; general release; crescendo & sforzando pedals; balanced swell and choir pedals; great to pedal (reversible) Source: The Standard (Saint John, NB) March 28, 1914
Great (4" wind pressure; west side of chancel) Double Open Diapason 16, Open Diapason 8 (leathered lips, heavy scale), Doppel Flute 8 (wood), Spitz Flöte 8, Principal 4, Horn Gamba 8, Harmonic Flute 4, Super Octave 2, Tromba 8 (large scale; heavy pressure wind), Clarion 4 (heavy pressure wind), Sesquialtera II
Swell (4" wind pressure; east side of chancel) Lieblich Gedackt 16 (wood), Hohl Flote 8 (wood), Geigen Principal 8, Viol da gamba 8, Voix Celeste 8, Dolcissimo 8, Flauto Traverso 4 (wood), Fifteenth 2, Mixture (2') III, Cornopean 8 ("fat tone"), Vox Humana 8 (separate wind chest and tremulant), Tremulant, Oboe 8
Choir (3.5" wind; west side of chancel) String Diapason 8, Lieblich Gedackt 8 (wood), Dulciana 8, Clarinet 8, Concert Flute 4, Piccolo 2, Cor Anglais 8, Tremulant
Echo Lieblich Gedackt 8 (stopped), Unda Maris (II) 8, Corno di Bassetto 8, Viol d'Amour 8, Flute d'Amour 4 (wood)
Pedal (5" wind pressure; east side of chancel) Double Open Diapason 16 (wood & metal), Sub bass 16 (wood), Violin 16, Trombone 16 (large scale)
Swell to Great 16, Swell to Great 8, Swell to Great 4, Swell to Choir 8, Swell to Swell 16, Swell to Choir 16, Swell to Choir 4, Swell to Swell 4, Choir to Great 16, Choir to Great 8, Great to Great 16, Great to Great 4, Choir to Great 4, Choir to Choir 16, Choir to Choir 4, Great to Pedal 8, Choir to Pedal 8, Swell to Pedal 8, Echo to Great 16, Echo to Great 8, Echo to Great 4, Echo to Pedal 8
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