Frederick A. Chase
Residence
Providence,
RI
Opus 1540
Great
(Enclosed)
8' Open
Diapason
61
8' Gross Flute
61
8' Stopped
Diapason
61
8'
Clarabella
61
8' Unda
Maris
(tc) 49
8' Viol
d'Orchestre
61
8'
Viol Celeste
(tc) 49
8'
Viol d'Amour
61
8' Muted
Viol
61
4'
Flute Traverso
61
8' Oboe [labial]
61
8' Horn [Saxophone -
labial]
61
8' Vox Humana
61
Tremolo [entire organ]
Chimes
Swell
(Enclosed)
The same as the Great, all on a duplex
chest.
Pedal
(Enclosed)
16'
Bourdon
30
16'
Lieblich
Gedackt
30
Couplers
Undocumented
Finger Pistons
Undocumented
Foot
Levers
Undocumented
Pedal
Movements
Expression
balanced
Crescendo
[undocumented] balanced
Action: Electro-pneumatic
Voices: 15
Stops: 30; including
chimes
Ranks: 15
Pipes: 829
Notes
This organ was built for the Providence, Rhode
Island residence of Frederick A. Chase,
and containedan >Automatic
Player action controlling the notes, stops, and swell shades.
It was installed
on the third floor of the residence of Mr. Chase, who was
Treasurer of the National Ring Traveler Company, "makers
of standard spinning and twisting travelers of every
description". He had been an organist many years before
and also had a collection of percussion instruments that he like
to play, accompanied by phonograph records.
The organ chamber was
an attic room measuring about 15 feet by 10 feet and whose ceiling
started at 9 feet
but sloped down in two directions to only 3 feet high. This
left little room for the organ, which was arranged with
the manual chest's bass pipes nearest the swell shades. The
Lieblich Gedeckt's bottom 12 pipes were laid horizontally
and two of the larger Bourdon pipes had to be removed each time
someone wanted to crawl into the chamber.
The top of the manual chest was only about 18 inches above the
floor. Except for the Clarabella, all pipe dimensions
given below are as measured from a blueprint and are therefore
only approximate.
The Swell 8' Horn was
really a labial Saxaphone (as spelled on the blueprints) and the
Oboe was also labial.
The Clarabella and its matching Unda Maris were added to the
original scheme, which had a Melodia in place of the
Stopped Diapason and a 16' Violone in place of the Lieblich
Gedeckt. (The Violone was thought better for use with the
player mechanism while the Lieblich Gedeckt was thought better for
a human organist!)
The blower was an
Orgoblo (# 8174 from the Organ Power Company, later Spencer) and
was powered
by a 500 (!) volt direct current motor running at 900 rpm.
Mr. Chase died in 1919,
having enjoyed the instrument for less than 2 years.
In 1920 his daughter Helen sold the house and donated the organ
to St. Elizabeth's Home for the Incurables in Providence;
she continued to pay for the organ's maintenance until 1939.
At some later time, the organ apparently was broken up for parts,
and in 1989 Larry Chace purchased the Clarabella, Unda Maris, and Flute
Traverso from Allen Kinzey (formerly of Aeolian-Skinner).
(This information comes
from the original factory correspondence records.)
Here, again, is an instrument
that was designed for use with a player mechanism.
I believe that Estey's scheme used a
few
predefined pistons to operate the stops, rather than individual
stop control as used by Skinner and Aeolian.
Pipe Scales
/ Dimensions
Great
8' Open Diapason 46sc
8' Gross Flute 5-3/4 x 8-3/4 (od)
8' Stopped Diapason
8' Clarabella 3-3/4 x 4-1/4 (od), 2-5/8 x 3-1/8 (id)
8' Horn ("Saxaphone") 4-3/4 x 6 (od)
Pedal
16' Bourdon 9 x 10-1/2 (od)
16' Lieblich Gedackt 5-3/4 x 7
(od)
Sources
Estey Opus List
Larry Chace submitted on an internet organ chat group.
Text copied and submitted by Scott Evans
James R. Stettner
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