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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