Man Wants Biggest Organ for His Living Room

newsmax.com ^ | 9-20-03 | With Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff

[Nan48]

German baroque style, flat pedal board

[RIGHT IN SEATTLE]

Interior photo: Sanfilippo 1927 Wurlitzer Opus #1571

[weegee]

J.D.

[Swordmaker]

... but 20+ years ago in Indianapolis, Indiana, there was a family restaurant named "Pipe Organ Pizza" which had an ENORMOUS, um, wind instrument...

Here in Stockton, CA, we had a hardware store / lumber yard with a Theater Organ installed... seems to me it was about 8000 pipes along with glockenspiels, bass drums, traps, chimes, horns, and a host of other musical gadgets. The owner lived about six house from me... his widow still does. The organ was sold to a pizza house when the hardware store closed. Tragically, the organ was destroyed in a fire when the pizza parlor owner decided insurance fraud was more lucrative than pizza.

Sacramento also had a "Pizza 'n' Pipes" parlor.

[sinkspur]

Thanks for the links and the pics.

I assume you're a "pipist", my new term for pipe organ lovers.

Let's stay in touch.

[sinkspur]

I want to cue you into this conversation, if you're interested.

We're strictly into pipe organ talk here, primarily concert, but some theatre.

We're the pipists, if you'd care to join.

[Swordmaker]

Sink, check out this page...

World's Largest Pipe Organs

Almost every organ listed on this page has many more pipes than this guy. The largest listed claims 33,114

[sinkspur]

Hot damn! Great link!

I'll stay occupied for hours!

[Nan48]

Is there a list for the largest home organs?

[RIGHT IN SEATTLE]

I can't play any instrument but was always fascinated in listening. I was born and raised in Rochester, NY. where there were may old churches dating back to the early 1900's. Every now and then there would be an open concert at some of them. It was great to attend, so much power.

I now live in Las Vegas, they wouldn't know a Wurlitzer if a pipe hit them in the head!

[sinkspur]

So, Wanamaker has 29,000 pipes, not the measly 10,000 I had assumed.

The Riverside Church, while not among the largest, has a "Great Organ," as testified to by the personnas who performed on it, namely Virgil Fox and Frederick Swann.

[RIGHT IN SEATTLE]

I can't open the link?

[Nan48]

Any AGO members here?

[Swordmaker]

This is the one I want for MY living room:

The auditorium organ at Atlantic City Convention Hall is the Boeing 747 of pipe organs, with a console as intimidating as a 747's cockpit. This huge instrument has 33,112 pipes in 455 ranks (including a full-length 64' Diaphone Profunda, ten 32' ranks, and a potent manual and pedal reed under 100" pressure). The organ is powered by newly-installed blowers that approach 1,000 horsepower! The console, located on the stage of the 41,000-seat auditorium, has 7 manuals, 1,255 speaking stops, and hundreds of additional controls. A tour of the entire organ takes 4 1/2 hours.

Unfortunately, this monumental organ has never been fully playable for various reasons, and the combination action (vital on an organ of this size) hasn't worked for decades; currently, about 140 of ranks are playable, and many of those are often far out of tune. It's no wonder-- it would require three technicians working full time to maintain this organ (to say nothing of repairing it), and there is only one curator.

Although this organ was built in America's "terrible 20's, " it has a surprisingly progressive design, with many mutation stops, mixtures, and other upper work, which results in a bright, broad, and full sound. The ensemble of the playable 140 ranks, mostly on 20" pressure or higher, has been described as a "massive wall of sound," even from the far end of the auditorium (and maybe from the far end of the Atlantic Ocean outside the front doors). Somewhere in there is claimed to be America's first low-pressure (3 1/2") Positiv division of 9 Baroque ranks (the Unenclosed Choir). Oh, that's not all-- the Convention Hall's Ballroom (itself larger than Radio City Music Hall) has an excellent 1931 4-manual 55-rank Kimball hybrid concert/theater organ in good playing condition. And there's a great-sounding reed organ in the organ maintenance shop backstage.

[Nan48]

That would BE your living room. LOL

[Swordmaker]

Don't know about that. I heard of one about 30 years ago. A guy bought the theater organ from a grand movie palace being torn down and installed it in his house... the neighbors called it "the beast in the basement." I heard it got destroyed in a flood.

Scotty's Castle in Death Valley has a very nice player theater organ...

[Axenolith]

He's gonna have a tough time beating the organ within Luray Caverns created from Stalactites and Stalagmites...

"http://www.luraycaverns.com/images/organ2big.jpg"

[sinkspur]

a full-length 64' Diaphone Profunda, ten 32' ranks,

That's 610 pipes over a story-and-a-half high! And, of course, we have the two-story-high Profunda!

Surely some philanthropist could see his way to enabling all of these ranks. The challenge would then beckon an organist capable of exercising this beast.

I'd pay big bucks to see that!

[RadioAstronomer]

Way cool! :-)

Thank you!

[Nan48]

Hmm. Interesting.

I know a guy who has an organ in his barn, and just yesterday, our AGO group visited a guy who has 5 antique organs in a room he built on to his house. He doesn't play a one of them. So, we played them for him--all at once! 'Twas a pretty cool sound.