| Name of institution |
First Church of Christ Scientist |
| Type of institution |
Church |
| Street Address |
St. George's Terrace |
| City |
Perth |
| State |
Western Australia |
| Postcode |
6000 |
| Country |
Australia |
| Name of building |
First Church of Christ Scientist |
| Name of room |
|
| Dates of the building |
In
1926, following unanimous agreement of members, the present church site
at the corner of St Georges Terrace and Elder Street (then George
Street) was purchased.
By 1938, it was realised that a church should be built; plans were
drawn up by Mr Hargrave of Ochiltree & Hargrave, architects, and
erected by A.T.Brine Pty. Ltd., one of Perth's prominent builders at
that time. In the early hours of the morning of 2nd February, 1939, a
small group of church officers met for the laying of the foundation
stone. The building was completed as we see it today, and the first
church services were held on Sunday, 25th June, 1939. However, since a
church must be free of debt to be dedicated, this ceremony did not take
place until 26th June, 1949. |
| Architect’s and builder’s names |
Ochiltree & Hargrave, architects, and A.T.Brine Pty. Ltd, builders. |
| Special architectural features |
|
| Special fittings |
The church has beautiful parquetry floors of local jarrah and
she-oak, supplied by Bunning Brothers, the interior walls were in
waltex supplied by Waltex Products Co., the ceiling was done by Perth
Modelling Works, the windows which were done in deep grav'e work (a
type of sand-blasted plate glass carrying designs) were done by Barnett
Bros. Ltd.; Bon Marche supplied over 200 yards of carpeting and J.L
Mattinson did the lighting. |
| Other location information |
The National Trust of Australia (W.A.) classified First Church of Christ,
Scientist, Perth as having heritage significance in July 2002.
|
| Name of contact |
|
| Mailing Address |
|
| Telephone |
|
| Email |
|
| Other contact information |
http://www.csperth.org.au/cms/ |
| . |
|
| Previous organ(s) |
|
| Date of previous organ |
1953 |
| Detail of previous organ |
Whitehouse Brothers, Brisbane, instrument
3m.,21sp.st., 10c., el.pn.
Gt: 16.8.8.4.4.2.
Sw: 8.8.8.4.2.8.8.
Ch: 8.8.4.8.
Ped: 32.16.16.8. |
| Dates when key work has been undertaken |
Enlarged 1970s F.J. Larner & A. White. |
| Dates of any moves that have taken place |
|
| Variations from original design of organ |
|
|
Information on previous organ |
Research results:
I can confirm from the records of the Whitehouse firm that the organ at
First Church of Christ Scientist, Perth, was definitely built in
1953. Its a little difficult to pin it down to a particular
month, as I have no record of the opening, but I would read that it was
commenced in June that year. The cost was £5,326, and there
were further "forwarding charges" (I guess, transport to WA) of
£1,758.8.0 on 31 August. The final payment seems to
have been made in early October 1953.
Dr Geoffrey Cox, Brisbane |
|
Information about comparable instruments to previous organ |
|
| . |
|
| Present organ |
|
| Type of installation |
Chamber |
| Case description |
Handsome modern case with three flats surrounded by two pedal towers. |
| Placement in room |
Front of sanctuary center chamber |
| Builder's name |
Bellsham Pipe Organs |
| Opus number |
|
| Date of completion/installation |
1983 |
| Construction materials |
|
| Number of manuals |
Three (3) |
| Key compasses |
C - ccc |
| Number of keys |
61 notes |
| Key material |
|
| Pedal compass |
|
| Number of pedals |
30 notes |
| Pedalboard type |
Concave radiating pedal board |
| Pedalboard material |
|
| Type of chests |
Slider chests in the Choir and Great
Cone valve
chest on the Swell (Whitehouse) |
| Type of key action |
Electro-magnetic |
| Type of stop action |
Electro-magnetic |
| Couplers |
SWELL to GREAT
SWELL to CHOIR
SWELL to PEDAL
CHOIR to GREAT
CHOIR to PEDAL
GT & PED combinations coupler
GREAT to PEDAL
|
| Tremulants |
Swell, Choir |
| Accessories |
Two expression shoes - mechanical to Swell and Choir shutters |
| Console type |
Drawstop console, remote location
Console has:
Standard memory system with 500 levels accessed through “up” & “down” pistons
16 general pistons
8 pistons to each division
6 reversible interdivisional coupler pistons, duplicated on toe studs
Full organ piston/toe stud
Transposer ± 6 semitones
Sequencer with over 10,000 steps, “next” and “previous” thumb pistons/toe studs.
Stepper
This system uses an Altera Cyclone III programmable IC with over 25,000 logic cells. |
| Stop label material |
|
| Placement |
Left front of sanctuary |
| General design |
|
| Playing aids |
There are 8 thumb piston presets (5 above the Swell keyboard, 3 below
the Great keyboard, to the right), with a total of 32 preset selections
possible via a four way key switch above the Swell keyboard, to the
right. There are two swell pedals: the left one is for the Choir and
the right one for the Swell pipe sections.
Combination Action:
Solid State Instant Capture Action.
5 Thumb-pistons to Great organ combinations
5 thumb-pistons to Swell organ combinations
5 thumb-pistons to Choir organ combinations
5 toe-pistons to Pedal organ combinations
5 toe-pistons duplicating Swell thumb-pistons
8 thumb-pistons to General combinations
3 toe-pistons duplicating General thumb-pistons
1 thumb-piston operating General Cancel
1 thumb-piston operating combination Setter (protected by a lock)
Reversible thumb-pistons to all couplers
Reversible toe-pistons to Great to Pedal and Swell to Pedal
Drawstop operating 'Great and Pedal Combinations' coupler.
The thumb-pistons for the Swell and Great sections are in pp - ff arrangement.
New Control/memory system by Pipe Organs W.A. designed by Tomasz Nowak, installed in Sept 2017.
Wireless transmission from console to chamber via bluetooth. |
| Divisions |
Great, Swell, Choir, Pedal |
| Wind pressures |
|
| Stop list |
| GREAT |
|
|
|
| Bourdon |
16' |
Bass 30 pipes from C |
B |
| Open Diapason |
8' |
|
|
| Hohl Flute |
8' |
|
|
| Diapason |
4' |
|
|
| Harmonic Flute |
4' |
|
|
| Twelfth |
2 2/3' |
|
|
| Fifteenth |
2' |
|
|
| Forniture |
IV |
|
|
| Trumpet |
8' |
|
|
.
|
|
|
|
| SWELL |
|
|
|
| Geigen Diapason |
8' |
|
|
| Lieblich Gedeckt |
8' |
|
|
| Salicional |
8' |
|
|
| Voix Celeste |
8' |
|
|
| Gemshorn |
4' |
|
|
| Picolo |
2' |
|
|
| Mixture |
III |
|
|
| Fagot |
16' |
|
A |
| Cornopean |
8' |
|
A |
| Oboe |
8' |
|
|
| Clarion |
4' |
|
A |
| . |
|
|
|
| CHOIR |
|
|
|
| Gedackt |
8' |
|
|
| Viola da Gamba |
8' |
|
|
| Spire Flute |
4' |
|
|
| Nazard |
2 2/3' |
|
|
| Principal |
2' |
|
|
| Tierce |
1 3/8' |
|
|
| Larigot |
1 1/3' |
|
|
| Scharf |
IV |
|
|
| Clarinet |
8' |
|
|
| Tuba |
8' |
|
D |
| . |
|
|
|
| PEDAL |
|
|
|
| Principal |
16' |
|
B |
| Subbass |
16' |
|
C |
| Octave |
8' |
|
B |
| Bass Flute |
8' |
|
C |
| Octave |
8' |
|
|
| Quint |
5 1/3' |
|
|
| Fifteenth |
4' |
|
B |
| Trombone |
16' |
12 pipes separate chest, 18 pipes from D |
D |
| Trumpet |
8' |
|
D |
| . |
|
|
|
|
| Total number of stops |
38 speaking stops
9 non-speaking stops |
| Total number of ranks |
33 ranks
|
| Total number of pipes |
2316 pipes |
| Dates when key work has been undertaken on current
organ |
|
| Dates of any moves that have taken place to current
organ |
|
| Information on current organ |
Pipework and the swell chest of the original organ are incorporated into the Bellsham organ.
The
current organ has 38 stops in four divisions, uses electromagnetic
transmission to slider chests in the Choir and Great and cone valve
chest on the Swell. |
| Comparable instruments to current
organ |
|
| Current status |
In very good condition |
| Assessment of organ |
|
| Other organs by this builder |
|
| Photographs |
|
| Technical documents |
|
| General documents |
|
| . |
|
| Supporting information |
|
| . |
|
| Document control |
Original entries J R Elms, OAM,
Gazetteer of Western Australian Pipe Organs, 1971, 1999,2003 and 2004.
This entry D B Duncan 28 November 2008.
Research information on first organ provided by Bob Elms 1 February 2012.
Building and historical information from the church web site.
Photo of the original organ from the Bob Elms collection scanned by Patrick Elms 18 May 2019.
Particular details from Graham Devenish 29 October 2019.
Photograph of console sourced by Andrew Gardner 19 April 2020.
|
