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Organ for sale (with terraced house attached)


DariusB

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A terraced property? I wonder what the neighbours think!  The house is advertised for £500k, but the blurb doesn't say what condition the organ is in.

I'm reminded of one of my American jaunts. The chap I was lodging with was an amateur organ enthusiast. In the main reception room of his house was a 56-stop/29-rank three manual organ that he had cobbled up from second-hand pipework obtained from the Organ Clearing House, a sort of Exchange and Mart for pipe organs. He was also a dab hand with electronics, so his console boasted such delicacies as a Gt to Sw 2 2/3 and a Gt to Sw 1 3/5 (intended for use with single stops). The spec included a Ludwigtone 8'. It's the only one I have ever encountered and, TBH, I can quite see why this stop never really caught on. Taming a schizophrenic krait might be easier. Still, the instrument was nothing if not versatile and could cope with any repertoire and surely gave its owner hours of pleasure.

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What immediately grated with me was the phrase "comprises of", which estate agents seem to use in preference to the correct alternatives of "comprises" or "is comprised of".
Sorry!  Just my hobby horse!

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50 minutes ago, John Robinson said:

What immediately grated with me was the phrase "comprises of", which estate agents seem to use in preference to the correct alternatives of "comprises" or "is comprised of".
Sorry!  Just my hobby horse!

The use of 'comprises' in the disclaimer is just as bad: "The information displayed about this property comprises a property advertisement." A body comprises its parts, not vice versa.

 

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11 hours ago, Vox Humana said:

A terraced property? I wonder what the neighbours think!  The house is advertised for £500k, but the blurb doesn't say what condition the organ is in.

I'm reminded of one of my American jaunts. The chap I was lodging with was an amateur organ enthusiast. In the main reception room of his house was a 56-stop/29-rank three manual organ that he had cobbled up from second-hand pipework obtained from the Organ Clearing House, a sort of Exchange and Mart for pipe organs. He was also a dab hand with electronics, so his console boasted such delicacies as a Gt to Sw 2 2/3 and a Gt to Sw 1 3/5 (intended for use with single stops). The spec included a Ludwigtone 8'. It's the only one I have ever encountered and, TBH, I can quite see why this stop never really caught on. Taming a schizophrenic krait might be easier. Still, the instrument was nothing if not versatile and could cope with any repertoire and surely gave its owner hours of pleasure.

 

I love the Ludwigtone at 8' but the description is even better 'taming a schizophrenic krait' - wonderful - it doesn't bare thinking about!!!

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I'm reminded of a chap who installed a cinema organ in his  terraced house in Folkestone IIRC.  Never managed to get to see it.

I suspect the "neighbour problem" would be pretty significant, especially these days.  It's one reason why my digital home organ is in a converted section of the garage.

Every Blessing

Tony

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10 hours ago, Vox Humana said:

The use of 'comprises' in the disclaimer is just as bad: "The information displayed about this property comprises a property advertisement." A body comprises its parts, not vice versa.

 

Also the incorrect use of 'it's' in at least three places.

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This would solve my looming problem of finding a house with appropriate space for my pipe organ, but it won't pass muster with the boss because, although by her own admission she's not a great map reader, I won't be able to persuade her that Clifton is in the general area of the historical Kingdom of Northumbria. I'll send it on to her anyway ... ;-)

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53 minutes ago, sbarber49 said:

Now sold - but sadly the organ is probably going to be removed.

'Eccentric' Bristol house with built-in pipe organ is sold - BBC News

A strange layout and, looking at it, rather difficult to reach at least some of the pipes for tuning.

A shame that the new owner wants to ditch the organ.  It would be nice to hear that it's up for sale, though.  I wonder what the specification might be.

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15 hours ago, John Robinson said:

I wonder what the specification might be.

I have seen the organ given its NPOR identification somewhere on line. I can't find it now but am reasonably confident that if you were to have a quick trawl through this site - https://www.facebook.com/groups/355269498442029/?fref=mentions - I think you'd find it... and lots of other interesting stuff besides - a great and very busy site.

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8 hours ago, Martin Cooke said:

I have seen the organ given its NPOR identification somewhere on line. I can't find it now but am reasonably confident that if you were to have a quick trawl through this site - https://www.facebook.com/groups/355269498442029/?fref=mentions - I think you'd find it... and lots of other interesting stuff besides - a great and very busy site.

Thanks.  I've had a quick look through the site (and have visited several times before), but nothing yet apart from a different house organ which has been recently removed.  I'm pretty sure it's a different one anyway.  I may have a better look again later.

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13 hours ago, sbarber49 said:

See Andrew Butler's post in this thread on 4th March. He gives the specification of the 4 rank extension organ as it was in the church where it came from.

NPORView N03855

 

This link might get you to the Facebook page:

British Pipe Organs : Anyone want to buy a house in Bristol with a working pipe organ built into the structure | Facebook

 

Thanks.  I assume all four ranks as listed were set up in the house as and where they could be fitted!

A principal, a flute, a string and a reed.  What more could one ask for?

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8 hours ago, John Robinson said:

Thanks.  I assume all four ranks as listed were set up in the house as and where they could be fitted!

A principal, a flute, a string and a reed.  What more could one ask for?

It had been built for the church in 1957 using second-hand pipework. It was all enclosed apart from the bottom 12 of the Bourdon. The fluework was good, but the reed unit didn't blend awfully well - might have had there been a Mixture though. Looking at how it was laid out in the house, I don't know if anything was still enclosed. The spec was as follows in the church, with ranks shown as ABCD

GREAT

Open Diapason  8 A

Stopped Diapason 8 B

Principal 4 B

Flute 4 B

Twelfth 2.2/3 B

Fifteenth 2 A

SWELL

Open Diapason 8 A

Salicional 8 C

Lieblich (sic) 8 B

Gemshorn 4 A

Salicet 4 C

Nazard 2.2/3 B

Horn 8 D

Clarion 4 D

PEDAL

Bourdon 16 (From B)

Bass Flute 8 B

3 usual couplers

3 pistons to Gt/Ped  3 to Sw  Thumb and Toe Reversers for Gt/P

Piston setter board, and ventil switches for each rank

 

I was never quite sure of the logic behind the Swell Nazard - I was too young at the time to have thought of using it with the Salicional as a synthetic Oboe!

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14 hours ago, Andrew Butler said:

It had been built for the church in 1957 using second-hand pipework. It was all enclosed apart from the bottom 12 of the Bourdon. The fluework was good, but the reed unit didn't blend awfully well - might have had there been a Mixture though. Looking at how it was laid out in the house, I don't know if anything was still enclosed. The spec was as follows in the church, with ranks shown as ABCD

GREAT

Open Diapason  8 A

Stopped Diapason 8 B

Principal 4 B

Flute 4 B

Twelfth 2.2/3 B

Fifteenth 2 A

SWELL

Open Diapason 8 A

Salicional 8 C

Lieblich (sic) 8 B

Gemshorn 4 A

Salicet 4 C

Nazard 2.2/3 B

Horn 8 D

Clarion 4 D

PEDAL

Bourdon 16 (From B)

Bass Flute 8 B

3 usual couplers

3 pistons to Gt/Ped  3 to Sw  Thumb and Toe Reversers for Gt/P

Piston setter board, and ventil switches for each rank

 

I was never quite sure of the logic behind the Swell Nazard - I was too young at the time to have thought of using it with the Salicional as a synthetic Oboe!

Looking at the picture, the only things visible seem to be the pipes from the stopped wood rank 'B'
If anything was enclosed (in the house) I imagine it might have been the 'C' rank (strings) or the reeds, though I can't see any sign of a swell pedal in the photo.

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On 15/03/2021 at 10:20, Choir Man said:

From the floor plan and photos on RightMove it looks like most of the pipework is in bedroom 2 on the top floor. Also seems that most of it is enclosed - see shutters in the right of the attached photo:

 

Capture.JPG

Actually, they are not shutters - it's the slatted screen that formed the facade of the organ in the church

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More than half a century ago, a clever mechanical engineer acquaintance lived in a large detached house in Purley, then in Surrey. Installed in the house was a two-decker with a not immodest pedal division which occupied the stair well, the swell was in the dining room, although there was no swell box - he had a string operating the spring-loaded door for that purpose. The great was in the "front room". Holes in the ceiling had been judiciously cut to accommodate a few of the unstopped longer pipes which couldn't be mounted elsewhere. There was a complete instrument disassembled in the garage and another ground floor room had been given over to his collection of player pianos and piano players.

The first time I visited him, before ringing the bell, I was intrigued by the Fugue a la Gigue (577) wafting through the letter box, not least because I have trouble with this piece; it's like patting your head and rubbing your tum at the same time. Anyway, he called out "Come in" which I did, to find him at the console in the hall. He turned around, beamed "My dear fellow" at me and swung his legs over the bench. To my astonishment, the Gigue continued to play. He then removed the music to reveal an opening panel behind which was the punched roll of a player system. I was fascinated.

I have often wondered at the apparent connection had between mechanical people and music. Frederick Lanchester (arguably, together with I K Brunel, also a musician) this country's most clever engineer was a competent fiddle player. The first Chief Engineer of the RAC was an organist in Southport for many years - I owned Felix Hudlass's music collection for a long time and there are many other examples of this relationship.

I have no idea what happened to the Purley organ.

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