Melbourne Town Hall
Hill, Norman & Beard, London & Melbourne, 1927-1929
4 manuals, 110 speaking stops, electro-pneumatic action
The largest new concert organ built in the British Empire during the interwar period
Greatly enlarged and altered by Schantz 1999-2000
The original Town Hall buildings were designed by Melbourne architects Reed & Barnes. The foundation stone was laid in 1867 by Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, son of Queen Victoria, and the building opened on 9 August 1870.
The present hall was constructed, in art-deco style, between 1926 and 1927 to the designs of Melbourne architects Stephenson & Meldrum, following the destruction of the original auditorium by fire in 1925. The largest civic hall in the country in cubic area, it is much wider than its predecessor, an additional allotment to the north being taken over for the purpose. The interior was redecorated in the original muted paint colours in the 1990s.
Tenders were invited from around the world for the construction of a new grand organ: Hill, Norman & Beard and Henry Willis & Sons were the two main contenders. The tender of Hill, Norman & Beard for £31,483/19/7d for their job no 2650 was accepted by the Council and work proceeded apace both in the builder's York Road factory in London and in their new factory at Clifton Hill, Melbourne. The elaborately carved casework, in Queensland maple, and incorporating huge bronze grilles and zinc pipes veneered in spotted metal, was designed by the architects of the hall. The opening recital was given by Dr W.G.Price, city organist, on 3 July 1929.
The instrument remained substantially unaltered, retaining its original mechanism and pipework, until being replaced by the Schantz instrument in 1999-2000. It was of international significance as the second largest new organ (after Liverpool Cathedral) constructed in the British Empire during the inter-war period, and was believed to be the largest essentially intact concert organ of the period outside the American continent. It was an instrument of heroic scale and substance, with many harmonic and overlength pipe formations, enormously thick pipe walls, spacious windchests, extended octaves to many ranks, and wide access stair and walk ways throughout the organ. Apart from the majority of the pipework and the casework, almost everything from the 1929 organ has been discarded, with a new internal layout and massive additions.
