St Paul's Anglican Cathedral
Cnr Flinders and Swanston Streets, Melbourne

Built Lewis & Company Ltd, Brixton, London 1890, job no 500
Rebuilt Hill, Norman & Beard Ltd, London & Melbourne, 1929, job nos 2640 (UK), 1 (Aust)
Restored Harrison & Harrison, Durham, UK 1990
4 manuals, 53 speaking stops, 17 couplers, electro-pneumatic action

Chamber organ, built Knud Smenge 1996; installed 2020
1 manual, 4 speaking stops, mechanical action


Historical and Technical Documentation by John Maidment
© OHTA (last updated November 2024)

 

The first church on this site, dedicated to St Paul, was opened in 1852. It contained an organ built by Smith & Sons, Bristol. See the following web pages for further information.

St Paul's Anglican Church, Melbourne
St Paul's Anglican Church, Kyneton



St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne – Butterfield's intended towers and spire
[painting by A.C. Cooke, 1890]

St Paul's Cathedral was designed by the eminent English architect William Butterfield (1814-1900) in the late 1870s. Butterfield was highly regarded for his church designs which included All Saints' Margaret Street, St Alban's, Holborn, and St Augustine's, Queens Gate (all in London), Rugby School Chapel and St Peter's Cathedral, Adelaide. He was a seminal figure in the ecclesiological movement. His buildings display great originality in their planning, style and decorative treatment.

The foundation stone of St Paul's was laid on 13 April 1880 and the completed building (apart from the towers and spires) consecrated and opened on 22 January 1891. The building cost more than £125,000 to erect. It comprises a spacious nave of six broad bays, with aisles and tall clerestory, shallow transepts and a two-bay presbytery incorporating the sanctuary and high altar and canons' stalls, flanked by side chapels placed in the aisles. Butterfield's original design, shown here, orientated east-west, envisaged a shorter nave, an octagonal central tower and spire, inspired by German models, and comparable with his earlier tower at Rugby School Chapel, and two western towers with saddle-back roofs, to complete the Rhenish allusion. These designs were thrown out in the 1920s and after an architectural competition the Sydney architect John Barr's winning designs for the three towers and spires were implemented (sadly rather incompatible with Butterfield's work); these were completed in 1933. The entire length of the building is 276 feet, and the height of the central spire 317 feet, making it the second highest Anglican spire in the world, after Salisbury Cathedral. The height of the nave to roof ridge is 86 feet and the interior is 75 feet high.



St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne – the completed building with John Barr's spires
[photograph by Simon Colvin (December 2007)]

The interior of the building, with its banded stonework and muscular masonry, is clearly based upon Italian models, such as Orvieto and Siena Cathedrals. The range of lavish fittings include the reredos and Italian mosaics by Salviati, the vast collection of stained glass, almost entirely by Clayton & Bell (one of the largest of all 19th century glass commissions), the splendid woodwork in Tasmanian blackwood, all locally manufactured, and the peal of 13 bells by Mears & Stainbank, London, which has a total weight of seven tons – these were donated by Thomas Dyer Edwards following advice from T.C. Lewis, the organbuilder.



St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne – the organ shortly after completion
[photograph by C. Rudd (State Library of Victoria)]

The organ was built by Lewis & Company Limited, of Brixton, London, and was the firm's opus number 500. The cost of the organ in England was £3,838, a large proportion of which was donated by Thomas Dyer Edwardes, of Prinknash Park, Gloucestershire. Edwardes was clearly instrumental in the choice of organbuilder as he had previously given a Lewis instrument to the Peoples Palace in East London and rejected earlier negotiations with Henry Willis. His family previously resided in Melbourne and Edwardes Lake Park, in the Melbourne suburb of Reservoir is named after them.

The organ was erected by Fincham & Hobday, of Richmond under the direction of Mr Pritchard, Lewis's representative, who remained in Melbourne for some months after the opening of the organ – at the opening of the building, the instrument was far from completion with only nine stops in the Great, the whole of the Swell, none of the Choir and Solo and the Pedal only four stops.1 The casework was designed by the superintending architect Joseph Reed. A letter published in The Argus 4 November 1891, p.7, bemoaned the ugly scaffolding erected in front of the organ, presumably so that the pipe decoration could be executed (which never happened at this time).

The organ was initially opened at a recital in Lewis's Brixton factory:

Melbourne, Australia. – Another fine specimen of English organ building is about to be shipped to the Antipodes. The new organ for St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne, built by Messrs. Lewis & Co., was inspected by many organists who were invited to the inaugural recital given, on June 5th, by Mr W. de M. Sergison, and on the following day, after a recital given by Mr Alfred Hollins.2

The Lewis organ was described in a contemporary newspaper:

The organ is a very fine instrument, made by Messrs. Lewis and Co., of Brixton, London. This is the gift of Mr. T. Dyer Edwardes. It is elevated upon a high and ornamental wooden platform in the eastern transept, which it almost completely occupies, and has a wheel shaped stained glass window above it. The construction of the instrument is carried out on what is known as the tubular pneumatic system, and is fitted with four manuals and pedals. The hydraulic engines will be used for blowing purposes, but the gear is so arranged that the organ can, if necessary, be worked by manual labour. It is played from a console erected at the back of the eastern choir stalls. Including the payment of duty, the cost of the instrument has been nearly £6,000. The piping is, at present, painted a dull green, nut designs have been prepared by Messrs. Reed, Smart and Tappin for ornamenting them. They are "cased" in a handsome frame of polished American walnut wood, which material was found by the English makers to be the most suitable match for the colonial blackwood used in the contiguous furniture.3



St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne – the Lewis & Company console
[photograph by Arthur Whinfield (1890s)]

The Lewis console was photographed by Arthur Whinfield, Organist at Christ Church, Brunswick, and Director of Music at the Institute for the Blind. It had the drawstops grouped in horizontal terraces parallel to the keys and placed on sloping jambs - the profile was low to enable visibility with the choir. The swell boxes were operated by lever pedals.

The organ had four bellows and four feeders, worked by hydraulic power, with four double feeders worked by hand in case anything goes wrong with the machinery. The power is supplied by the Melbourne Hydraulic Power Storage Company, with engines made by Mr John Johns, of Melbourne. There are 13 reservoirs to supply the various stops. … There are about 3 miles of tubing in connection with it, and its weight is about 40 tons.4 The hydraulic engines were mounted in an adjacent room and connected to the high pressure municipal water supply, also used to drive hydraulic lifts in buildings. The pneumatic tubing and swell pedal mechanisms ran from the console under the floor and through an action tunnel provided by the architect.

Fincham & Hobday recorded that skilled organbuilders were to be paid 15/- per day and intelligent advanced apprentices 7/6 per day, all under the personal supervision of either Mr Fincham or Mr Hobday.5 The total cost of the organ, inclusive of construction, shipping and installation, was the huge sum of £6,548, 15/6.6

The organ is very generously laid out with windchests intersected by central and lateral passage boards. The Great and Swell are centrally placed, the Solo box on the left and at right angles to the Great, and the unenclosed Choir in a similar position to the right. The Pedal stops are placed at the extremities of the instrument, the metal Open Diapason 32 divided at the rear. While Lewis was antagonistic towards his chief rival Henry Willis, there are several Willis traits apparent: the dubbed lips of the 32 Diapason, the short reed boots for the trebles of chorus reeds, and the use of heavy wind pressure for all of the chorus reeds and Oboe.

About 1916, the action was partially electrified by Messrs. Meadway & Slatterie, a Melbourne firm, in order to improve its slow response resulting from enormously long tube runs.7 An electric Sturtevant blower was installed in the early years of the 20th century. In 1929, a complete rebuilding was undertaken by Hill, Norman & Beard, who had recently opened a subsidiary factory in Clifton Hill. While the work was being undertaken, a temporary organ was erected on a platform in the north transept. Built by Samuel Maskell, [Wordsworth & Maskell], of Leeds, it was later placed at St Stephen's Anglican Church, Gardenvale (now Brighton).




St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne – the 1929 console
[photograph by Brian Hatfield (1988)

At the time, the action of the Lewis organ was converted to electro-pneumatic, electric swell engines installed, a new drawstop console supplied, and a 'floating' enclosed Orchestral Organ supplied, of three extended ranks (Tibia Clausa 8, Viol d'Orchestre 16 and Tuba 16) inspired by the firm's Christie theatre organ practice. The original tonal scheme and voicing remained intact although a number of stops were renamed in more conventional English. A new Duplex blowing plant was installed. Apart from several cleanings, alterations to the piston system minor action replacement, rectification of water damage and some re-regulation, the organ remained in its 1929 state until 1989, helped along in its latter years by the efforts of organbuilder John S. Parker.

The major restoration of the instrument was carried out by Harrison & Harrison Ltd, of Durham, UK, a firm which had considerable experience in working with other examples of Lewis's work. The organ was dismantled in early 1988 and the work completed at the end of 1990. It included completely new electro-pneumatic key actions, new mechanical swell pedal actions, and a complete overhaul of the pipework (some of it sagging owing to its weight), and the wind system. The 1929 console was refitted with new curved stop jambs, the 1929 ivory drawstops were re-engraved, and new manual keyboards in ivory were supplied using Willis III material from Huddersfield Town Hall. Three new ranks were added in place of the 1929 Orchestral Organ: a Tuba Magna 8 and a Trompette Harmonique 8 placed on a new slider windchest above the swell box, based upon Lewis scalings at Southwark Cathedral, and a fully independent Contra Posaune 32 to the Pedal Organ.



St Paul's Cathedral – organ case and decorated pipes
[photograph by John Maidment (1 September 2022)]

The façade pipes, previously painted a dull green colour, were brilliantly decorated by Melbourne artists Marc Nobel, Christine Holmes and John Dale, following an original design prepared around 1890 by Lyon, Wells, Cottier & Company. The colours were based upon masonry fabric in the building in consultation with architect George Mitchell.

A new blowing plant, made by Laukhuff, Weikersheim, Germany, was installed by Wakeley Pipe Organs Pty Ltd in 2021. The 1929 Duplex plant was removed. The organ is currently maintained by Jeremy Smith Organ Builder.

The organ is internationally significant as one of the two most important examples of Lewis's surviving work and comparable with the slightly later instrument at Southwark Cathedral, London (1897) – the latter instrument has had its high pitch lowered, which remains at Melbourne.

 

 



St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne – pipework of the 1929 Orchestral Organ – Tuba to the right, Viol bass above
[photograph by Brian Hatfield (1988)]




St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne – the action tunnel, with swell linkages to left
[photograph by John Maidment (1990)]

 

GREAT ORGAN, 14 stops
1 Bourdon
2 Open Diapason no 1
3 Open Diapason no 2
4 Flute Harmonique
5 Stopped Diapason
6 Gamba
7 Octave
8 Gemshorn
9 Octave Quint
10 Super Octave
11 Mixture
12 Trumpet
13 Trumpet
14 Clarion
Great reeds on Pedal
Choir to Great
Swell to Great
Solo to Great

SWELL ORGAN, 14 stops
15 Bourdon
16 Geigen Principal
17 Rohr Flöte
18 Viole de Gambe
19 Voix Celestes TC
20 Vox Angelica
21 Octave
22 Rohr Flöte
23 Flautina
24 Mixture
tremulant
25 Contra Fagotto
26 Horn
27 Oboe
28 Clarion
Solo to Swell
sub octave
octave

CHOIR ORGAN, 8 stops
29 Lieblich Gedact
30 Salicional
31 Lieblich Gedact
32 Dulciana
33 Flauto Traverso
34 Lieblich Flöte
35 Piccolo Harmonique
36 Corno di Bassetto
Swell to Choir
Solo to Choir

SOLO ORGAN, 8 stops Enclosed
37 Flute Harmonique
38 Flute Harmonique
39 Orchestral Oboe
40 Clarionet
41 Vox Humana
tremulant
42 Tuba Mirabilis
Unenclosed: Bombarde

43 Tuba Magna*
44 Trompette Harmonique*
Bombarde reeds on Choir
Great to Solo
sub octave
unison off
octave

PEDAL ORGAN, 9 stops
45 Open Diapason
46 Great Bass
47 Sub Bass
48 Violone
49 Quint
50 Violoncello
51 Flute Bass
52 Contra Posaune*
53 Posaune
Choir to Pedal
Great to Pedal
Swell to Pedal
Solo to Pedal

16
8
8
8
8
8
4
4
2-2/3
2
IV
16
8
4






16
8
8
8
8
8
4
4
2
III

16
8
8
4





16
8
8
8
8
4
2
8




8
4
8
8
8

8

8
8







32
16
16
16
10-2/3
8
8
32
16

































































Donated by June Nixon and Neville Finney
Donated by the Brockhoff Foundation














Donated by Sir Ernest Coates





* 1990 additions

COMPASS Manuals: CC-C 61 notes Pedal: CC-F 30 notes 

ACTION electro-pneumatic with solid-state coupling and combination actions 

ACCESSORIES 

Great and Pedal combinations coupled Pedal to Swell foot pistons 

Generals on Swell foot pistons 
8 adjustable foot pistons to Pedal 

8 adjustable thumb pistons to Swell 
6 adjustable thumb pistons to Choir 
8 adjustable general thumb pistons 
8 adjustable thumb pistons to Great (duplicated by foot pistons) 
6 adjustable thumb pistons to Solo 

(all of the above adjustable by a solid-state capture system with 8 memories and separate control for general pistons) 

5 Reversible foot pistons 
12 Reversible thumb pistons 
General Cancel thumb piston 
Balanced mechanical Swell Pedals to Swell and Solo 

WIND PRESSURES 
Pedal Open Diapason 32: 2" 
Great and Swell fluework, Choir and Pedal Sub Bass, Violone, Quint, Violoncello and Flute Bass: all 3-1/2"
Solo fluework and imitative reeds: 4-1/4" 
Swell reeds, Pedal Great Bass, Contra Posaune and Posaune: 5-1/4" 
Great reeds: 6" (originally specified by Lewis as 7" 
Solo Tuba Mirabilis, Tuba Magna and Trompette Harmonique: 12"

MIXTURE COMPOSITIONS 
Great IV: c - f#0 19.22.26.29, g0 - f#1 12.15.19.22, g1 - C4 5.8.12.15
Swell III: c - c1 15.19.22, c#1 - c4 8.12.15

The pitch is C = 535 cps @ 60 degrees Fahrenheit, as recorded inside the organ

VOICING was done at Durham by Peter Hopps and Duncan Matthews. 
FINAL REGULATION in the Cathedral was done by Peter Hopps and Mark Venning. 
CONSULTANTS included,June Nixon, the Revd Howard Hollis, Professor Michael Brimer, John Mallinson, Lindsay O'Neill, John Maidment and Harry Bramma.

CHAMBER ORGAN

The Smenge chamber organ

Built in 1996 for the residence of Glenn Gersch, St Kilda Road, Melbourne, this was donated to the cathedral by its owner in 2020. All the pipework is enclosed and the action is mechanical.

MANUAL
[Gedackt]
[Rohr Flöte]
[Principal]
[Nasat]

8
4
2
1-1/3
 

Compass: 56 notes (check)
Mechanical action
Knee swell

 


1 The Argus, 28 January 1891, p.9

2 Musical Opinion, July 1890

3 The Age, 20 January 1891, p. 5

4 Table Talk, 2 January 1891, p.16

5 George Fincham letter 7/198, 22 October 1890

6 Church of England Messenger, 3 July 1891, p.116

7 Personal communication Ray Fehmel to John Maidment, 1966

 

See also The Organ and Organists of St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne, edited by James Grant. Melbourne: the Cathedral, 1991.

 

 

 

 




St Paul's console (1890)









Photos JRM Dec 2006
Original Butterfield design





Three photos above: Simon Colvin (Nov. 2007)


 
Two photos above: Simon Colvin (Feb 2009)


Above: Choir pipework
Right: Solo pipework
Below left: Great pipework
Below right: Swell pipework
Photos taken by Brian Hatfield


Photos below taken by JRM May 2009
Great Organ
View from the Bombarde reeds above
Reeds C# side
Fluework
 
Trumpet 16 wooden boots

 
Spotted metal; basses to Open Diapasons and
Bourdon placed on off-note chests
     
Swell Organ
 
Flues
 
Reeds – detail
 
Swell shutters viewed from Great passageboard
 
Reeds to left, flues to right
     
Choir Organ
 
Flues and Corno di Bassetto

 
Corno di Bassetto with boots of
Contra Posaune 32 to rear
View from Bombarde reeds above with Pedal Posaune and Great Bass to rear
     
Solo Organ
 
Tuba Mirabilis 8

 
Flute Harmonique 4, Vox Humana 8,
Orchestral Oboe 8
Bombarde
Reeds
Windchest from Great passage board
Pedal Organ
 
Choir Lieblich Gedact 16, Posaune 16,
Great Bass 16, 32 Open Diapason at rear
 
Posaune 16 trebles

 
Violone 16 & Violoncello 8

 
Stop action for Subbass 16, Quint 10-2/3,
Flute Bass 8
 
Chest containing Subbass 16, Quint 10-2/3, Flute 8
 
Open Diapason 32 C side
Open Diapason 32 dubbed mouth of bottom C pipe
 
Reservoirs
One of the single-rise reservoirs located at floor level