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)
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Photos JRM Dec 2006 |
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Original Butterfield design |
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Three photos above: Simon Colvin (Nov. 2007)
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 Above: Choir pipework Right: Solo pipework Below left: Great pipework Below right: Swell pipework Photos taken by Brian Hatfield |
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Bourdon placed on off-note chests |
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Contra Posaune 32 to rear |
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Orchestral Oboe 8 |
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Great Bass 16, 32 Open Diapason at rear |
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Flute Bass 8 |
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