The sale of the original Methodist church of 1860 at the corner of Pandora and Broad for $30,000 during the land boom of 1891 enabled the construction of this gingerbread gothic confection at the corner of Pandora and Quadra, three blocks further from the harbour. A wing containing a gymnasium, kitchen and lounge was added later to the right, and then another containing a chapel and more classrooms and offices to the left.
The congregation purchased Casavant Frères opus 400 in 1910 to replace the much smaller S.R. Warren organ from their previous building. It was installed in July of 1910 under the direction of the firm's representative Ludger Madore, and was dedicated on the 20th of that month with a recital by Dr. Frank W. Chase from Seattle and vocal soloist Mr. Herbert J. Cave from Vancouver. With 53 speaking stops, this was the largest organ west of Toronto at the time.
In the next few years, a local concert promoter brought such prominent recitalists as Joseph Bonnet, Marcel Dupré, Charles M. Courboin and Dr. Alfred Hollins to perform here. March 14, 1927, the church's organist Edward Parsons sponsored an appearance by Louis Vièrne, titulaire of the Cathédrale de Notre Dame de Paris. M. Vièrne was at this point beginning to lose his sight and travelled with an assistant/secretary/soloist Mlle. Madeleine Richepin. The performance was nevertheless masterly, and delighted the audience. A local newspaper noted that "...there was a large turnout of music students and groups of young people from private schools in attendance." Casavant Frères has yet in their collection of testimonial letters one from M. Vièrne, written on Empress Hotel stationery.
As part of a long-overdue amalgamation with First United Church, two blocks to the north, Metropolitan United Church was sold to the Victoria Conservatory of Music in 1997. Both buildings were offered, and the Conservatory picked Met. The Conservatory renovated the building at great expense then moved in with their dozens of pianos et cetera in January 2000. The former sanctuary, chapel and gymnasium are now available as performance spaces. Their previous home, St. Ann's Annex, has been razed and the site has been converted to greenspace connecting Beacon Hill Park with the gardens of St. Ann's Academy. The Church has renovated the unwanted building at great expense, financed largely by the sale. Both renovations triggered a lot of work for by-law compliance.
This large four-manual orchestral-style organ became the Conservatory's largest piece of capital equipment. However, seismic upgrading of the building had to be done, so early in the renovations in 1997, the organ's console, and the 5 hp blower in the basement, had to be disconnected and moved to permit structural work to proceed.
The choir loft was replaced with a hardwood stage, so the console lost its fixed location. A moveable console would be needed in future. The console was connected with a 4" wind line to run the combination action, with mechanical linkages to operate the swell shutters, and with many electrical cables for the hundreds of control circuits.
In early 2003, the Conservatory let a contract for about $100,000 of further seismic upgrading, this time of the foundations.
Early in planning for the 2010 national convention of the Royal Canadian College of Organists, the College's Victoria Centre had high hopes that this instrument would be serviceable in time for its 100th anniversary, which would fall during the week of the convention. The Conservatory had a major donor in hand who would cover the cost. However, the global financial crisis of late 2008 caused the donor to withdraw. As convention was to be based at the Conservatory, so the organising committee arranged for a digital organ vendor who would be displaying at the convention to make a temporary installation in the hall for use at the Convocation.
This did not sit well with the local organ maintenance firm, Grant Smalley Pipe Organs. Using the inadequate organ fund that the Conservatory had, they bought back a console which they had built for a similar but now defunct Casavant organ in the 1990s. It contained multiplexed micro-processor based controls, so they were able to refit it as moveable console needing only a power cord and a single data cable for connections. Through heroic measures, they had the organ largely playable in time for the convention.
A noon-hour anniversary celebration was added to the convention program, with remarks by Conservatory management and a half-hour recital by convention chair and faculty member Nicholas Fairbank. His program included a piece from the inaugural concert of 1910 and other crowd-pleasers. The house was full, with standing room only because two sections of the balcony were occupied by speakers for the temporary digital organ.
The convention ended with a comfortable financial surplus, from which $7000 was donated to the Conservatory, designated for further repairs for the organ.
The organ is in a large apse at the front of the former sanctuary. The facade, of over-length Open Diapason 16' and Violone 16' pipes, is divided in three by two semi-circular towers of five pipes each. The Swell Organ is behind the centre flat, the Great Organ is divided on either side, and is half as deep as the Swell. The Choir Organ is behind the right side of the Great and below the impost, with the Solo Organ stacked on top of it. The Pedal Organ occupies the remaining space.
The doubly barrel-vaulted and coved ceiling of the square room causes axial focussing and some side reflections which can be a bit bothersome. There is plenty of traffic noise from arterial roads on three sides of the building.
Casavant Freres blower #53, 4-1/2" & 7", 1200 rpm, 5 hp (originally equipped with a belt-driven generator to power the action magnets)
Reservoirs have large feeder bellows underneath, designed to be powered by water motors.
Electro-pneumatic key and ventil stop action. Mechanical shutter linkages, now fitted with electric swell motors. In 1966, the original terraced console was replaced by a new one with angled stop jambs from Casavant. In 2010, this was replaced by the 1994 console by Smalley noted above.
The original chimes, of slotted Reveille tubes on Casavant's patented action, donated by the Ladies' Guild of the Church, sit high atop the Swell box, silent since their wind line was apparently swiped for the new console. The mallets are in need of recovering. Other more recent chimes hang on the side of Swell box, but they too have not been playable for some years.
This instrument had been undergoing a piecemeal overhaul. Many leaks were stifled, the wind pressures corrected, pouch boards re-leathered, non-original chest magnets replaced, and some reed ranks re-tongued.
Great Organ Swell Organ
----------- -----------
Double Open 16 Bourdon 16
Open Diapason 8 Open Diapason 8
Violin Diapason 8 Clarabella 8
Doppel Flute 8 Stopped Diapason 8
Stopped Diapason 8 Viola di Gamba 8
Salicional 8 Voix Celeste 8
Wald Flute 4 Aeoline 8
Octave 4 Principal 4
Twelfth 2-2/3 Flauto Traverso 4
Fifteenth 2 Piccolo 2
Mixture III Cornet III
Trumpet 8 Bassoon 16
Posaune 8 Cornopean 8
Oboe 8
Vox Humana 8
Tremulant
Choir Organ Solo Organ
----------- ----------
Open Diapason 8 Gross Flute 8
Melodia 8 Gamba 8
Dulciana 8 Harmonic Flute 4
Harmonic Flute 4 Harmonic Piccolo 2
Violina 4 Tuba 8
Flageolet 2 Cor Anglais 8
Clarinet 8 Tremulant
Tremulant (affects facade too!)
Pedal Organ
-----------
Double Open 32
Open Diapason 16
Violone 16
Bourdon 16
Gedackt 16
Octave 8
Bourdon 8
Violoncello 8
Trombone 16
Trumpet 8