Thomas Appleton (ca. 1845)

Church of our Lord

Victoria, BC

This organ was altered extensively by S.S. Hamill of East Cambridge MA. in 1867, and came to Church of Our Lord in December 1875, probably from Church of the Advent, San Francisco CA.  It was installed by John Bergstrom of San Francisco

1. •Structural reinforcement
   

2. •Restored tracker action
   

3. •Trackerized pedal action
   

4. •Supplied replacement for missing Trumpet on the Great
   

5. •Repaired battered and crumpled pipes, replaced tuning sleeves
   

6. •New pedal roller board to allow the hitchdown pedal to replaced by a balanced Swell pedal

End

Casavant Frères opus 293 (1907)

St. Andrew's Roman Catholic Cathedral, Victoria BC

Located in the second balcony next to lath and plaster vaulting, this instrument was split down the middle in the 1940's to reveal the rose window.

1. •Replaced access by removal of facade pipes with access through hinged side panels
   

2. •Re-designed and rebuilt the facade
   

3. •New console with multi-level combination action
   

4. •Releathered the 5' x 13' double-rise reservoir (whew!)

This is one of those organs which keeps evolving through the decades, a pet project for the last thirty years of Senior Master Graham Anderson. It began as a Laukhuff organ in 1929, donated by the sister of the founding Head Master, of which three ranks remain.

Various builders beginning in 1929

Shawnigan Lake School Chapel

Several years ago, the school chapel was expanded to provide a generous entryway, an enlarged gallery and a clock tower. The school had us take down the organ before the construction, and then reconstitute it at the back of the expanded gallery.

A new facade was constructed incorporating the Open Diapason 8' and a new Open Wood 16', built in our shop. The Positiv division was re-worked into a Swell division using a swell box, 10-rank wind chest, and a few ranks of pipes, from a decommissioned organ.

Harrison & Harrison (1927)

Christ Church Cathedral Victoria, BC

This organ had been erected atop a temporary (1927) vestry to the south of the altar.

1. •Before demolition of the vestry, disassembled and stored the organ.
   

2. •After demolition, rebuilt the organ on the site vacated.
   

Major work included restoration of the mechanical key action and pneumatic pedal action, and alterations to the casework. The panel over the console was changed to improve headroom, and the case was extended vertically to hide the top of the Swell box.

Casavant Frères opus 1103 (1925)

St. Luke's Anglican Church, Saanich BC

1. •March 1999, we releathered the action of the six-rank Great division.
   

2. •September 1999, we releathered the action of the seven-rank Swell division.
   

3. •January 2000, we releathered one of the swell engines and the primary valve units of the Bourdon and Open Wood chests.
   

Casavant Frères opus 516 (1913)

St. Ann's Academy,

Victoria BC

The chapel of this former convent and residential school is being restored to its 1920's splendor. Our part in this is to overhaul the chapel organ over several years.

Albert Pease (ca.1880)

St. Saviour’s Anglican Church

Victoria, BC

This instrument was purchased from Emsworth Parish Church, Hampshire in 1910 to replace an Estey reed organ which had been in service since 1891.

1. •Rebuilt manual chests
   

2. •Cleaned and repaired action

Casavant Frères opus 403 (1910)

Centennial United Church

Victoria, BC

This organ began life with a detached terraced tubular-pneumatic console. A subsequent console was replaced with an Aeolian-Skinner console (ca. 1950) by others in the mid-1980's.

1. •Added a third manual to the Aeolian-Skinner console
   

2. •New additions on Great in 1960’s and 1970’s by Hugo Spilker
   

3. •Added a four-rank Positiv division, with provision for three further ranks
   

4. •New Trumpet 8’ added to Swell
   

5. •Extended casework to side walls and added 34 decorated pipes to screen the new division

T. Eaton organ (1952)

St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church,

Victoria BC

St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church has undertaken a continuing restoration project for its organ. The first year, we provided proper ladders and work lights, and repaired and reracked a poorly supported Posaune which had been added. In the fall of 1997, we releathered the ten ranks worth of pouchboards of the Great division. Some decades ago, the Choir Clarinet 8' became the Swell Clarinet 16' without a bottom octave. In June 1998, we filled this gap with a dozen new bass pipes. We have since releathered the pouchboards of the Choir division. In 1999, we replaced the swell box front, increasing the shutter area by 70%.

St. Michael and All Angels Church, Saanich BC

Reconstructed Swell Division (1998)

1. •Relocated blower and reservoir to attic behind organ
   

2. •New electric windchest and casework for Great pipes
   

3. •New electric wind chest for existing Salicional and Gedeckt ranks and new Gemshorn, Tierce and Oboe ranks
   

4. •New swell motor for existing shutters
   

5. •New 2 manual and pedal oak console (Smalley) and Peterson switching system
   

May 1998, we completed: removal of stray construction debris and forty-odd years accumulation of dust and detritus; replacement of the flexible joints of the wooden wind trunks, which had perished; repair of a few pipes; inspection of all pouch boards; construction of a replica bench to replace the original which was misplaced during building renovations.

Courtesy: Provincial Capital Commission