St. Paul's Cathedral purchased its first pipe organ in 1825. This organ, a one-manual Hall, cost $430. In 1829 the organ was expanded to a two-manual Henry Erben instrument. The Cathedral made a big step up in 1863 when they purchased a $7,500, three-manual, forty-rank E. & G.G. Hook & Hastings.
With the monumental natural gas fire on Ascension Day 1888, the Cathedral was faced with a giant rebuilding project, which extended to its organ. In 1908, the Cathedral made a diverse tonal choice by purchasing a twenty-one rank Robert Hope-Jones instrument (including quintadena celeste, 32’ tibia profundissima, and harmonic gongs).This organ included a gallery and chancel division, both of which could be played from a console in the nave.After the Rudolph Wurlitzer Manufacturing Company succeeded Hope-Jones, a second console was installed in the chancel.
The foundations of the current Cathedral organ began with the 1952 chancel organ installed by the Schlicker Organ Company.This instrument was made possible by a gift in memory of Frank C. Baird, who was once a vestry member at St. Paul’s.Herman Schlicker designed two new consoles in the 1970s; a chancel console that played both chancel and gallery stops, and a gallery console that controlled only the gallery stops.Herman Schlicker died in 1974, so he did not live to see the new consoles installed in 1975.
The Schlicker Company rebuilt the chancel organ again in 1988, creating the chancel instrument we hear today.The current gallery and chancel consoles were installed in 2004.The present instrument retains some of the original Hope-Jones pipework in the gallery case.The gallery Schlicker work features a neo-Baroque sound.In contrast, the Schlicker pipes in the chancel (1988) reflect a late stage in the company’s work; they cover a broad and bold range of sound.It is surprising that so many elements from the organ’s past are retained in the current instrument; it provides an unusual glimpse of the many tonal and structural changes a Cathedral organ might undergo.
