St. Paul's Cathedral: Gallery
Yakima, Washington
2005
Rebuild of J.H. & C.S. Odell Op. 156
III / 21 stops • 23 ranks
St. Paul Catholic Cathedral in Yakima, Washington is the new home of J.H. & C.S. Odell Opus 156. Built in 1877 for St. Mary’s Church of Oakland, California, this II/23 instrument was removed after the 1989 earthquake and subsequently acquired, along with another Odell organ, by Bond Organ Builders, Inc. of Portland, Oregon on the Cathedral’s behalf.
The Odell organ, placed in the rear gallery, complements the 1986 II/26 Bond organ in the apse. Even before its removal from Oakland, the Odell had been converted from its orginal mechanical action to pneumatic pulldowns and had suffered some tonal modifications (including the replacement of the Great mixture with an 8’ Tibia!). Bond has retained the slider chests for the manuals and fitted them with electric pulldowns and electric slider motors. The 16’ Open Wood Diapason of the Pedal stands on its original chests; a new electro-pneumatic chest was constructed for the other two Pedal stops in order to save space. All three Pedal stops have been extended from 27 to 32 notes. Manual compass remains 58 notes.
The organs arrived at Bond’s shop in incomplete form. A number of stops had to be reconstructed or reproduced. Most of the tonal changes have been reversed, although the Swell cornet toeboard remains home to a Voix Celeste. A rebuilt three-manual console (from another source) with new solid-state switching controls both the Odell organ and the Bond organ at the other end of the building.
The St. Mary’s organ originally stood behind a towering gothic case of walnut, the Swell mounted over the Great and itself bearing an expression box over 8 feet tall (with two rows of double swell shades). For St. Paul it has been reconfigured to fit into the corners of the gallery, leaving the central window uncovered and providing space for a choir directed from the console. The display pipes were taken from the other Odell organ and provide the same range of the Great 8’ Diapason as the display pipes of the other case. Happily, the St. Mary’s case has found a home at Portland’s First Congregational Church, installed during a recent renovation and replacing the pipe display discarded when the church purchase a Casavant organ in the early 1950’s.
In the spring of 2009 Bond Organ Builders, Inc. installed a replacement for the original chancel console to play the Gallery as well as Chancel organs. This console, built in 1990 for a church in Maryland, has the requisite three manuals and is of low-profile design. Stop control is via engraved bone pushbuttons with LED indicators. The console’s original combination action, with user-programmable crescendo sequences, was retained, but the project required the replacement of the coupling and switching systems in both organs. Now a single eight-wire data cable runs the length of the cathedral to provide complete control of both organs from either console. Like its predecessor, the new chancel console is mounted on a rolling platform. Concurrently with the console project, a twelve-note electronic extension of the Gallery Pedal Bourdon to 32’ pitch was installed.
Stoplist
Great
8’ Open Diapason
8’ Melodia
8’ Dulciana
4’ Octave
4’ Flute
2-2/3’ Twelfth
2’ Fifteenth
Mixture III
8’ Trumpet
Great 16
Great Unison Off
Great 4
Swell
16’ Bourdon
8’ Open Diapason
8’ Stopped Diapason
8’ Salicional
8’ Voix Celeste
4’ Violina
4’ Flauto Traverso
2’ Flautino
8’ Oboe
Tremolo
Swell 16
Swell Unison Off
Swell 4
Pedal
32’ Bourdon
16’ Open Diapason
16’ Bourdon
8’ Open Flute