Baptist Church, Tynte Street, North Adelaide - exterior
[photograph by Trevor Bunning (October 2019)]
Historical and Technical Documentation by John Maidment
© OHTA, 2019 (last updated October 2019)
Baptist Church, Tynte Street, North Adelaide - exterior
[photograph by Trevor Bunning (October 2019)]
Historical and Technical Documentation by John Maidment
© OHTA, 2019 (last updated October 2019)
The church was designed by architect James Cumming,1 the concept deriving from the Metropolitan Tabernacle in South London. It was opened in November 1870.2 The style was claimed to be “Venetian” and the walls were constructed from Willunga slate. The dimensions quoted were 75 x 46 feet, 32½ feet high and seating for 600 people.
The first organ was built by J.W. Wolff and opened on 4 July 1876. It was the 15th organ he had built in South Australia. Constructed at a cost of £350, it was a two-manual organ of 15 speaking stops and the following specification3:
GREAT |
8 8 8 4 4 2-2/3 2 |
||
| SWELL Stop Diapason Viol di Gamba Principal Piccolo Hautboy |
8 8 4 2 8 |
||
| PEDAL Bourdon Viola Posanne |
16 8 16 |
Baptist Church, Tynte Street, North Adelaide –
Fincham & Hobday organ showing original console and pipe decoration
[photograph from the collection of John Henwood]
The present organ was built in Adelaide by Fincham & Hobday and opened on 26 March 1891 by Professor Joshua Ives, organist of the church. It utilised the firm’s recently-developed tubular-pneumatic action and the console was detached 16 feet in front of the organ case, the action working around the baptistery in front of the pulpit, with a total of 8,500 feet of tubing. The bellows were placed in a room behind the organ and operated by hydraulic power. The woodwork of the splendidly carved case was French-polished and the pipes elaborately decorated. It included three manuals, 1,870 speaking pipes with a Great Organ of 10 speaking stops, Swell Organ of 11 speaking stops, Choir Organ of 8 speaking stops, Pedal Organ of 3 speaking stops, 6 couplers and 3 pneumatic pistons to the Great and 3 for the Swell. The instrument incorporated some ranks of Wolff pipework from the previous instrument located elsewhere in the building.4
Under the direction of the church organist and choirmaster Horace Weber, his brother Victor Weber carried out a number of tonal improvements which were completed at the start of 1917. A new large Open Diapason was installed in place of the former Great Gamba; a new Principal was installed in place of the former Great Principal; a new Fifteenth was installed in place of the old Great Fifteenth; a new Clarion 4 was installed in place of the Great Dulciana; the old Great Twelfth was rescaled and revoiced; a new Gamba (small scale) was installed in place of the former Swell Gamba; and a Lieblich Flute 4 was installed in place of the Swell Fifteenth.5
Baptist Church, Tynte Street, North Adelaide – interior showing organ
[photograph by Trevor Bunning (October 2019)]
In 1959 J.E. Dodd & Sons Gunstar Organ Works carried out an extensive rebuild. The action was electrified, a new console supplied, and wide-ranging tonal changes were made. Steve Laurie revoiced the reeds. Further changes took place in 1968 and in 1990 George Stephens added a second Mixture to the Great Organ. It is now one of the largest organs in Adelaide with 53 speaking stops and speaks into a resonant acoustic with a remarkable presence in the building.
| GREAT Double Open Diapason Open Diapason I Open Diapason II Claribel Gedact Dulciana Principal Harmonic Flute Twelfth Fifteenth Mixture 19.22.26 Mixture 29.33 Tromba Swell to Great Sub Swell to Great Swell to Great Super Choir to Great Choir to Great Super |
16 8 8 8 8 8 4 4 2-2/3 2 III II 8 |
A A |
new open bass 1959 ex Swell ex Choir new 1959 new 1990 new 1959 |
| SWELL Bourdon Open Diapason Hohl Flute Gamba Celeste Principal Lieblich Flute Fifteenth Mixture 15.19.22 Orchestral Oboe Vox Humana Double Trumpet Trumpet Clarion Tremulant Sub Octave Unison Off Super Octave |
16 8 8 8 8 4 4 2 III 8 8 16 8 4 |
C D D D |
TC new 1959 remodelled 1959 ex Choir ex Great Clarion with 24 new pipes |
| CHOIR (unenclosed) Flute Gamba Wald Flute Nazard Piccolo Tierce Larigot Clarinet Tremulant |
8 8 4 2-2/3 2 1-3/5 1-1/3 8 |
new 1959 new 1968 new 1968 |
|
| BOMBARDE Contra Tromba B Tromba Octave Tromba Sub Octave Unison Off Super Octave Great to Choir Swell to Choir Sub Octave Swell to Choir |
16 8 4 |
B B B |
|
| PEDAL Open Diapason Open Diapason Bourdon Echo Bourdon Quint Principal Bass Flute Octave Quint Fifteenth Octave Flute Contra Trombone Trombone Double Trumpet Trumpet Clarion Great to Pedal Swell to Pedal Choir to Pedal |
16 16 16 16 10-2/3 8 8 5-1/3 4 4 32 16 16 8 4 |
A E C E A F F A F B B D D D |
wood metal TC |
Great & Pedal pistons coupled
Compass: 61/30
Detached drawstop console
Electro-pneumatic action
WIND PRESSURES
Fluework 3¼ inches – chorus reeds 6 inches
2,456 pipes6
1 South Australian Register, 16 July 1870, p.8
2 Evening Journal, 5 November 1870, p.3
3 Express and Daily Telegraph, 5 July 1876, p.2
4 Advertiser, 26 March 1891, p.6
5 The Mail, 13 January 1917, p.3
6 Specification from The Pipe Organ, North Adelaide Baptist Church (pdf document, July 2019)
Baptist Church, Tynte Street, North Adelaide – organ case after 1959 alterations
[photograph by Trevor Bunning (October 2019)]
Baptist Church, Tynte Street, North Adelaide – case detail showing carved angel
[photograph by Trevor Bunning (October 2019)]
Baptist Church, Tynte Street, North Adelaide - console
[photograph by Trevor Bunning (October 2019)]
Baptist Church, Tynte Street, North Adelaide – left hand stop jamb
[photograph by Trevor Bunning (October 2019)]
Baptist Church, Tynte Street, North Adelaide – right hand stop jamb
[photograph by Trevor Bunning (October 2019)]
Baptist Church, Tynte Street, North Adelaide – interior showing organ
[photograph by Trevor Bunning (October 2019)]