Mount Erica Methodist Church

High Street, Prahran

Built by William Anderson 1880s for an earlier unknown location;
installed here 1905
Organ removed 1964 Hill, Norman & Beard (V601)
and parts used in a new organ for the Koonung Heights Uniting Church, Balwyn
2 manuals, 11 speaking stops, 2 couplers, mechanical action




Mount Erica Methodist Church, Prahran, now St Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church: church (left) and hall
[photograph by John Maidment (23 November 2023)]




Historical and Technical Documentation by John Maidment
© OHTA (last updated November 2023)

The congregation at Mount Erica dated back to 1855. A church building was opened in 1871 and in 1890 a new and larger church building was opened.1



Mount Erica Methodist Church – interior and organ
[photograph possibly taken in 1905 [Uniting Church Archives]

The first pipe organ was installed in 1871 and is now at Wesley College, Clunes, Victoria. The present organ was purchased for £5002 opened on 13 September 1905 by Mansley Greer.3 It was clearly built by William Anderson in the 1880s for an earlier location – the case is identical with the Anderson instrument at the Uniting (Methodist) Church, Daylesford. It appears to have been widened in 1905 through the insertion of two lateral flats containing wooden dummy pipes.4 In 1913 it was moved to a new choir loft and gallery and in 1931 an electric blower was installed.5

In 1964, the organ was dismantled and stored by Hill, Norman & Beard (Australia) Pty Ltd.6 The pipes were later used to build a new two manual electric action organ for the Koonung Heights Uniting Church in Balwyn. The remaining parts were discarded.

The building is now St Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church.

The following specification was recorded in 1964:

GREAT
Open Diapason
Stopped Diapason Bass
Clarabella
Dulciana
Principal
Flute
Fifteenth
Swell to Great
8
8
8
8
4
4
2

CC-BB
TC
TC





  
SWELL (Tenor C)
Horn Diapason
Lieblich Gedact
Gemshorn
Piccolo
Hautboy


8
8
4
2
8
TC
TC
TC
TC
TC

  
PEDAL
Bourdon
Great to Pedal
16


 

Compass: 56 Great / 44 Swell / 30 Pedal
Mechanical key and stop action
Attached drawstop console
Trigger swell lever
Composition pedals
Spotted metal pipework above 4ft7



Mount Erica Methodist Church – detail of organ case
[photograph from author's collection]

1 Centenary Souvenir, Mt Erica Methodist Church, 1955; Prahran Telegraph, 29 March 1890, p.2

2 Centenary Souvenir

3 Prahran Chronicle, 16 September 1905, p.2

4 Author's observation based upon standard Anderson case design – the metal pipework was made for Anderson by George Fincham whose metal shop books record several orders for 19 zinc pipe fronts

5 Centenary Souvenir

6 Hill, Norman & Beard order books order number V601

7 Specification noted by C.M. Davies 1964 for Hill, Norman & Beard and given to author