Richmond Congregational Church

Lennox Street, Richmond

First organ, installed 1867; details unknown.
Second organ, built 1870 George Fincham using some older components.
Used as a temporary organ at Melbourne Town Hall 1870-71.
Organ moved into storage at Fincham factory 1945 and later broken up.
2 manuals, 16 speaking stops, 3 couplers, mechanical action.

Richmond Congregational Church - exterior
(photograph by Cox & Luckin from the State Library of Victoria, c.1861-62)



Historical and Technical Documentation by John Maidment
© OHTA, February 2022

The foundation stone of the Richmond Congregational Church was laid on 5 October 1857 by F.J. Sargood. The architects were Robertson & Hale and the building cost around £2,590.¹ It was constructed in bluestone and was sited on the east side of Lennox Street, just north of its intersection with Bridge Road. The building was demolished after 1950.

FIRST ORGAN

The new organ at this place of worship is to be opened on Monday evening next, by Mr David Lee. The choir of the church, assisted by Messrs W. H. Williams, Angus, and Blanchard, will perform selections of sacred music during the evening.²

A concert of sacred music was given at the Richmond Congregational Church last  night, on the occasion of the opening of the new organ which has just been erected. The instrument, which is of English manufacture, is of very good quality; but it was heard last night to some disadvantage, in consequence of the apparatus for the swell not having  been yet brought into use. Mr. David Lee acted as organist…³

SECOND ORGAN

In the way of concerts there is nothing noteworthy, beyond the opening of the new organ for the Richmond Congregational Church, which will be celebrated in the lecture hall adjoining. The organ has been temporarily erected in the lecture hall, and its quality will be displayed to-night by Mr. David Lee, who is to perform a selection of secular and sacred music upon it.⁴

The second organ, built by George Fincham, was opened on Tuesday 22 May 1870. The performers were the choir of the church, assisted by the Misses Pitts and Lambert, Mr. S. Angus, and a gentleman amateur. A large audience collected, and testified by their loud and frequent applause their appreciation of the efforts of the performers. Mr. David Lee presided at the organ, and fairly surpassed himself in some splendid operatic selections, especially those from "William Tell" and "Lucrezia Borgia."⁵

The Fincham organ at the Melbourne Town Hall at an examination of deaf and dumb pupils
(Illustrated Australian News, 9 October 1871, p.181)

The Melbourne City Council hired the organ for the opening of the Melbourne Town Hall on 9 August 1870 and it remained there for more than a year before it was finally placed in the church at Richmond.⁶ The four-manual Hill & Son organ for the Town Hall was not opened until 8 August 1872.

The organ incorporated a flat fronted case. Fincham’s use of towers in his organ cases was not to follow until 1874. A recital programme from 24 May 1870 recorded that the organ was “From the factory of Mr Fincham, though not entirely of local manufacture”.

Part of the organ case shown in a photograph taken of the Richmond Congregational Church choir (from a postcard available online at https://fusspotsatinglewood.com.au/product/old-kodak-postcard-congregational-church-choir-lennox-street-richmond/ )

In January 1945, Geo. Fincham & Sons recorded: “We have to take down, remove and store the organ from the Congregational Church, Lennox St. Remove organ, pulpit, console and hydraulic blower for storage.⁸ This proved to be the demise of the instrument, although some parts may have been used elsewhere.

1 Southern Spectator…1857 (exact citation unavailable)

2 The Age, 27 April 1867, p.5

3 The Argus, 30 April 1867, p.4

4 The Age, 24 May 1870, p.2

5 Weekly Times, 28 May 1870, p.5

6 E.N. Matthews, Colonial Organs and Organbuilders (Carlton: Melbourne University Press, 1969), p.146

7 Specification recorded in recital programme 24 May 1870

8 Geo. Fincham & Sons letters 24 January 1945, 25 January 1945 (State Library of Victoria)