Johnston Organ & Piano Manufacturing Co.
1915

Hotel Fresno

Dining room/lobby

Fresno, CA, US

16 Ranks
Instrument ID: 36930 ● Builder ID: 3211 ● Location ID: 32557
⬆️ These are database IDs that may change. Don't use as academic reference.

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IMAGES

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STOPLISTS

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CONSOLES

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Builder: Unknown
Position: Keydesk Attached
Design: Traditional With Roll Top
Pedalboard Type: Concave Radiating (Not Meeting AGO Standards)
Features:
2 Manuals (61 Notes)32 Note PedalTubular Pneumatic (Pressure) Key ActionTubular Pneumatic (Unknown) Stop Action

Stop Layout: Drawknobs in Vertical Rows on Angled Jambs
Expression Type: Trigger/Hitch-Down Expression
Combination Action: Fixed Mechanical
Control System: Unknown or N/A

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DETAILS

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This instrument is: Not Extant and Not Playable in this location

Jim Stettner on December 23rd, 2025:

Updated through online information from Charles Eberline [December 15, 2025]: Johnston is attested as the builder in The Diapason, December 1915, 7: The Johnston Organ Company has completed the installation of an organ in the court of the Hotel Fresno at Fresno, Cal., and P. Gordon Bretland gave an informal recital on it Oct. 27. The organ has sixteen speaking stops and was built for the California building at the Panama-Pacific Exposition, but was not finished in time and was purchased by the hotel owner. The Diapason also confirms the 1915 date. Junchen notes "Johnston nameplate" in his listing of the organ in his Robert-Morton chapter.


Database Manager on March 23rd, 2016:

Information from Encyclopedia of the American Theatre Organ, Vol. II by David L. Junchen (Pasadena: Showcase Publications, 1989). Had Johnston nameplate.


Database Manager on October 24th, 2008:

Identified through on-line information from Thomas L. DeLay. -- Organ was removed in 1923 and replaced with a 2m 5r Wurlitzer. The Johnston organ was reinstalled in the Californian Hotel on Van Ness Ave. Later removed and sent to a church in Selma, CA. Presumed to be junked.

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