Pipe Organ Database

a project of the organ historical society

Richard Sugden Williams (& Sons) (1898)

Exhibited in the 2023 OHS convention(s)

Location:

St. Paul's Church [Basilica]
83 Power Street
Toronto, ON M5A 3A8 CA
Organ ID: 1605

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Status and Condition:

  • This instrument's location type is: Roman Catholic Churches
  • The organ has been restored to a previous state.
  • The organ's condition is good, in regular use.
We received the most recent update for this instrument's status from Paul R. Marchesano on August 11, 2023.

Technical Details:

  • Chests: Slider
  • 26 ranks. 1,428 pipes. 3 divisions. 2 manuals. 22 stops. 27 registers.
All:
  • Chest Type(s): Slider chests
We received the most recent update for this division from Database Manager on June 12, 2018.
Main:
  • Manuals: 2
  • Divisions: 3
  • Stops: 22
  • Registers: 27
  • Pedal Compass: 30
  • Key Action: Balanced tracker.
  • Stop Action: Mechanical connection between stop control and chest.
  • Swell Control Type: Balanced swell shoes/pedals.
We received the most recent update for this console from Database Manager on June 12, 2018.
Paul R. Marchesano on August 11, 2023:

In 1898 the R.S. Williams & Sons organ was installed. The organ may have been built before this date for another church and moved to St. Paul’s in 1898. Williams’ retail business operated in Toronto from 1879, when it was renamed R.S. Williams & Son.[Encyclopedia of Music in Canada, 2nd ed., edited by Helmut Kallman and Gilles Potvin (Toronto and Buffalo: University of Toronto Press, 1992), 1002.] The name on the console add “s” (“Sons”), a late form of the name, so it is clear that the organ was built after 1879 and before 1898. No documents have been found relating to the purchase of the organ. The Williams factory was in Oshawa, where the firm built many thousands of pianos—possibly 67,000 instruments—before it succumbed to the Great Depression in 1929. All the other Toronto Williams organs have been rebuilt or removed. -- 2023 OHS Handbook

We received the most recent update for this note from Paul R. Marchesano on August 11, 2023.
Database Manager on May 03, 2013:

Updated through online information from John Speller. -- Organ restored by Gabriel Kney, 1977.

We received the most recent update for this note from Database Manager on April 09, 2020.
Database Manager on October 30, 2004:

Status Note: There 1997

We received the most recent update for this note from Database Manager on April 09, 2020.
Database Manager on October 30, 2004:

Restored Kney 1977. Playable 1997, but not used.

We received the most recent update for this note from Database Manager on April 09, 2020.
Source not recorded: Open In New Tab Stoplist friom website http://www.uquebec.ca/musique/orgues/canada/torontospb.html
We received the most recent update for this stoplist from Paul R. Marchesano on August 11, 2023.

Instrument Images:

Organ in rear gallery: Photograph from an archival source: 2023 OHS Handbook, Len Levasseur, submitted by Paul R. Marchesano. Taken on 2022-06-15