Pipe Organ Database

"This unusually fine organ stands in a remarkable frame building with a mansard roof. The instrument is chambered at the right of the pulpit platform and has an oak case front supporting five groups of multi-colored display pipes with oak posts between the flats. The organ may have been in the building originally or moved in by Ryder following the rebuilding. The action, case, and some of the pipes are by Ryder, but the manual chests and pipework are old and of very good quality. Many of the pipes are marked "Reading," which could mean that the organ was built for a Reading church, or the pipes came from Pierce of Reading, or the marks were made in 1891 while Ryder's shop was in Reading. The attached console is typical of Ryder and has beautifully engraved oblique stop knobs. The Swell is behind the Great, and the pre-1891 swell box has vertical shades. The Pedal pipes are at the rear; the Great has two horizontal rollerboards. The Gamba is a Keraulophon, and the Dulciana shares the bass octave; the open wood Hohl Flute has a stopped bass; the metal Rohr Flute has 21 open metal trebles; the Trumpet has 7 flue trebles. The Swell Open Diapason utilizes the Std. Diapason Bass when the O.D. is drawn; the Std. Diapason is all of stopped wood; the Viola is a bell gamba except for the top octave; the Flute Harmonique is of metal and wide-scaled -- the lowest 15 are not harmonic; the Vox Humana is a Ryder stop high in tin content, and replaced a reed or a mixture. The organ is tonally quite pleasing, but not in good condition." (Boston Organ Club Newsletter, July 1966)

Identified through information in Descriptive Catalogue of Superior Church Organs Manufactured by Geo. H. Ryder & Co., published in Boston, January, 1896. Dates are not included in the publication; the one given here is conjectural.