S. R. Warren & Sons
1881

Jim Stettner on March 9th, 2025:
This entry represents the installation of a new organ. Identified from an organ history .pdf document on the church website, which states, "In October of 1878 the congregation, at that time in the original church building at the northeast corner of Courtney and Gordon Streets, agreed to purchase a pipe organ to replace their harmonium. Prices were to be obtained from companies in New York, Boston, San Francisco and Toronto. In March of 1879 the congregation chose S. R. Warren & Son of Toronto to build their new tracker pipe organ, and funding was raised by September of that year." "There was no transcontinental railway linking Victoria with central North America at that time, and so the instrument had to be shipped to Victoria by sea. The journey from Toronto began by rail, to Montreal. The organ was then loaded aboard the barque “Signet”, which sailed many thousands of miles down the east coasts of North and South America, around Cape Horn, and then back up the west coast of the Americas to Victoria. The “Signet” arrived in Victoria on New Year’s day in 1881. Considering the time of year and the fact that the streets were not paved, the horses that hauled the pipe organ from the docks must have struggled mightily through the mud on their way to the original St. Andrew’s Church building! One of the papers of the day, the Colonist, wrote that “..the handsome and costly new organ for St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church is onboard the barque “Signet” just in from Montreal. The instrument has cost $5000.00 and will be largest and most powerful in the Province…”. Mr. MacGregor, the minister at the time, corrected the the figure in a later issue of the Colonist, pointing out that the cost was only half the amount stated." "Later that month, the Colonist was able to report that “…work on the new organ for the Presbyterian Church is being rapidly pushed ahead. In a few days the organ will be completed sufficiently to show what the appearance of the instrument will be. The front will really make a fine show being about twenty-one feet from side to side. The depth is much less than the one in the Methodist Church. In that church the large pipes are all in the rear, while in the one just arrived they are located on each side. Besides being nearly as wide again as the Methodist instrument, it is much loftier and will altogether present a much finer appearance…”. After the opening concert on 24th February, 1881, the Colonist further wrote that “..the occasion was of a more than usually interesting character being the opening of the recently imported from Canada7 and erected in the sacred edifice… It is a powerful and handsome instrument, its tone is rich and full. It has two manuals and a full compass of pedals that are exceedingly good…”.