Chapel of the Chimes
4499 Piedmont Avenue
Oakland,
CA
94611 US
Organ ID: 132
Updated through online information from Thomas L. DeLay.
The organ was built in Berkeley by Oliver Lowe who owned the Oliver Organ Company. He had previously been an employee of the American Photoplayer Company and took over their Berkeley plant when American Photoplayer was absorbed in the the Robert Morton Company in Van Nuys.
The organ was installed circa 1930 and used the 7-rank style E Wurlitzer from the State Theatre in Martinez, CA, not the State Theatre in Monterey as shown in this entry. In 1939 the organ was enlarged to the 3-manual console with 14-ranks including a new relay built by Wurlitzer for the organ. The organ is completely unplayable and highly unlikely it will ever be restored.
The original 2m console was in the back of the chapel and the newer 3m console on a rotating platform at the front. Prior to WW II, Richard I. Purvis broadcast this organ in a theatre organ program, but under the name of Don Irving.
From State Theatre, Monterey, CA. 10/89 form.
Console: Photograph by Roger Chaussee. Taken on 2017-02-28
Facade Pipes in Rear Gallery: Photograph by Roger Chaussee. Taken on 2017-02-28
Console: Photograph by Roger Chaussee. Taken on 2017-02-28
Console: Photograph by Roger Chaussee. Taken on 2017-02-28