08/03/2026
8 MARCH 2026: In progress is a 2-rank chest with an interesting history. It originally came from the brass chamber of Wurlitzer's Opus 534, the lamented great 4/32 Style 285 from Los Angeles' Metropolitan (Paramount) Theatre, originally installed in 1922. We say 'lamented' because this grand Wurlitzer was known to be buried alive behind a very heavy proscenium arch and barely able to be heard (We also have one of the regulators from that chamber!). On it sat a 15" pressure Double English Horn and a 25" pressure Tuba Mirabilis. Of particular note is the thickness of the timber Wurlitzer used for the bottom boards for this rank which we measured at 1'-1/4", no doubt to accommodate the higher 25" pressure.
When the organ was broken up in the early 1960s, this chest found its way to the Residence of Dr Al Erhardt in the LA Hollywood Hills where it was added to Opus 989 - a 3/11 Style 235 from 1925 according to the Wurlitzer Opus List with an added Brass Trumpet and 4th string (a salicional celeste). The Post Horn chest accommodated a Post Horn (reputedly, though we are unsure, the original one from the LA Paramount which, where ever it came from had been revoiced on 10" according to engravings on CC). A Wurlitzer Quintadena from the Style 260 in Grauman's Egyptian Theatre (Opus 505 - 1925) sat in the Mirabilis holes. An additional 6 note direct electric chest was screwed to the side of this chest to accommodate the remaining 6 notes of the quintadena (which was duly relegated to the rubbish bin).
The Erhardt organ was sold to a private individual who had plans to put it in an eatery but those plans never eventuated. The relays remained in the house as they were deemed too difficult to remove given the steepness of the property (we wonder whether they are still there?). Most of that organ, including the console and the chests eventually came to our care. Currently we are bringing this 2 rank chest back to life where it will eventually play another Wurlitzer Post Horn on 15" pressure and Tuba Mirabilis (also on 15" pressure). We're still working on the bottom board actions. Note the scars of battle which we keep given the objective here is one of functional restoration. But we clean them up as best as we can. After all, she is 104 years old.
