St. Joseph Parish

History

The organ in Saint Joseph Parish was built by the master organ-builder
Henry Willis and his sons. The Willis firm was founded in 1851, and still
exists today, in the Willis family. It remains a mystery just when and for
where the Saint Joseph’s organ was originally built, but speculation has it at
about 1871, and possibly for an exhibition. It was installed in Christ Church,
West Green (a suburb of London) in 1892, with some modifications to make
it fit the building.

When Christ Church was torn down in 1981, the great Willis organ was
purchased by Saint Joseph’s, through the assistance of the Organ Clearing
House, an international organization dedicated to the preservation of
historic pipe-organs. Dismantled and stacked in two sea-going containers,
the organ arrived in Seattle in November of 1981, and was placed
in storage in the church. The inauguration and dedication of the Willis organ
of the organ was in 1987 and it has been in continuous service ever since.

The organ contains 32 registers, for a total of 1,820 pipes, ranging in size from over sixteen feet down to less than a half-inch. There are three keyboards for the hands, and pedals for the feet. All the actions in the organ are entirely mechanical, with a pneumatic power-assist (the “Barker machine”) for the Great key-action and the manual couplers. All the pipes visible in the façade are true speaking pipes, and are the lowest notes of the Violone 16’ of the Pedal, and the Open Diapason 8’ of the Great. The pipes of the Swell division are enclosed in a wooden box with shutters for volume control; all the rest of the pipes are open to the room, behind the façade pipes and casework.

Specifications of the Organ by Henry Willis and Sons, London, 1871(?). Installed in Christ Church, West Green by Henry Willis and Sons, 1892; rebuilt and installed in Saint Joseph Parish, Seattle, Washington, by Kenneth Coulter, 1987. The organ is currently maintained by Paul Fritts and Company of Tacoma, Washinton.

Great (Manual II)

16 Double Diapason
8 Open Diapason (15 in façade)
8 Claribel Flute
4 Octave
4 Harmonic Flute
3 Twelfth
2 Fifteenth
8 Trumpet

Choir (Manual I)

8 Gamba
8 Lieblich Gedact
8 Dulciana
4 Concert Flute
2 2/3 Nazard (altered 1892?)
2 Piccolo
8 Clarinet

Swell (Manual III)
16 Lieblich Bourdon
8 Open Diapason
8 Lieblich Gedact
8 Salcional
8 Vox Angelica
4 Gemshorn
2 Flageolet
Mixture III
16 Contra Oboe
8 Cornopean
8 Oboe
4 Clarion

Pedal

16 Open Diapason Pedale
16 Violone Pedale (24 in façade)
16 Bourdon Pedale
8 Flute Bass Pedale
16 Ophicleide Pedale

Couplers

Swell to Great Unison
Swell Sub Octave (to Great)
Swell Super Octave (to Great)
Choir to Great
Great to Pedals
Swell to Pedals
Choir to Pedals
Pedal Movements
Great to Pedals Reversible
Swell Combinations: Piano, Mezzo, Forte
Great Combinations: Piano, Mezzo, Forte, Full
Tremulant
Blanced Swell Shoe
Manual compass: C-a’’’, 58 notes
Pedal compass: C-f’, 30 notes
Barker lever to Great key-action
and all manual couplers
Concave-radiating Willis pedalboard
Vallotti Temperament