December 2, 2012

689 Courtenay Street

St. Andrew's Presbyterian
Victoria, B.C. Canada

St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church is located in downtown Victoria B.C. at the corner of Douglas and Broughton Streets, not far from the Inner Harbour. It is the oldest continuing Presbyterian Church (1889) and congregation (1866) in Victoria. "The architect was Leonard Buttress Trimen. The architecture is said to be of Castellated Scottish Baronial style. With its stepped gables, massive tower and sturdy doors (See photo below.) it is easy to agree with the castellated designation ." (See Link 2.) 

Front doors

 "The first organ installed for the Congregation of St. Andrew’s dates back to 1879, and that organ was installed by the S. R. Warren and Son organ builders from Toronto, Ontario. That organ had to be shipped to Victoria by sea around the Cape Horn and was reported to be the finest and largest in the Province at that time. From its earliest home to the present, the organ has undergone a number of revisions, rebuilds and upgrades. Those revisions and upgrades saw the transformation of the original organ, wind powered by a water-engine and with a disposition of 21 stops to its current version of 72 speaking stops of which 37 are pipes and the remainder digital, all available through a beautiful Rogers Organ console installed in 2001.

"The organ contains 2190 pipes, and the latest rank installed was the Trumpet 8′ built by Casavant Organ builders in Quebec, Canada. The pipe work still uses 3 ranks from the original Warren organ and was built by the Walker organ company in 1872.

                  Altar and pipe organ

"St Andrew’s was fortunate to be able to obtain a number of ranks of pipes from Christ Church Cathedral as the Cathedral replaced their organ with a new tracker instrument. Those ranks were from the English organ builder Hill Norman and Baird and added greatly to the current ensemble.

"The organ is cared for and maintained by Grant Smalley. The current organist and music director at St. Andrew’s is Douglas Hodgkinson." (See Link 1.)

St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church sits at 680 Courtenay Street in the heart of downtown Victoria, B.C.  It is an easy walk from the B.C. Parliament Buildings, The Empress Hotel, and the B.C. Provincial Museum.

Photo: Top photo of church and of church doors taken in 2004 by SW. 

              Photo of altar and pipe organ from Link 1.

Link 1: http://standrewsvictoria.ca/
Link 2: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zedzap/4291592520/