Spreckels Organ Pavilion, San Diego, California

Spreckels Organ Pavilion, San Diego, California

Spreckels Organ Pavilion is home of the world's largest outdoor pipe organ.

Spreckels Organ Pavilion was constructed for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition in Balboa Park. It is located at the corner of President's Way and Pan American Road East in the park.

Organ

The Organ was built by Austin Organs, Inc. as their Opus #453. It has 73 ranks totaling 4518 pipes and faces north to protect the Organ from sun and rain. Unfortunately, that means the audience is often facing the sun or rain during concerts.

Concerts

Free organ concerts are given each Sunday at 2 p.m., sponsored by the San Diego Park and Recreation Department and Spreckels Organ Society. In summer, concerts are also held Monday evenings (International Organ Festival), and the Park Concert series on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Dr. Carol Williams is the Civic Organist since 2001, the only woman civic organist in the United States.

Around Christmas the Community Christmas Center Committee places a Nativity display at the pavalion, and also allows secular and non-Christian religious symbols to be placed nearby.

History

John D. Spreckels, son of sugar magnate Claus Spreckels decided to move to Coronado, California after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. He became one of the wealthiest and powerful men in San Diego County.

Spreckels followed the philosophy of the Good Steward in the New Testament, as did his siblings and father. Spreckels' gifts to San Diego and Coronado were many. Spreckels also wanted the Panama-California Exposition to succeed and show San Diego to the world in a good light. He contributed and promoted the Exposition.He gave the organ pavilion as a gift to "the people of San Diego" and "the people of all the world". Spreckels also donated the services of organ tuner Dr. Humphrey J. Stewart for the two-year run of the Exposition. After the Exposition Spreckels extended Dr. Stewart's contract.

Spreckels chose Harrison Albright to design the Organ Pavilion. Albright was a self-taught Los Angeles architect, who previously designed the U. S. Grant Hotel in downtown San Diego. The semi-circular pavilion was built in an ornate Italian-Renaissance design.Spreckels donated $33,500 for the Organ and $66,500 for the Pavilion.The organ was dedicated December 31, 1914.When Spreckels died in 1923, the pavilion was used for a memorial service.

During the 1935 California Pacific International Exposition the stage size was doubled and a fountain added. The fountain can be lit at night and is modeled after one in Chapultepec Park in Mexico City.

In 1981 the pavilion was restored and in 2002 the organ was expanded from 3400 to 4518 pipes.

Spreckels also donated $100,000 for the Spreckels Organ at California Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco, as a tribute to his brother Adolph, who was dying from syphilis. Adolph died before it was completed.

ee also

* Spreckels Organ, San Francisco, California

External links

* [http://www.serve.com/sosorgan Spreckels Organ Society] Contains concert schedule information
* [http://www.sandiegohistory.org/bpbuildings/organ.htm "The Spreckels Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park"] by Richard Amero (San Diego Historical Society)
* [http://www.sandiego.gov/park-and-recreation/parks/balboa/spreckelsorgan.shtml "Spreckels Organ Pavilion"] (San Diego Park and Recreation Department)


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Spreckels Organ — The Spreckels Organ was designed by Ernest M. Skinner and is on display in San Francisco, California, USA at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, a three quarter scale replica of Paris s Legion d Honneur [ [http://www.legiondhonneur.fr… …   Wikipedia

  • Balboa Park, San Diego, California — Infobox nrhp | name =Balboa Park nrhp type = nhld caption = La Laguna de Las Flores in 1915 nearest city= San Diego, California locmapin = California area = built =1915 architect= Multiple architecture= Mission/spanish Revival, Other designated=… …   Wikipedia

  • Spreckels — can refer to several things: *Spreckels, California, USA, originally a company town of the Spreckels Sugar Company *Spreckels Sugar Company, founded by Claus Spreckels *Claus Spreckels, founder of the Spreckels Sugar Company, at one time… …   Wikipedia

  • San Diego Children's Choir — The San Diego Children s Choir is a choral organization consisting of 300 boys and girls from the San Diego, California area who are of ages six to eighteen and from a variety of racial, ethnic, religious, and economic backgrounds. It was founded …   Wikipedia

  • Culture of San Diego — The culture of San Diego, California, is influenced heavily by American and Mexican cultures due to its position as a border town, its large Hispanic population, and its history as part of Spanish America and Mexico. Contents 1 Tourism 2 Arts 3 …   Wikipedia

  • John D. Spreckels — Infobox Person name=John Diedrich Spreckels caption= birth date=birth date|1853|8|16|mf=y birth place=Charleston, South Carolina dead=dead death date=death date and age|1926|6|7|1853|8|16|mf=y death place=San Diego, CaliforniaJohn Diedrich… …   Wikipedia

  • Adolph B. Spreckels — Adolph Bernard Spreckels (January 5 1857 – June 28 1924) was a California businessman who ran Spreckels Sugar Company and who donated the California Palace of the Legion of Honor art museum to the city of San Francisco in 1924. His wife Alma was… …   Wikipedia

  • Claus Spreckels — (* 9. Juli 1828 in Lamstedt im Landkreis Cuxhaven, Niedersachsen; † 26. Dezember 1908 in San Francisco) war ein führender US Amerikanischer Zuckerfabrikant („Sugar King“ von Hawaii und Kalifornien) deutscher Abstammung, der in Hawaii …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Panama-California Exposition (1915) — The Panama California Exposition was an exposition held in San Diego, California between March 9, 1915 and January 1, 1917. The exposition celebrated the opening of the Panama Canal, and was meant to tout San Diego as the first US port of call… …   Wikipedia

  • Harrison Albright — (May 17, 1866 January 3, 1933) was an American architect best known for his innovative design of the West Baden Springs Hotel which boasted the largest free spanning dome in the world at the time of its construction.Born in the Ogontz… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”