News: Brisbane City Hall Pipe Organ Restoration

The main news of 2010 has been the dismantling and storage of the of the 5-manual Brisbane City Hall Willis pipe organ. The City Hall is in need of some much needed restoration and it was decided to remove all of the organ to protect it while the auditorium and organ chamber are being refurbished. It is a monumental task to completely dismantle an organ this size but we were able to achieve this in only six weeks. It is now neatly stored in a Council property at Tingalpa.

Normally, restorations leave the main standframes, casework and even some of the larger pipes in position. In this case all the large woodwork of the frames and the casework had to be carefully marked and dismantled.  This required a large amount of manpower and some heavy lifting.  Even the removal of the 32′ pipes from the showfront required a great deal of planning.  The organ is now carefully laid out in the storage area with all the smaller pipes in labelled crates and the larger pipes standing in racking.  The large 32′ pipes can be carefully laid out on the floor.  Even the bellows have been fitted with small wheels to make them easily movable.  The soundboards and action parts are all stored in air conditioned rooms to keep them in first class condition.