Wanamaker Organ – The World’s Largest Pipe Organ

Weighing in at 287 tons, the organ chamber is 67 feet long, 26 feet deep and 16 feet high. The Wanamaker Organ, the world’s largest pipe organ, boasts 28,482 pipes with the largest string section of any organ built. The maestro of this musical beast is surrounded by 6 keyboards, an array of foot pedals, and 729 color-coded-tabs for selecting which rank of pipes to be played - each rank sounding slightly different.

The complex control panel reminds me of the unmanageable and unknowable pin board of dials and switches found in the cockpits of helicopters and learjets.

Today, the Friends of the Wanamaker Organ maintain and repair the organ with assistance from its new owners, Macy’s. Twice a day, the Organ plays for all who sit in the courtyard and, during the holidays, there are concerts for those interested.

About John Wanamaker

On July 11, 1838, in the city of Philadelphia – population approximately 90,000 – a baby was born to the Wanamaker family and he would leave a legacy of changing retail innovation and music behind when he died in 1922. He was a religious leader and a conscientious civic leader. He believed in the policy of helping your neighbors and the importance of contributing to the community in every way you were able. It was based on this moral obligation that John Wanamaker eventually built the world’s largest pipe organ. He became a local political leader for what we would call the conservative side of the aisle.

In 1861, John Wanamaker opened his first store next door to George Washington’s Presidential house. The store was a small mercantile on Sixth and Market in the area now called South Philly. Naming it Oak Hall, he began his entry in marketing. In order to compete with stores that had been in operation longer, Wanamaker attempted a strategy never considered by anyone before – a policy of “One Price and goods returnable”.

In spite of opening his first store with the Civil War looming, he was so successful that by 1875 Wanamaker purchased an old railroad depot that was on the outskirts of what was considered Philadelphia’s core.

The original store was too small for the growing merchant and it was torn down, redesigned as a 12-story department store with a 7-story courtyard in the center, and completed in 1910. It is in this marble courtyard where Mr. Wanamaker installed his prized Wanamaker Organ. During his lifetime, he expanded the organ and always had free concerts in the courtyard for any who wished to attend.

The store and the company were renamed in 1875 and known thereafter as John Wanamaker & Co “The Grand Depot”. His new store was considered the first “Department Store” in Philadelphia and is located at 13th and Market in what is now Center City.

Crazy Restoration Time-Lapse

The Concert That Was Never Performed

In 1919 according to an article in the Philadelphia newspaper, The North American, the first concert performed on the Wanamaker Organ, the largest pipe organ in the world, was led by Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra. The Philadelphia Orchestra never played that date. The video below is the musical score that was supposed to be heard. On the Wanamaker Organ is the current chief organist, Peter Conte.

Sources:

• John Wanamaker on Wikipedia
• Philadelphia Population History