A Brief History of the Organs of First Presbyterian Church

The first organ intended for First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh at 320 Sixth Avenue was destroyed by fire shortly before it was delivered and installed. It was valued at $27,000. As a replacement, the old organ from Point Breeze Presbyterian Church—which was being replaced with a new instrument at the time—was installed at First Presbyterian Church.

The second organ to be heard at First Church was built by the Hutchings-Votey Company of Boston, Massachusetts, and was the third largest church organ in the United States at that time (next only to St. Bartholomew's in New York and Woolsey Hall at Yale University). Its pipes occupied the entire rear wall of the sanctuary and it boasted a set of chimes that occupied its own room in the tower, some 20 square feet. The organ had 4,270 pipes, 4 manuals and included an echo division which sounded both into the sanctuary and the chapel. The screen for the echo division can still be observed over the balcony doorway on the Wood Street side of the sanctuary, near the high pulpit. The Hutchings-Votey organ was rebuilt several times, and eventually it was sold to a church in Barre, Vermont, where half of it was incorporated into a new instrument there.

The current 4-manual, 77-rank organ dedicated on November 13, 1988, was built by Casavant Frères of Quebec, Canada. View Organ Specifications (pdf)