Wanamaker Organ

The Wanamaker Grand Court Organ, in Philadelphia is the largest fully functioning pipe organ in the world. (The Boardwalk Hall Auditorium Organ has more pipes but fewer ranks and at least 80% of the pipes have been unplayable for most of its existence). The Wanamaker Organ is located within a spacious 7-story court at Macy's Center City (formerly Wanamaker's department store) and played at least twice a day Monday through Saturday, and more frequently during the Christmas season. The organ is featured at several special concerts held throughout the year, including events featuring the Friends of the Wanamaker Organ Festival Chorus and Brass Ensemble.

In its present configuration, the Wanamaker Organ has 28,604 pipes in 463 ranks. The organ console consists of six manuals with an array of stops and controls that command the organ. The organ's String Division forms the largest single organ chamber in the world. The instrument features eighty-eight ranks of string pipes built by the W. W. Kimball Company of Chicago. The organ is famed for its orchestra-like sound, coming from pipes that are voiced softer than usual, allowing an unusually rich build-up because of the massing of pipe-tone families. The artistic obligation entailed by the creation of this instrument has always been honored, with two curators employed in its constant and scrupulous care. The organ, with its regular program of concerts and recitals, was maintained by Wanamaker's throughout the chain's history, even as the company's financial fortunes waned. This level of dedication was maintained when corporate parentage shifted from the Wanamaker family to Carter Hawley Hale Stores followed by Woodward & Lothrop, Lord & Taylor, and finally to Macy's.

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