BOSTON - FCC/1 : USA - MA

*Location:

   (Sold)

   Original (east) tower
   First Church of Christ, Scientist
     (Christian Science Mother Church)
   Huntington Avenue near Mass. Avenue
   Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Site locator map not applicable.

*Contact:

   (Ask the Webmaster.)

*Remarks:

   Tower tubes by U.S.Tubular Bell Co.;
   added semitones are sharp 4th and flat
   7th in the first octave; played from
   loose-rope chiming rack with short
   sallies on the ropes.  Was removed to
   storage many years ago; while there,
   all of the striker mechanisms rusted
   beyond restoration, and have been
   discarded, but tubes and chiming rack
   remain intact.  Was located where the
   new chime (designated FCC/3) now is.
   July 2008: The 15 tubes have been sold,
   and are en route to Australia;
   disposition of chiming rack unknown.

*Technical data:

   Chime-sized instrument (without any workable playing mechanism) of 15 tubular bells
   Pitch of heaviest bell is A  in the middle octave
   Transposition is nil (concert pitch)
   Keyboard range:     A F#  /    NONE  
   There are two added semitones
   The whole instrument was installed in 1895
     with tubular bells made by USTubular   
   Year of latest technical information source is 2005

*Links:

The Website of the Mother Church sometimes shows a tiny photo which views the building and bell tower from the east. A slightly better photo is on a Boston Activities page.  Both photos show the cupola on the dome (the "west tower") which houses the older chime described on the GCNA Website (FCC/2).

A contemporary newspaper article about this chime seems to suggest that it could have been played either mechanically or electrically, but as far as is known, it had only direct mechanical action from the chiming rack.

Where this work lies in the sequence of output of its maker.

Ranking among all tower tube instruments by size (number of notes).

Index to all tower tube instruments in MA.

*Status:

   This page was built from the database on  8-Jul-08
   based on textual data last updated on 2008/07/05
   and on technical data last updated on 2005/09/08

Explanations of page format and keyboard range are available.

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