About the organ

The Wurlitzer Unit Orchestra in Casa Loma's Great Hall was originally installed in Shea's Hippodrome on Bay Street in July 1922.

With three keyboards and 15 sets of pipes, along with a piano, xylophone, celesta, tuned sleighbells, and full complement of percussion instruments and sound effects, it was used to accompany silent films and vaudeville, and later to play elaborate intermission solos and broadcast weekly on the radio.

Over the years, it became Canada's best known theatre organ, thanks to the artistry of such entertainment personalities as Horace Lapp, Kay Stokes, and Quentin Maclean.

The Mighty Wurlitzer, as this type of organ came to be generically known, is probably the most unique instrument ever invented to be playable by one person. It can imitate a marching band one minute, and a symphony orchestra the next; it can swing like a dance band, groove like a small jazz combo, and meditate like its churchly older sister. It is, in essence, the analogue great-grandparent of today's synthesizers and digital electronic keyboards.

In 1964, after several years of accompanying hockey games in Maple Leaf Gardens, the Wurlitzer was bought by the newly formed Toronto Theatre Organ Society, and soon found a home in chambers which had housed the original Casa Loma pipe organ. After a number of changes and additions, it was formally introduced to the public in February 1974, and enlarged to four keyboards and 19 sets of pipes.

Several times each year since then, a host of local and international musicians have entertained Toronto audiences with its magnificent sounds.

Organ photos © 2001 by Philip Fung