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Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
Los Angeles, California

Opus 75

ConstructionInstallation • Façade • Main

Façade Photos

The organ grillework before the installation of the façade pipes. Some of the grillework at the top of the organ has been removed to permit the use of a special hoisting crane.


The façade pipes were packed in 40' shipping containers. Forklifts were required to remove the pipes from the containers and bring them into the Cathedral.


Once removed from the container, the pipe is placed in a special wagon and rolled into the Cathedral.


The first pipe to be installed is 32' B.


Cardinal Mahony poses next to Bernd Curdt of Carl Giesecke & Sohn, the German pipemaker.


Each pipe is hoisted by a single line that is looped around the pipe. The pipe is protected by special blankets.


Once secured, the pipe is hoisted into place.


Each pipe has several special brackets that connect it to a steel structure, so that it is held in the proper position even during an earthquake.


So that they don't bend, the larger pipes (this is 32' C#) are strapped to the wagon while being pulled into a vertical position. The wagon is then removed, and the pipe hoisted.


32' C# is hoisted into place. The remaining façade grillework is in the foreground.


Low C was too long to fit in the shipping container in one piece, so its two halves were soldered together in the Cathedral. The seam was then planed down and polished so that it cannot be seen.


Gerrid Otto and Antal Kozma of Dobson position 32' C as it is lowered into place. This pipe is 17-1/2" in diameter and weighs 1,300 pounds. Its foot alone is 7' tall.


The façade pipes are seen through the hanging light fixtures and scaffolding. The pipes are wrapped in plastic for protection during the installation.


The finished façade, complete with full-length 16', 8' and 4' horizontal trumpets. They, like the façade pipes, are made of 83% tin.

ConstructionInstallation • Façade • Main

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Dobson Pipe Organ Builders, Ltd.
200 North Illinois Street • Post Office Box 25
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