OAKLAND - M : USA - CA

*Location:

   El Campanil
   Mills College
   near The Oval (Wetmore Road)
   MacArthur Boulevard
   Oakland, California, USA
   LL: N 37.77872, W 122.18242
Site locator map or [ MapQuest map ]
Also see our own Map Use Hints.

*Former Location (May-Oct.1893): 

   World's Columbian Exposition
   Chicago, Illinois, USA
*Former Location (Jan.-Jul.1894): 
   California Midwinter International
    Exposition
   Golden Gate Park
   San Francisco, California, USA
*Contact:
   Mills College
   5000 MacArthur Boulevard
   Oakland, CA  94613-1301
   T: (510)430-2255   F: (510)430-3314

*Schedule:

   Cambridge (Westminster) quarters.

*Remarks:

   Bells purchased for the College in
   1902, but not installed until 1904.
   Added semitone is flat 7th.  Original
   chimestand was removed 10 to 15 years
   after installation, and perhaps sent
   to Berkeley.

*Technical data: 

   Chime-sized instrument or collection of 10 bells
   Pitch of heaviest bell is E  in the middle octave
   Transposition is unknown
   Keyboard range:     ----  /    ----  
   There is one added semitone
   The whole instrument was installed in 1904
     with bells made by Vanduzen in 1893
   Year of latest technical information source is 1994

*Links:

The college Website includes a tour page with photo and description of the tower.

A page about the architect's work on this tower has five clickable photos.  A page about the architect tells more about the bells and puts this tower in the context of some of her other work, which includes Hearst Castle.

An old photo gives the clearest depiction of how the bells are arranged in the tower. (Two of them are hidden by the clock face in this view.)

Where this work lies in the sequence of output of the Vanduzen bellfoundry.

Ranking among all North American chimes by size (number of bells).

Why this chime was a milestone in North American chime history (1893).

Index to all tower bell instruments in CA.

*Status: 

   This page was built from the database on 12-Feb-08
   based on textual data last updated on 2008/01/09
   and on technical data last updated on 2008/01/09

Explanations of page format and keyboard range are available.

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