PHILADELPHIA - CC : USA - PA

*Location:

   Christ Church (Episcopal)
   North 2nd Street (American Street) at
     Church Street
   Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
   LL: N 39.95070, W 75.14402

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*Player:

   (unknown)

   1978-99 Douglas Gefvert   (C)

*Contact:

   Christ Church
   20 North American Street
   Philadelphia, PA  19106-4592
   T: (215)922-1695   F: (215)922-3578

*Schedule:

   (unknown)

*Remarks:

   The second ring in North America, and
   site of the first peal rung outside
   of the United Kingdom (1850).
   Tenor recast in 1835.
   Now unringable--floor removed c.1939
   to make way for organ pipes.
   Two bells added as memorials of WW II,
   prior to 1953 when they were recast
   along with #5 of the original set;
   last bell added by 1958.
   Added bells are sharp 4th, flat 7th,
   and treble (9th).  Also a service bell,
   cast in 1695, swung electrically.

*Technical data:

   Traditional chime (baton keyboard) of 11 bells
   Pitch of heaviest bell is F  in the middle octave
   Transposition is unknown
   Keyboard range:     ----  /    NONE  
   There are two added semitones
   The instrument was enlarged in 195?
     with  1 bells made by Paccard     
   Prior history:
     In 1953,  3 bells were recast or replaced
       with bells made by an unknown maker
       (3 bells were added in and/or remain from that work.)
     In 19??, the instrument was enlarged to 10 bells
       by an unknown maker
       (0 bells remain from that work.)
     In 1835,  1 bells were recast or replaced
       with bells made by Whitechapel 
       (1 bells were added in and/or remain from that work.)
     In 1754, the instrument was begun with  8 bells
       by Whitechapel 
       (6 bells remain from that work.)
   Year of latest technical information source is 1994

Additional information on the technical history of this instrument can be found in a database printout.

*Links:

The church Website has a painting of the building on the home page.

The Philly Ringers have an illustrated page about these historic bells.

Where the initial phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of the Whitechapel bellfoundry, in this region and in the world.
Where the second phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of the Whitechapel bellfoundry, in this region and in the world.
Where the third phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of unknown bellfoundries, in this region and in the world.
Where the fourth phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of unknown bellfoundries, in this region and in the world.
Where the final phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of the Paccard bellfoundry, in this region and in the world.

Index to North American baton-keyboard chimes.

Ranking among all North American chimes by size (number of bells).
Ranking among all North American chimes by weight (pitch).
Ranking among all North American chimes by year of completion.
Ranking among all North American rings by year of completion.

Index to all tower bell instruments in PA.

*Status:

   This page was built from the database on 23-Jul-09
   based on textual data last updated on 2009/07/19
   and on technical data last updated on 2009/07/19

Explanations of page format and keyboard range are available.

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