Boardwalk Hall Auditorium Organ
Console with 7 manuals and 1,235 stoptabs | |
| Keyboard instrument | |
|---|---|
| Classification | Aerophone: Pipe organ |
| Developed | 1929–1932, in Atlantic City, New Jersey |
| Volume | high |
| Playing range | |
| 12 octaves: CCCCC to c8 (64' to 0.2" pipes) | |
| Related instruments | |
| List of pipe organs | |
| Builders | |
| Midmer-Losh Organ Company | |
The Boardwalk Hall Auditorium Organ, also known as the Midmer-Losh and the Poseidon, is the pipe organ in the Main Auditorium of the landmark Boardwalk Hall (formerly known as Convention Hall) in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The musically versatile instrument was built by the Midmer-Losh Organ Company during 1929–1932. It is the largest organ in the world, as measured by the number of pipes – officially 33,112, but the exact number is uncertain.: 9 After decades of accumulated damage from water, building renovations, neglect, and insufficient funding, beginning in the 1990s a $100 million restoration program is gradually returning the organ to full operability.
The Main Auditorium was built as the world's largest unobstructed indoor space, a barrel vault measuring 456×310×137 feet (139×94×42 m) and enclosing 5,500,000 cubic feet (160,000 m3) of air. The Auditorium Organ runs on much higher wind pressures than most organs, to be loud enough to fill the enormous space acoustically without amplification.
The organ was awarded four entries in Guinness World Records, including the largest and loudest musical instrument ever constructed. It is one of only two organs in the world to have an open 64-foot pipe rank, and the only organ to have pipes voiced on 100 inches of wind pressure (3.6 psi or 0.25 atm) and a console featuring 7 manuals and 1,235 stoptabs.