Some homes have
one inspirational idea. Wurlitzer Manor has three.
The first
is a musical home designed to house a theater organ
to provide acoustic
precision to one of the finest theatre organs built
for the silent movie era the Wurltizer Brooklyn
Fox Special. The Wurlitzer Theatre Organ is one of 5
custom built by the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company for the
Fox movie theaters located in cities in the United States
in the 1920s. This theatre organs first
home was the Brooklyn Fox Theatre in Brooklyn, New York.
The theatre organs
playing history was short lived because theatre organs,
designed to play music for movies in the silent movie
era, were no longer in style when talking pictures became
the rage. Theatre organs lost their usefulness to movie
theatre and it languished at the Brooklyn Fox Theatre
until it was sold and began its new life to play again
to children and adults at the Cardinal Music Palace
Pizza Company in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Its playing life became
renewed again in the mid 1980s when the theatre
organ was purchased from the Cardinal Music Palace and
the theatre organ consolerefurbished and electronicallyinstalled
to continue the theatre organ musical experience at
Wurlitzer Manor.
It has been a lucky theatre
organ because it survives and continues to play music
to the enjoyment to all who have listened from the ensemble
of pipes playing classical music composed by Bach to
contemporary music of Billy Joel, George Gershwin, or
Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Standing or sitting in
the Wurlitzer Room will make you feel as if you are
in a musical instrument. The Wurltizer theatre organ
is a Four Manual theater organ console with Three chambers
holding over 3000 pipes.
This is one of the finest
installations of its kind in the United States. The
design and installation of this musical wonder was accomplished
by Ed and Patti Zollman of the Zollman Pipe Organ Company.
Ed and Patti continue to visit to perform repairs, maintenance,
and tuning.
The Wurlitzer Room is
large to provide the acoustic sound quality for an instrument
that has a broad musical range. The room offers opportunities
for live music, be it Blues (our personal favorite),
piano, vocal, or other musical ensembles.
The third inspiration
is the software system that records the music just as
the organists who played it on the theatre organ console.
The 13-acre property has
three homes and a manor suite. The Manor Suite, Soundview
and Garden vacation homes overlook the Tacoma Narrows
of Puget Sound. This waterway is not only majestic but
allows us to appreciate the importance of the Puget
Sound water way to pleasure boats and for commercial
water traffic. Each day, tugboats tow barrages provide
some of the resources for the economy of Washington
State. You will view and hear trains hauling cargo and
passengers moving along the tracks across the Tacoma
Narrows. And then there is the Tacoma Narrows Bridge
that maybe viewed with enjoyment from the patio decks.
The home, completed in
1987, is already a historic musical residence. In the
18 years since its completion, Wurlitzer Manor has hosted
numerous Puget Sound Theatre Organ concerts hosting
theater organists played by talented theatre organists
such as Tony Fenelon, Jonas Nordwall, Dave Wickerham,
and Chris Powell.
Barbara and Raymond have
extended the music repertoire of Wurlitzer Manor to
include blues musicians featuring Dr. John, Shemekia
Copeland, Lizzie West, Stickshift Annie, Curtis Selgado,
Lady A and the Blues Funk Band, Honey Boy Edwards, Louisiana
Red, Mitch Woods, and Jon Cleary.
Experience
The Magic On The Sound
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