A Tune-up for the Singing Tower

A restoration worker uses a small jackhammer to remove rust from the carillon cage.

The pealing of the Grace Cathedral carillon has long been a part of the aural landscape of Nob Hill. Each day passes hour by hour with the sounding of the bells. Worshippers are called to Evensong with a clarion prelude that cascades from “the singing tower.” And every Sunday, the Choral Eucharist is book-ended with melodies from on high.  

Though recently, the carillon has been silent during the day as electrical and structural repairs are underway. Canon Sacrist Kathryn Kirkpatrick explains that the work has been long-needed. “The cage that holds the bells is sound, but heavily rusted. We are working to remove the rust, and then we will begin repairing and reinforcing the structure.” She says that the electrical work was completed first, and completely overhauled the network that was initially installed. “We had what looked like a spaghetti bowl of wiring that needed to be sorted out. Roger Tyler [head of the Cathedral Works department] oversaw the replacement of all the relay boxes that formerly controlled the bells with modern electronics.”

The hammers that sound the bells are triggered by a keyboard that is played from the gallery level of the cathedral. But being a solenoid-operated electric system, the carilloneur has limited expressive control over the large instrument. The bells themselves don’t swing when being played. However, the large Bourdon bell, which is the lowest hanging bell, can be swung and has been played in this way in recent years for special occasions. “It has a very special sound when it swings. It is much more textured in tone when it is swinging than when it is struck while stationary,” says Canon Kirkpatrick. Those who have been on the tower when the six thousand pound bell swings claim you can actually feel the tower move.

The bells were donated to the cathedral by Dr. Nathaniel Coulson. Prior to their arrival at the cathedral, they were first displayed during the Golden Gate Exposition of 1939 on Treasure Island and were hung inside the exposition’s central building, the Tower of the Sun. Not long after the completion of the cathedral’s North Tower and the installation of the carillon, the effects of San Francisco weather began to be seen. Upon inspection by Judge Crothers, the attorney for Dr. Coulson, he reported that the frame was in “incredibly bad condition” due to the tower’s exposure to the “deadly salt air.”

Over the years, the challenge of maintaining the supporting structure of the bells has been as important as updating the mechanism used to make them ring. In 1940, the makers of the bells, Gillett and Johnson Bell Founders, Ltd. of Croydon, England, provided an electro-pneumatic system of their own invention. This was intended to allow for “expression” in playing, and there were also plans for building a pneumatic player mechanism for the bells similar to that of a player piano. But those plans were never realized. An electrical “fixed-stroke” solenoid mechanism was installed in 1958. Overhauling the whole system to a “touch-sensitive” mechanism was explored in recent years, but has been postponed due to the massive undertaking involved in rehanging all the bells and complete replacement of the existing striking mechanism.

In the meantime, with an updated electrical system, and decades of blistered rust being removed by the construction crew, the carillon is being given a new lease on life. Canon Kirkpatrick is eager to wrap up this latest renovation, “We’re all looking forward to the work being completed, and hearing the bells ring again.”

Canon Kirkpatrick inspects the rusting beams.

The striking mechanism of the Bourdon bell.