The Orpheum Theatre in Vancouver was opened November 8, 1927 as a vaudeville house. At the time was the largest and most opulent theatre on the Pacific Coast. The City of Vancouver purchased the theatre on March 19, 1974 and undertook a complete restoration of the theatre's interior. The Orpheum re-opened on April 2, 1977 as the permanent home of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. Its Wurlitzer is Canada's last theatre organ still performing in its original home. A little bit of investigative work reveals that the Orpheum Wurlitzer is opus #1746, a style 240. It cost $40,000 in November 1927. For those who live in the organ world...Main: Diaphonic Diapason, Horn Diapason, Salicional, Viol d'Orchestra, Viol Celeste, Clarinet, Vox Humana and Concert Flute. Solo: Harmonic Tuba, Brass Trumpet, Orchestral Oboe, Kinura and Tibia Clausa. The console has 103 stop tabs and the blower is 7-1/2 HP rated at 2400 CFM. Seven and a half horse power!


1927 to present day

There was at least one earlier Orpheum Theatre as this shot from 1910 shows

Once again the band hotel is within a block or two from the gig so it was a brief walk around the corner to the show. Once inside, the theatre is quite beautiful although there just wasn't enough light for me to get any shots of the wonderful decor. The Puget sound theatre organ society website contains some wonderful images though.

There was almost no light in the hall today to get any decent shots but here's a couple of quick snaps taken from stage right.

Here's Robert Calvin who is working with Simon, Mike and Ewan on the lights in the US and Canada.

Not quite sure what these strange baffles are but as the Orpheum is currently the home of the Vancouver symphony orchestra, one must assume they are acoustic deflectors of some kind.