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.
- Venue
- Boardwalk Hall Auditorium Organ
- Address
- 2301 Boardwalk
- Town
- New Jersey, US
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. 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. Construction of the organ took place from May 1929 through December 1932, shortly after the hall was built. The organ was designed by state senator Emerson Lewis Richards of Atlantic City and musician and inventor Seibert Losh and was built by the Midmer-Losh Organ Company of Merrick, New York, as its opus 5550. Most of the pipes were handmade by Midmer-Losh. Pennsylvania-based Anton Gottfried made some of the reed pipes, including the Brass Trumpet, Egyptian Horn, Euphone and Musette Mirabilis. The German firm Welte-Mignon provided the Bassoon with papier-mâché resonators and the wooden Tuba d'Amour for the Echo division.