Laurance Hearne Armour Memorial Carillon

*Location:

   Chapel
   Northwestern University
   Sheridan Road at Haven Street
   Evanston, Illinois, USA
   LL: N 42.05708, W 87.67785

   Chapel of St.John the Divine
   Seabury-Western Theological Seminary
     (Episcopal)

   Grace P.E. Church
   Wabash Avenue, btwn 14th & 15th Sts.
   Chicago, Illinois, USA

Site locator map

*Carillonist:

   (unknown)

   198? Douglas E. Petersen   (d.1993)
   199? Robert Finster, Director of Music
   c.2000 Wylie Crawford   (C)

*Contact:

   Stephen Alltop,
     Director of Chapel Music
   Northwestern University
   1870 Sheridan Road
   Evanston, IL  60208
   T: (847)491-7256
   E: swa440@northwestern.edu
   - or -
   2122 Performance Hall
   T: (847)491-7285
   E: 2122-performance-hall@
        northwestern.edu

*Schedule:

   (Not played during construction work)

*Remarks:

   Grace Church burned in 1915, but tower
   survived; chime transferred to
   seminary after church relocated later;
   mostly recast into carillon.
   G bell of chime remains in tower,
   independent of carillon, and swings.
   Bells connected to first 3 octaves of
   a 4-octave keyboard.
   Carillon restored in 1999 by Verdin.
   Practice keyboard (61-note P&F,
   N.European standard) was formerly at
   Springfield IL.
   2009: Property sold to Northwestern U;
   seminary moved elsewhere.
   2013: Chapel and adjacent buildings
   undergoing major remodeling; chapel
   was not deconsecrated, and will be
   integrated into NWU chapel program.

*Technical data:

   Traditional carillon of 35 bells
   Pitch of heaviest bell is A  in the middle octave
   Transposition is up  9 semitone(s)
   Keyboard range:     C C  */    C G   
   The arrangement of tones and semitones is unknown.
   There is a non-identical practice console
   The whole instrument was installed in 1954
     with bells made by Petit & Fritsen
   Prior history:
     In 1936, a complete instrument of  9 bells was installed
       with bells made by Meneely/Troy
       (0 bells remain from that work.)
   Auxiliary mechanisms: E12   
   Tower details not available
   Year of latest technical information source is 2022

Additional information on the technical history of this instrument can be found in a database printout.

Blog article on the history of the carillon and its predecessor chime, with photos of the present tower and of Grace Church.

The seminary Website formerly had a tiny photo of the chapel and tower at the head of menus on interior pages.  The Site Search facility could not find any mention of the carillon, but there was one next to a fine photo of the tower and spire on the Campus Facilities page (under About Seabury); the subordinate page about the Chapel included several paragraphs about the carillon and its history.

A history article about Grace Episcopal Church

Where this work lies in the sequence of output of the Petit & Fritsen bellfoundry, in this region and in the world.

Ranking among all North American traditional carillons by weight.
Ranking among all North American traditional carillons by size (number of bells).
Ranking among all North American traditional carillons by year of completion.

Other medium carillons with similar keyboard ranges.

Index to all traditional carillons in IL.

Index to all tower bell instruments in IL.

   This page was built from the database on 30-Jun-22
   based on textual data last updated on 2022/06/25
   and on technical data last updated on 2022/06/25