*Location:

   Wanamaker Mausoleum
   Church of St.James-the-Less
     (Episcopal)
   West Hunting Park Avenue, between
     Clearfield Street and Indiana Avenue
   Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
   LL: N 40.00333, W 75.18355

Site locator map

*Player:

   James Altena
   300 West Hermitage #1W
   Philadelphia, PA  19128-4603
   H: 215-483-1530   W: 215-963-5328
   - or -
   3359 Tilden Street
   Philadelphia, PA  19129-1411
   T: 215-848-8275

*Contact:

   St.James School
   3217 West Clearfield Street
   Philadelphia, PA  19132-1822
   T: 215-226-1276
   - or -
   David J. Kasievich, Head of School
   E: dkasievich/@/stjamesphila DOTorg
   - or -
   Sexton
   3230 West Clearfield Street
   T: 215-229-5025
   - or -
   St.Mark's Episcopal Church
   1625 Locust Street
   Philadelphia, PA  19103-6304
   T: 215-735-1416
   E: semullen@saintmarksphiladelphia.org
      Webform @ saintmarksphiladelphia.org

*Schedule:

   (unknown)

*Remarks:

   Ordered by John Wanamaker.
   For the tubular chime hung surrounding
   the bell frame, see  STJL/2.
   The church building has a triple
   bellcote containing 4 bells of
   unknown origin and function.

*Technical data:

   Traditional chime (chimestand) of 15 bells
   Pitch of heaviest bell is B  in the bass octave
   Transposition is up  1 semitone(s)
   Keyboard range:     A#D   /    NONE  
   There are two missing bass semitones
   The presence or absence of a practice console is unknown
   The whole instrument was installed in 1909
     with bells made by McShane     
   No auxiliary mechanisms known
   Tower details not available
   Year of latest technical information source is 1994

The English Wikipedia article about the church has photos of both the church and the freestanding belltower/mausoleum.  The text has a brief paragraph about the belltower/mausoleum, and includes the history of the parish.

The FindAGrave memorial page for Rodman Wanamaker includes a photo of the tower.  So does its memorial page for John Wanamaker, though he is not interred there, but in the family's churchyard vault.  The FindAGrave page for the churchyard has a gallery of three photos, one of which gives yet another perspective of the tower.

The Wikimedia Commons category for this church has several photos of the tower, in whole or in part.  One was taken inside the belfry, and includes part a memorial inscription to Thomas Wanamaker as well as typical McShane maker's inscriptions; two tubular bells are partially visible, and the manual chime action for the conventional bells has been re-strung with aircraft cable.

A National Historic Landmarks Program page about the building gives a few interesting facts.

A page about the gargoyles has two clickable photos of the tower.

The tubular chime (STJL/2) that is hung surrounding the frame of this chime is described here.
Our article about this and other Wanamaker bells

Where this work lies in the sequence of output of the McShane bellfoundry.

Other chimes which qualify as mini-carillons.

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

Index to all tower bell instruments in PA.

   This page was built from the database on  7-Jan-23
   based on textual data last updated on 2022/12/06
   and on technical data last updated on 2000/03/25