Highland Arts Theatre

About

The Highland Arts Theatre is a historic building, first constructed as a Presbyterian Church, now operating an arts and culture centre in Sydney, Cape Breton Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia, Canada. It was initially constructed as St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church. In June 2014 St. Andrew's reopened as the Highland Arts Theatre, a live play and film theatre and concert venue located in Sydney's waterfront district.

St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, construction of which started in 1910 and completed in 1911, was the third church built by the Sydney and Mira Presbyterian congregation, originating from 1852. The congregations outgrew the two previous Sydney churches, and so St. Andrew's was built to contain over 1,000 people for services.

In 1925, St. Andrew's Church joined with Methodist and Congregational churches to form the United Church and St. Andrew's then became St. Andrew's United Church. This was a dramatic change for some members of the congregation and many members were lost, however new were gained. St. Andrew's United Church continued as a church with full-time clergy until 2013 when it was decommissioned after the dwindling congregation decided the heating bills for the 104-year-old sanctuary were too expensive. On Wednesday, July 31, 2013, the congregation of St. Andrew's United Church gathered for the Decommissioning Service as the chimes played a call to worship for one final time.

The pastor at the time of planning and construction, Rev. Dr. John Pringle, D.D., travelled to Toronto and met with architects Curry and Sparling to develop the plans for the church. The contract for construction of the building on Bentinck St. was awarded to Rhodes and Curry Company at a cost of $41,635 and when fully completed was $62,945. This is a very fine structure, built using red brick from Mira, a local brickyard. Architecturally, the end result was a beautiful house of worship, with impressive towers, bells chiming on days of worship and the steadfast permanence of the Gothic Revival style, rare within the Cape Breton Regional Municipality.

Some of the Character-defining elements of St. Andrew's / Highland Arts Theatre relate to its Gothic Revival style and include its buttressed belfry towers of differing heights, the arched windows, dentil moulding and cornice on the belfry towers, the three-over-three arched windows in upper belfry of taller tower, the three arched windows in upper belfry of lower tower, the wide entry staircase leading to the three arched entries containing two wooden doors each, a large Palladian derivative window above entry. Other character-defining elements are its construction of locally made brick, all original interior elements including: Casavant Frères pipe organ, railings, columns, trim and barrel vaulted ceiling arcing 44 feet (13 m) above the theatre floor; ten bells, inscribed with Biblical verses in bell tower.

Main article: Casavant Frères Ltée. Opus 1841 (Highland Arts Centre Organ) The 2,045 pipe, three- manual pipe organ made by the famous Casavant Frères in Quebec is the largest such instrument on Cape Breton Island. Its facade, casing, pipes, swell and chorus boxes completely fill the apse of the theatre. The organ was purchased for the new church, then under construction, in 1911 for $5,595 as Casavant Brothers, Ltd., Opus 452. The original specification was for three manuals, 4 divisions, 29 stops, 27 registers, 29 ranks, 1843 pipes. A Stoplist for the 1911 instrument copied from the factory specifications for Casavant Op. 452 1911 3/29, courtesy of the Casavant Frères Archives, St. Hyacinthe, Québec, Canada is available by following this link: Original Stoplist Archived 2016-06-11 at the Wayback Machine

The organ was rebuilt in 1946 by Casavant Frères Ltée. as Op. 1841, with 3 new Choir stops, a traditional style console with roll top, three manuals, 4 divisions, 33 stops, 30 registers, 32 ranks, 2045 pipes. Manual compass is 61 notes, pedal compass is 32 notes. Equipped with electro-pneumatic (EP) chests, drawknobs in vertical rows on angled jambs, balanced swell shoes/pedals, standard AGO placement, adjustable combination pistons, AGO Standard (concave radiating) pedalboard, reversible full organ/tutti toe stud, combination action thumb pistons, combination action toe studs, coupler reversible thumb pistons, coupler reversible toe studs. Added in 1962 were a Clarion 4' to the Swell and a hooded Harmonic Trumpet, 68 pipes, with new pipework supplied by Casavant via Ledoux & MacDonald Organ Service Co., Halifax. Wind is supplied by a 3 hp electric blower located in the basement directly below the organ.

The following link leads to a Stoplist for the 1946 instrument, copied from the factory specifications for Casavant Frères Ltée., Opus 1841, 1946. Stoplist Archived 2016-06-11 at the Wayback Machine The 18-ton organ underwent $15,000 in repairs to its bellows in 2008.

- Main article: Highland Arts Theatre Chime

The chime, consisting of ten bells located in the south bell tower, is still in use today. The bells were cast in bronze ( bell metal ) for St. Andrew's Church by the McShane Bell Foundry in Baltimore, Maryland, US and are dated 1911. The bells are arranged as a traditional chime of 10 bells and are played using the original unmodified McShane "pump handle" chimestand with deep key-fall on all notes. Nine of the bells are hung fixed in position in the main chime frame in the belfry, the tenth, the heaviest bell, is mounted in a rotary iron yoke on iron stands above the main chime frame. This bell, the tenor bell, is equipped with both a spring clapper and a tolling hammer so can be played either by swing chiming or by using the chimestand located in the ringing room immediately below the Bell Chamber in the bell tower.

All the bells have the foundry's name cast onto their waist. The nine smaller bells are also decorated with inscriptions, quotes from Psalms from the King James Version of the Bible, cast onto their waist, while the largest bell's inscription reads "St. Andrews Church, Sydney NS". This largest bell weighs about 2,050 lb (930 kg) and its pitch is E in the middle octave. The chime is attuned to concert pitch, to the eight notes of the octave or diatonic scale with two bells added, one bell a semitone, a flat seventh, and one bell, the treble bell, above the octave. This smallest bell, at about 200 lb (91 kg), rings an F ♯.

In December 2015 a video posted on Facebook of Sydney native Glenda Watt playing the Christmas carol "Angels We Have Heard on High" on the chime was viewed more than 1.6 million times within the first nine days of it being uploaded to the social networking site.

Follow this link to a page of videos of the chime being played: The Chimes ~ Christmas Music

Municipal Heritage Property: On September 18, 2007, the Cape Breton Regional Municipality formally recognized St. Andrew's United Church as a Municipally Registered Property under the Nova Scotia Heritage Property Act, Chapter 199 of the revised Statutes, 1989, amended 1991, c. 10; 1998, c. 18, s. 561; 2010, c. 54 The Cape Breton Regional Municipality designated St. Andrew's Church and the property it sits on, recognizing St. Andrew's for its early and continuing presence in the community as well as the striking architecture. It is one of the few brick buildings in the area, and is impressive for its size and beauty.

Provincial Heritage Property: On August 29, 2012, the Minister responsible for the Nova Scotia Heritage Property Act entered St. Andrew's United Church into the Provincial Registry of Heritage Property resulting in provincial heritage protection for the theatre.

Main article: Casavant Frères Ltée. Opus 1841 (Highland Arts Centre Organ) The 2,045 pipe, three- manual pipe organ made by the famous Casavant Frères in Quebec is the largest such instrument on Cape Breton Island. Its facade, casing, pipes, swell and chorus boxes completely fill the apse of the theatre. The organ was purchased for the new church, then under construction, in 1911 for $5,595 as Casavant Brothers, Ltd., Opus 452. The original specification was for three manuals, 4 divisions, 29 stops, 27 registers, 29 ranks, 1843 pipes. A Stoplist for the 1911 instrument copied from the factory specifications for Casavant Op. 452 1911 3/29, courtesy of the Casavant Frères Archives, St. Hyacinthe, Québec, Canada is available by following this link: Original Stoplist Archived 2016-06-11 at the Wayback Machine

The organ was rebuilt in 1946 by Casavant Frères Ltée. as Op. 1841, with 3 new Choir stops, a traditional style console with roll top, three manuals, 4 divisions, 33 stops, 30 registers, 32 ranks, 2045 pipes. Manual compass is 61 notes, pedal compass is 32 notes. Equipped with electro-pneumatic (EP) chests, drawknobs in vertical rows on angled jambs, balanced swell shoes/pedals, standard AGO placement, adjustable combination pistons, AGO Standard (concave radiating) pedalboard, reversible full organ/tutti toe stud, combination action thumb pistons, combination action toe studs, coupler reversible thumb pistons, coupler reversible toe studs. Added in 1962 were a Clarion 4' to the Swell and a hooded Harmonic Trumpet, 68 pipes, with new pipework supplied by Casavant via Ledoux & MacDonald Organ Service Co., Halifax. Wind is supplied by a 3 hp electric blower located in the basement directly below the organ.

The following link leads to a Stoplist for the 1946 instrument, copied from the factory specifications for Casavant Frères Ltée., Opus 1841, 1946. Stoplist Archived 2016-06-11 at the Wayback Machine The 18-ton organ underwent $15,000 in repairs to its bellows in 2008.

Main article: Highland Arts Theatre Chime

The chime, consisting of ten bells located in the south bell tower, is still in use today. The bells were cast in bronze ( bell metal ) for St. Andrew's Church by the McShane Bell Foundry in Baltimore, Maryland, US and are dated 1911. The bells are arranged as a traditional chime of 10 bells and are played using the original unmodified McShane "pump handle" chimestand with deep key-fall on all notes. Nine of the bells are hung fixed in position in the main chime frame in the belfry, the tenth, the heaviest bell, is mounted in a rotary iron yoke on iron stands above the main chime frame. This bell, the tenor bell, is equipped with both a spring clapper and a tolling hammer so can be played either by swing chiming or by using the chimestand located in the ringing room immediately below the Bell Chamber in the bell tower.