*Location:

   St.Matthew's Episcopal Church
   Bienveneda Avenue
   Pacific Palisades, California, USA
   LL: N 34.05346, W 118.54119

Site locator map

*Player:

   Dwayne Milburn, Director of Music
   E: dmilburn @ stmatthews DOTcom

*Contact:

   St.Matthew's Church
   *parcel:
     1031 Bienveneda Avenue
     Pacific Palisades, CA  90272
   *postal:
     Box 37
     Pacific Palisades, CA  90272
   T: 310-454-1358   F: 310-573-7421
   E: connect @ stmatthews DOTcom
   - or temporary mailing address -
   2000 Stoner Avenue
   Los Angeles, CA  90025

*Schedule:

   (unknown)

*Remarks:

   Added semitones are F#, A#, F#.
   Table-top practice keyboard in parish
   hall.
   Jan.2025: Church grounds suffered major
   damage in Palisades fire, but church
   building and bell tower survived.

*Technical data:

   Traditional chime (baton keyboard) of 15 bells
   Pitch of heaviest bell is C  in the treble octave
   Keyboard range:     C G   /    NONE  
   Transposition is up one octave
   There are three added semitones
   There is a practice console
   The whole instrument was installed in 1986
     with bells made by Petit & Fritsen 
   No auxiliary mechanisms known
   Tower details: 
     Height of console:                  0 meters above ground
     Height of lowest level of bells:    7 meters above ground
     Height of highest level of bells:   9 meters above ground
     Belfry openness:  95%
   Year of latest technical information source is 1987

The church Website now has many photos of the recovery effort underway after a recent wildfire destroyed the school but not the church (though the church suffered some related damage).  A small photo showing part of the bell tower might still be found on the Architecture page (in the Welcome section).  In spite of an apparently extensive music program, the bells are not mentioned anywhere.  But the Introduction page of the Parish Profile has a photo which must be the interior of the bell tower, showing the top of a manual keyboard with transmission for 20 bells.  Also visible is a set of bells on an open rack next to the driveway circle - like 5 octaves of handbells? - apparently undamaged. A CSBell-style postmount bell was above the entrance to the parish school, and may be restorable.  The bell tower survived the fire.

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

Index to North American baton-keyboard chimes.

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 CA.

   This page was built from the database on  4-Oct-25
   based on textual data last updated on 2025/09/30
   and on technical data last updated on 1987/05/01