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St. Ambrose Catholic Church
222 Tompkins Avenue at Dekalb Avenue
Brooklyn, N.Y. 11206
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| New and old churches (c.1910) |
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St. Ambrose Catholic Church was established in 1883 by Bishop Loughlin to serve the area between the parishes of St. Patrick and St. John the Baptist. Land on the corner of Tompkins and DeKalb Avenues was purchased, and the Rev. Daniel J. Sheehy, assistant at St. Augustine's, was put in charge of building the new parish. The first Mass was said in the old frame house that stood at the corner. Within the year a large frame building that faced DeKalb Avenue was erected. Father Sheehy built a commodious rectory beside the church, and a large double house nearby was purchased and converted into an academy under the charge of the Sisters of St. Joseph.
By the early 1900s the number of Catholics in the area had increased so much that a larger church was necessary. Funds were raised, and in October 1906 the cornerstone for the new church was laid by the Rev. P. J. McNamar, Vicar-General of the Diocese of Brooklyn. The new church was designed in an Italianate style with a facade copied from the Church of St. Prudentiana in Rome. The interior features a ceiling that reproduces that in the Cathedral of Pisa, with side decorations copied after those in the Cathedral of Ravenna. Built at a reported cost of $120,000, the completed church was dedicated in October of 1907.
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| Church and School |
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A new three-story parochial school of brick with terra cotta trim was erected in 1910 at a cost of $100,000. That same year a new four-story convent containing rooms for the Sisters, plus halls and reception rooms for the school, was built at a cost of $30,000.
In 1978, the parish merged into the nearby Church of Our Lady of Montserrate at 134 Vernon Avenue. The former St. Ambrose Church building is now Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church. |
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Reuben Midmer & Sons
Brooklyn, N.Y. (1875)
Mechanical action
2 manuals, 15 stops, 15 ranks
The following stoplist is from an article by Peter T. Cameron in The Bicentennial Tracker (1976). This organ was built in 1875, which is several years before the church was established. It may be that the organ was installed in the first building and moved to the second. |
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Great Organ (Manual I) – 58 notes
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8 |
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Open Diapason |
58 |
4 |
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Flute Harmonic |
58 |
8 |
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Dulciana [TC] |
46 |
2 2/3 |
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Twelfth |
58 |
8 |
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Stop'd Bass |
12 |
2 |
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Fifteenth |
58 |
8 |
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Melodia |
58 |
8 |
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Trumpet |
58 |
4 |
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Principal |
58 |
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Swell Organ (Manual II) – 58 notes, enclosed
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8 |
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Open Diapason [TC] |
46 |
4 |
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Violina |
58 |
8 |
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Viol da Gamba |
58 |
2 |
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Piccolo |
58 |
8 |
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Stop'd Diapason Bass |
12 |
8 |
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Oboe |
58 |
8 |
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Stop'd Diapason Treble |
46 |
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Tremolo |
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Pedal Organ – 27 notes
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16 |
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Bourdon |
27 |
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Couplers
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Swell to Great |
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Bellows Signal |
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Swell to Pedal |
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Great to Pedal |
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Sources:
Brooklyn Catholic Blogspot: http://brooklyncatholic.blogspot.com
Brownstoner web site: http://www.brownstoner.com/blog/2007/05/architecture-be/
Cameron, Peter T. "A Chronology of the Organ Builders Working in New York City", The Bicentennial Tracker. Richmond: Organ Historical Society, Inc., 1976.
The Catholic Church in the United States of America: Undertaken to Celebrate the Golden Jubilee of His Holiness, Pope Pius X, Vol. III. New York: The Catholic Editing Company, 1914.
Trupiano, Larry. Corrections to specification of Reuben Midmer & Sons organ (1875).
Illustrations:
Brooklyn Eagle. (c.1910) showing new and old church buildings. Brooklyn Collection, Brooklyn Public Library.
Brooklyn Eagle. (1948) of church exterior. Brooklyn Collection, Brooklyn Public Library.
Brownstoner web site. Undated exterior of church and school. |
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