Click on images to enlarge St. John Episcopal Church 139 St. John's Place near Seventh Avenue Brooklyn, N.Y. 11217 http://saintjohnsbrooklyn.org Organ Specifications: 139 St. John's Place near Seventh Avenue (since 1869) • III/ Various Builders (1966, 1980s) ► II/15 Hillgreen, Lane & Co., Op. 1238 (1960); rev. (1970s) • II/15 Geo. Jardine & Son (1893) • unknown (c.1868) Washington and Johnson Streets (1826-1869) • unknown   Washington & Johnson Streets (1866)   St. John's Episcopal Church was founded by the Rev. Evan Malbone Johnson in the spring of 1826, to serve the increasing growth of the Village of Brooklyn. The first parishioners were members of St. Ann’s Church, founded in 1784 and the "mother" church of Episcopalians in Brooklyn. On May 9th, 1827, the cornerstone was laid for the first church, a plain, wooden building, fifty by fifty feet, at the corner of Washington and Johnson Streets. Several months later, on the 24th of September 1826, the church was opened for Divine Service. Rev. Johnson planned, erected and paid for the first church, and became its first rector. He operated the church at his own expense until it was purchased by the congregation in 1832.     Rectory and Chapel (1869) In the years following the Civil War, the parish hoped to build a larger church elsewhere, and purchased a plot of land on lower DeKalb Avenue. That plot was sold when it was decided to instead purchase a large lot on the corner of what was then Douglass Street and Seventh Avenue in the new Park Slope area of Brooklyn. On June 15th, 1869, the cornerstone was laid for a small chapel that exists today as the transepts of the present church. A beautiful and spacious fourteen-room rectory was also built on the site of this property. The new St. John’s was not to be a wood and timber construction like the original, but a larger, more pretentious and solid one, built of rock foundations and walls of hand-hewn, reddish-brown sandstone. According to one authority on the Victorian period, "It was in the 1840s that Gothic Revival, with its Romantic preference for natural dark colors and elaborate ornament, reached New York. Gothic found its ideal building material in the local brown sandstone of Connecticut and New Jersey. Soft brownstone could be cut to produce elaborate facades for brick row houses-and in no time weathered to a rich mahogany, which was considered refined. By the 1860s, brownstone had become the favorite building material of New York City." (New York News Magazine, 27 June 1976) White limestone was used for aesthetic contrast for the capstones, a few decorative small columns and door arches.   1906 photo of church   During the tenure (1874-1887) of the Rev. T. S. Pycott as rector, St. John’s Church assumed its present cruciform shape. John Rochester Thomas designed the nave in 1885, and the chapel was added in 1889, as designed by Edward Tuckerman Potter. These additions more than doubled the seating capacity of the Victorian Gothic church to 635 people. St. John's Church is nearly identical in exterior and interior design to another church by Potter: the Church of the Good Shepherd, on the Colt estate in Hartford, Connecticut. St. John's Church is within the Park Slope Historic District, designated in 1973 by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.                 Various Builders Brooklyn, N.Y. (1966, 1980s) Electro-pneumatic action 3 manuals In 1966, the choir and organ console were moved from the chancel to the south transept. Under the direction of organist Steven Empson, the existing organ was enlarged and reconfigured to include a new Swell division (installed above the sacristy) and a new console. The organ was again rebuilt in the 1980s by John Wilson and Guy Henderson. Specifications of these organs have not yet been located.                 Hillgreen, Lane & Company Alliance, Ohio – Opus 1238 (1960) Electro-pneumatic action 2 manuals, 32 stops, 15 ranks In 1960, a gift of $20,000 was received from an anonymous donor who supplied the funds to replace the old Jardine tracker pipe organ, built and installed in 1893.  A contract was made with the Hillgreen-Lane Organ Builders of Ohio for a two-manual, fourteen-rank pipe organ with two sections exposed in the sanctuary arches, a solid oak console with drawknobs, and a set of tubular chimes. The organist, Mr. Keith Verhey, agreed to play the dedication recital in true classic style, as he had been taught at the Juilliard School, if money could be found and a new organ procured. He was staging and directing two nightclub shows in Manhattan and had temporarily moved away from classic organ repertory. The installation of the instrument covered a span of nine months, far longer than expected, but it was finally dedicated by Archdeacon Saunders at a Sunday afternoon recital on April 1, 1962.                 Great Organ (Manual I) – 61 notes 8   Spitz Principal 68 2 2/3   Quint 61 8   Spire Flute 68 2   Super Octave [ext. Octave] 12 8   Spire Flute Celeste [TC] 56 8   Cromorne 68 4   Octave 68                     Swell Organ (Manual II) – 61 notes, enclosed 16   Bourdon 97 2 2/3   Nazard — 8   Viol 68 2   Flautina — 8   Viole Celeste 63   Mixture III ranks 183 8   Quintadena 68 16   Trombone 68 8   Gedeckt — 8   Trumpet [ext.] 12 4   Flute — 4   Clarion [ext.] 5                 Pedal Organ – 32 notes 32   Resultant — 4   Flute SW 16   Diapason 24 4   Super Octave [ext.] — 16   Quintaton [ext. SW] 12 2   Piccolo SW 16   Bourdon SW 16   Trombone SW 8   Octave [ext.] — 8   Trumpet SW 8   Bourdon SW 4   Clarion SW 5 1/3   Quint SW                     Geo. Jardine & Son New York City (1893) Mechanical action 2 manuals, 15 stops Specifications for this organ have not yet been located.                 Sources:      The Diapason, September 1962. Specifications of Hillgreen, Lane & Co. organ, Op. 1238 (1960); courtesy Jonathan Bowen.      Dolkart, Andrew S. and Matthew A. Postal. Guide to New York City Landmarks (Third Edition). New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2004.      Nelson, George. Organs in the United States and Canada Database. Seattle, Wash.      New York Architecture Images website: http://www.nyc-architecture.com      Younger, William Lee. Old Brooklyn in Early Photographs 1865-1929. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1978. Photos:      Brooklyn Public Library, Brooklyn Collection: St. John's Church, 1906.      Hunter, William F.: St. John's Church, Washington and Johnson Streets, 1866.      New York Architecture Images: color exterior.       | NYC AGO Home Page | Back to NYC Organ Project List |