click on any image to enlarge Union United Methodist Church (originally New York Avenue Methodist Church) 121 New York Avenue, corner Dean Street Brooklyn, N.Y. 11216 http://www.gbgm-umc.org/BrooklynUnion/               1909 photo of New York Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church   Founded in 1846 as the New York Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church, the congregation is now known as the Union United Methodist Church. The cornerstone for the present church, Sunday school and parsonage buildings was laid in 1889. J.C. Cady designed the Romanesque complex, which was completed in 1891. The 100-by-103-foot church auditorium, which is in the form of a Greek cross, seats 1,100 and is covered by a square dome supported on four massive columns. The 100-foot tower is in the center of the New York Avenue facade.             George S. Hutchings Company Boston, Mass. – Opus 200 (1890) Tubular-pneumatic action; electrified by C.E. Morey, Op. 397 (1929) 3 manuals, 70 ranks, 3,917 pipes                 An account of the Hutchings organ, published in the Brooklyn Eagle, November 14, 1890: THE BIG ORGAN. Dedication of the New York Avenue Instrument. A Huge and Powerful Producer of Melody Put Into Practical Use for the First Time—Facts About Its Construction.      The spacious and beautiful church recently completed on New York avenue and Dean street contained a large audience last evening, and the circles of light overhead brought out admirably the sweeping lines of construction, the four huge arches resting on heavy columns, the warm tinted walls, the square dome pierced with windows, the pulpit stage bushy with palms, the exquisite triple window at the back and a stack of golden pipes filling the large alcove at the left of the platform. These pipes were only the front ranks in a forest of tubes, 3,917 of them altogether, that compose the new organ of the church, and the audience had assembled to hear it speak. A programme of thirteen numbers, three of them vocal, was presented, and it met with manifest approval, although the public was laid under an injunction not to applaud anything. The opening piece, Rheinberger's pastoral sonata, was played by Carl G. Schmidt, organist of the church. Though a work of little artistic value, he made it a sufficing medium for exhibiting the power of the instrument, and Samuel P. Warren who presided at the keyboard for the rest of the evening, seemed also to delight in strength of tone. The best organs roar and screech a good deal when all the stops are out and they are heard to best advantage only in soft and mezzo forte passages that allow the disclosure of orchestral coloring. The new instrument has a diapason of great volume; the grand organ is heavy and large in tone; the swell and choir varied and expressive; the mechanism prompt and pliant.      Externally the organ is not so much to look at as many of less power, for most of it is concealed in the alcove. It is regarded by musicians, however, as an exceptionally perfect instrument, the power and range of its stops so largely making up for their comparative lack in number that it is said to be nearly equal to the one in Sydney, N.S.W., a bellowing monster of 126 stops—more than twice as many as this one has. The choir organ as well as the swell is inclosed [sic] in a box, and the pedal range, including a crescendo effect that can be employed automatically, is unusually ample, a 32 foot pipe giving its gravest note. The stops act with unusual celerity, as their motion is assisted by compressed air, and combinations are quickly made with the push of a piston knob. Four bellows, pumped by a gas engine, furnish wind and plenty of it, for the loudest fortissimo did not produce any wavering or failing in the tone.                 Great Organ (Manual II) – 61 notes 16   Double Open Diapason 61 4   Gambetto 61 8   Open Diapason (large) 61 2 2/3   Octave Quint 61 8   Open Diapason (medium) 61 2   Super Octave 61 8   Viola di Gamba 61   Mixture V ranks 305 8   Viola d'Amour 61   Scharff III ranks 183 8   Clarabella 61 16   Double Trumpet 61 8   Doppel Flote 61 8   Trumpet 61 4   Flute Harmonique 61 4   Clarion 61 4   Octave 61                 Swell Organ (Manual III) – 61 notes, enclosed 16   Bourdon Bass 12 4   Octave 61 16   Bourdon Treble 49 4   Fugara 61 8   Open Diapason 61 4   Flauto Traverso 61 8   Gemshorn 61 2   Flautino 61 8   Hohl Flote 61   Dolce Cornet V 305 8   Salicional 61 16   Contra Fagotto 61 8   Vox Celestis [TC] 49 8   Cornopean 61 8   Aeoline 61 8   Oboe 61 8   Stopped Diapason 61 8   Vox Humana 61 8   Quintadena 61 4   Saxophone 61             Choir Organ (Manual I) – 61 notes, enclosed 16   Lieblich Gedackt 61 4   Octave 61 8   Open Diapason 61 4   Violina 61 8   Geigen Principal 61 4   Flute d'Amour 61 8   Spitz Flote 61 2   Piccolo Harmonique 61 8   Concert Flute 61 8   Orchestral Oboe 61 8   Dolcissimo 61 8   Clarinet 61 8   Gedackt 61                 Pedal Organ – 30 notes 32   Contra Bourdon 30 8   Octave 30 16   Open Diapason 30 8   Violoncello 30 16   Violone 30 8   Flute 30 16   Dulciana 30 16   Trombone 30 16   Bourdon 30 8   Tromba 30 10 2/3   Quint 30               Couplers     Swell to Great       Great to Pedal       Choir to Great       Swell to Pedal       Swell to Choir       Choir to Pedal       Great to Pneumatics                           Mechanical Accessories     Swell Tremolo       Wind Indicator       Choir Tremolo                           Pedal Movements     Adjustable Combination Pedals, affecting Great and Pedal     Adjustable Combination Pedals, affecting Swell and Pedal     Adjustable Combination Pedals, affecting Choir and Pedal     Adjustable Combination Pedals, affecting Pedal     Full Organ         All Couplers         Swell to Great, and Swell on itself         Choir to Great Sub Octaves         Reversible Great to Pedal           Balanced Swell Pedal             Balanced Choir Pedal             Grand Crescendo, Affecting Full Organ         Sources:      "The Big Organ. Dedication of the New York Avenue Instrument," article in Brooklyn Eagle, Nov. 14, 1890.      Stern, Robert A.M., Thomas Mellins, and David Fishman. New York 1880: Architecture and Urbanism in the Gilded Age. New York: The Monacelli Press, Inc., 1999.      Union United Methodist Church web site: http://www.gbgm-umc.org/BrooklynUnion/ Photos:      Brooklyn Public Library, Brooklyn Collection: http://brooklynpubliclibrary.org/brooklyncollection/      Union United Methodist Church web site: http://www.gbgm-umc.org/BrooklynUnion/ | NYC AGO Home Page | Back to NYC Organ Project List |