Church of the Annunciation (Evangelismos)
(Greek Orthodox)

302 West 91st Street at West End Avenue
New York, N.Y. 10024
http://www.evangelismos.org/



Founded in 1892, the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church is one of the oldest Hellenic-American ecclesiastical communities in New York. From its humble beginnings in Judson Memorial Baptist Church in Greenwich Village, where the community celebrated its first liturgy, the church occupied the former Amity Baptist Church, at 310 West 54th Street. Later, the community moved to 325 West 85th Street, and in 1953 acquired the former Fourth Presbyterian Church.

Built in 1893-94 for the Fourth Presbyterian Church, the current facilities of the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation were designed by the firm of Heins & LaFarge, who are perhaps best known as the original architects for the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. The Gothic Revival style building has a rusticated masonry façade trimmed at the portals and large windows with a sparing use of Venetian Gothic and neo-Romanesque Revival details. The focal point of the church buildings is the square bell tower at the corner of 91st Street and West End Avenue with its crenellated parapet embellished with gargoyle gutter-spouts, foliate carvings, and angels’ heads. The interior of the church contains impressive contributions from both congregations. The original pews and balcony, carved in a Gothic motif, are of highly polished dark stained wood. The ceiling vaults are mildly sloped and consist of plaster panels framed in the same wood. The deeply colored pictorial stained glass windows depicting the Ascension and the Transfiguration on the north and west walls are reputed to be the work of the Tiffany studios.

In 1957 the Greek Orthodox congregation added an intricately carved wooden screen with inset panels of gilt icons to separate the sanctuary from the nave. In addition, three voluminous, multi-tiered crystal chandeliers were imported from Czechoslovakia in the 1960s.

The adjacent two-and-one-half story Community Hall was originally constructed to house the Sunday School classrooms, committee rooms, the church office, and a sexton’s apartment. An Equity-certified, 92-seat, Off-Off Broadway Theater, with dressing rooms and backstage was installed in the basement of the Community Hall in 1980.
           
Skinner Organ Company
Boston, Mass. – Opus 563 (1927)
Electro-pneumatic stop and chest action
3 manuals, 43 stops, 37 ranks, 2,451 pipes
               
Great Organ (Manual II) – 61 notes
16
   Bourdon [ext. Ped.]
5
4
   Flute
61
8
   First Diapason
61
2
   Fifteenth
61
8
   Second Diapason
61
8
   Tuba *
61
8
   Claribel Flöte
61
8
   French Horn *
61
4
   Octave
61
    
* enclosed in Choir

     

     
Swell Organ (Manual III) – 61 notes, enclosed
16
   Bourdon
73
4
   Flute Triangulaire
73
8
   Diapason
73
     Mixture IV ranks
244
8
   Rohr Flute
73
16
   Waldhorn
73
8
   Salicional
73
8
   Cornopean
73
8
   Voix Celeste
73
8
   Oboe d'Amore
73
8
   Flauto Dolce
73
8
   Vox Humana
73
8
   Flute Celeste [TC]
61
4
  
Clarion
preparation
4
   Octave
73
 
   Tremolo   
               
Choir Organ (Manual I) – 61 notes, enclosed
8
   Concert Flute
73
2
   Harmonic Piccolo
61
8
   Gamba
73
8
   Clarinet
73
8
   Dulciana
73
     Tremolo  
4
   Flute
73
    
Harp  
2 2/3
   Nazard
61
     Celesta  

     

     
Echo Organ – 61 notes, enclosed
8
   Chimney Flute
73
     Tremolo  
8
   Vox Humana
73
    
Chimes
20 tubes
               
Pedal Organ – 32 notes
16
   Resultant
—
8
   Still Gedeckt
SW
16
   Major Bass
32
4
   Flute [ext.]
12
16
   Bourdon
32
16
   Trombone
32
16
   Echo Bourdon
SW
16
   Waldhorn
SW
8
   Octave [ext.]
12
8
   Tromba [ext.]
12
8
   Gedeckt [ext.]
12
     Chimes
EC
           
Sources:
     Aeolian-Skinner Archives: http://aeolian-skinner.110mb.com/
     Church of the Annunciation web site: http://www.evangelismos.org/
     Dunlap, David. From Abyssinian to Zion: A Guide to Manhattan's Houses of Worship. New York: Columbia University Press, 2004.
     Kinzey, Allen, and Sand Lawn, comps. E.M. Skinner/Aeolian-Skinner Opus List. New Rev. Ed. Richmond: The Organ Historical Society, 1997.