Click on images to enlarge First Reformed Episcopal Church 317 East 50th Street New York, N.Y. 10022 www.firstchurchnyc.net Organ Specifications: 317 East 50th Street Present building (since 1931) ► III/31 Schantz Organ Company, Op. 2054 (1993) • II/ Allen Organ Company electronic (1965) ► III/27 Henry Pilcher's Sons, Op. 1525 (1931) First building (1921-1930) – orig. Beekman Hill M.E. Church • III/41 Geo. Jardine & Son (1877) – moved from previous church? 551 Madison Avenue at 55th Street (1877-1920) • III/41 Geo. Jardine & Son (1877) Madison Avenue at 47th Street (1874-1877) • unknown The denomination known as the Reformed Episcopal Church was founded in 1873 in response to a long debate over the excessive "High Church" tendencies by the Protestant Episcopal Church and its exclusive attitude toward other denominations. The Rt. Rev. Dr. George David Cummins (1822-1876), Assistant Bishop of Kentucky, had been rebuked for participating in a Communion Service at the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City. Subsequently, Bishop Cummins, joined by eight clergymen and twenty lay members, withdrew from the Protestant Episcopal Church and formed a new jurisdiction. Services were held in Lyric Hall, on Sixth Avenue, until May 1874, when the new society was able to secure its own church (possibly the former Church of the Resurrection), a little Gothic stone building at the corner of Madison Avenue and 47th Street. Bishop Cummins became gravely ill in 1874 and was no longer able to function as cleric. He was succeeded by the Rev. Dr. William T. Sabine, who had been rector of the Church of the Atonement at Madison Avenue and 28th Street. (Dr. Sabine became infamous while at the Atonement when, in December 1870, he refused to conduct a funeral for the actor George Holland. At the time, actors were esteemed only a little higher than prostitutes. When asked if there was someplace else where the funeral could be held, Dr. Sabine responded, "I believe there's a little church around the corner that does that sort of thing." He was referring to the Church of the Transfiguration on East 29th Street.)   551 Madison Avenue   In 1876, the congregation began construction on their first church building, located at 551 Madison Avenue and 55th Street. The first services were held in the basement on Sunday, April 22, 1877, and the church was expected to be completed and dedicated about the middle of May. As designed by James Stroud in the Victorian Gothic style, the building measured 66 feet by 96 feet and was built of Newark stone with rock face and Berlin stone dressing. At the corner was a square bell tower surmounted by a pyramid steeple. The interior featured an open timber roof of carved ribs sprung from corbelled columns against the walls, a ceiling that rose to a height of 63 feet, and woodwork of ash. Approximately 900 could be accomodated on the main floor, and the gallery provided seating for 200; the basement Sunday-school had space for 600 scholars. The building cost $107,000, including the organ, and the lots cost $42,500. The congregation remained at this location until November 1919, when the property was sold for $325,000 to the Allerton House Company, who then razed the church and erected a seventeen-story apartment hotel for bachelors. Services were held in a leased building while the congregation determined the type of new building they would need for the future.     317 East 50th Street In 1921, the Reformed Episcopal congregation purchased the former Beekman Hill Methodist Episcopal Church after that society merged with the East Sixty-first Methodist Church. Located on 50th Street, east of Second Avenue, the property included an 1873 church building and adjoining manse. The new church home was dedicated on Sunday, February 20, 1921, with a service that included three baptisms, a celebration of Holy Communion, and a sermon by the Rev. Percy T. Edrop, the rector. By the late 1920s, the 1873 building was in poor condition and the trustees reported that there were no funds to remodel it. A plan was devised in which the church would lease its property to the Labor Holding Corporation, who would then construct an income-producing apartment building that would include space on the lower floors for the church and all its activities. The old church building was razed and the present skyscraper church, a 12-story and penthouse apartment house designed by George G. Miller, was built as part of the Beekman Hill Apartment Corporation. Gothic details and the inscription, "To Testify the Gospel of the Grace of God," set apart the church portion of the building. The cornerstone was dedicated on February 16, 1931, and the first service in the new church facility took place on September 13, 1931.             Schantz Organ Company Orrville, Ohio – Opus 2054 (1993) Electro-pneumatic key action Solid-state combination action (16 levels) 3 manuals, 37 stops, 31 ranks In 1993, the aging electronic organ was replaced by a new pipe organ built by the Schantz Organ Company of Orrville, Ohio. The organ is installed in chambers across the front of the chancel and speaks through three tone openings; the façade pipes are from the Great 8' Principal. Schantz provided a three-manual drawknob console that is located with the choir seating on the left side of the chancel.                 Great Organ (Manual II) – 61 notes, exposed (3" pressure) 8   Principal [1-17 in façade] 61 8   Trumpet 61 8   Bourdon 61     Chimes * 4   Octave [unit] 73   Great 16' 4   Waldflöte 61     Unison Off 2   Super Octave —   Great 4'     Fourniture IV ranks 244   * from previous organ             Swell Organ (Manual III) – 61 notes, enclosed (3½" pressure) 8   Rohrflöte 61 8   Trompette [unit] 73 8   Salicional 61 8   Hautbois [Basson] — 8   Voix Celeste [TC] 49 4   Clairon [Trompette] — 4   Prinzipal 61   Tremulant 4   Harmonic Flute [unit] 73   Swell 16' 2   Harmonic Piccolo —   Unison Off   Plein Jeu III ranks 183   Swell 4' 16   Basson [unit] 73                 Choir/Positif Organ (Manual I) – 61 notes, enclosed (3" pressure) 8   Cor de Nuit 61 8   Schalmei 61 4   Prestant 61   Tremulant 4   Koppelflöte 61   Choir/Positif 16' 2 2/3   Nazard 61     Unison Off 2   Gemshorn 61   Choir Positif 4' 1 3/5   Tierce 61                 Pedal Organ – 32 notes (3½" pressure) 16   Principal [ext. GT] 12 4   Stopped Flute — 16   Subbass [unit] 56     Mixture II ranks 64 16   Bourdon [ext. SW] 12 16   Trombone [ext. GT] 12 8   Principal 32 16   Basson SW 8   Bass Flute — 8   Trumpet GT 4   Choralbass 32 4   Hautbois SW                 Couplers     Great to Pedal 8', 4'   Choir/Positif to Great 16', 8', 4'     Swell to Pedal 8', 4'   Choir/Positif to Swell 8'     Choir/Positif to Pedal 8', 4'   Swell to Choir/Positif 16', 8', 4'     Swell to Great 16', 8', 4'   Great to Choir/Positif 8'                 Adjustable Combinations     Great Pistons 1-6 affecting Great stops (thumb) Swell Pistons 1-6 affecting Swell stops (thumb) Choir/Positif Pistons 1-6 affecting Choir/Positif stops (thumb) Pedal Pistons 1-6 affecting Pedal stops (toe) General Pistons 1-10 affecting all stops and couplers (thumb & toe)                 Reversibles     Great to Pedal (thumb & toe)   Choir/Positif to Pedal (thumb & toe)     Swell to Pedal (thumb & toe)   Sforzando (thumb & toe)                 Pedal Movements     Balanced Swell Pedal           Balanced Choir/Positif Pedal           Crescendo Pedal                   Henry Pilcher's Sons Louisville, Ky. – Opus 1525 (1931) Electro-pneumatic action 3 manuals, 31 stops, 27 ranks The first organ in the present church was built by Henry Pilcher's Sons at a cost of $12,850. In 1965, the Pilcher organ became unplayable and was replaced by a two-manual Allen electronic instrument.   Great Organ (Manual II) – 61 notes 16   Open Diapason 73 2   Fifteenth 61 8   Open Diapason 73 8   Tuba 73 8   Triaulephone 73     Chimes CH 8   Gamba 73   Tremulant 4   Principal 73                     Swell Organ (Manual III) – 61 notes 16   Bourdon 73 4   Flute Harmonic 73 8   Open Diapason 73 2   Piccolo 61 8   Clarinet Flute 73 8   Cornopean 73 8   Viol d'Orchestre 73 8   Oboe 61 8   Viole Celeste 73     Chimes CH 8   Aeoline 73   Tremulant   4   Principal 73                     Choir Organ (Manual I) – 61 notes 8   English Diapason 73 2   Flageolet 61 8   Keraulophone 73 8   French Horn 73 8   Dulciana 73     Chimes 20 tubes 8   Gedeckt 73   Tremulant   4   Flauto Traverso 73                     Pedal Organ – 32 notes 16   Open Diapason 32 8   Flute — 16   Contra Bourdon [unit] 44 8   Cello GT 16   Lieblich Gedeckt SW 8   Tuba GT             Organ installed in first building at 317 East 50th Street: Geo. Jardine & Son New York City (1877) Mechanical action 3 manuals, 41 stops The archival photo at right of the former Beekman Hill Methodist Episcopal Church, which First Reformed moved to in 1921, shows an organ that has pipe flats that are identical to those of the 1877 Geo. Jardine & Son organ in the previous church at 551 Madison Avenue. It seems likely that the Jardine organ was moved to the new church (by an unknown builder) in 1921. Specifications of this organ have not yet been located.             Organ installed in previous church at 551 Madison Avenue: Geo. Jardine & Son New York City (1877) Mechanical action 3 manuals, 41 stops Specifications for this organ have not yet been located.             Sources:      The American Organist, November 1930. Specifications of Henry Pilcher's Sons organ, Op. 1525 (1931). Courtesy Jonathan Bowen.      "A Church Debt Paid," The New York Times, February 16, 1880.      "Church In New Home," The New York Times, February 21, 1921.      Church of the Transfiguration ("the Little Church Around the Corner") web site: http://www.littlechurch.org/      "Church To Be Razed," The New York Times, June 29, 1919.      "Church To Share Building," The New York Times, April 30, 1930.      "Church-Home Stone Laid," The New York Times, February 17, 1931.      "Dedication of the Beekman Hill M. E. Church," The New York Times, April 21, 1873.      The Diapason, November 1930. Specifications of Henry Pilcher's Sons Organ, Op. 1525 (1931). Courtesy Jeff Scofield.      Dunlap, David. From Abyssinian to Zion: A Guide to Manhattan's Houses of Worship. New York: Columbia University Press, 2004.      "Founded Twenty Years Ago," The New York Times, December 3, 1893.      "Madison Av. Church To Go," The New York Times, September 21, 1919.      Nelson, George. Organs in the United States and Canada Database. Seattle, Wash.      Organ Historical Society Organ Database website: http://organsociety.bsc.edu/      "Reformed Episcopal Services," The New York Times, April 16, 1877.      The Reformed Episcopal Church website: http://www.recus.org/      "Topics of Interest to the Churchgoer," The New York Times, September 12, 1931. Photos:      First Reformed Episcopal Church Archives.      Lawson, Steven E.: Schantz Organ console.      Rust, John: exterior; color interior of present church.             | NYC AGO Home Page | Back to NYC Organ Project List |