Spring Street Presbyterian Church - New York City
Spring Street Presbyterian Church

246 Spring Street at Varick Street
New York, N.Y. 10013


Organ Specifications:
Second building (1836-burned 1966)
► II/16 M.P. Möller, Inc., Op. 1116 (1910)
► II/15 George W. Earle (1868)
First building (1811-1835)
• I/14 Henry Erben (1830)


Spring Street Presbyterian Church - New York City (1877)  
Spring Street Presbyterian (1877)  
Click to enlarge  
The Spring Street Presbyterian Church was founded in 1809, with prayer meetings held in residences and business locations. After purchasing a plot of land measuring 100 by 100 feet on the southeast corner of Spring and Varick Streets, construction began on a permanent church. Described as a shingled wood frame structure crowned by a graceful cupula, the 60 by 30 foot building had 126 pews plus 50 more in the gallery. Many of the materials were salvaged from the recently dissolved Wall Street Presbyterian Church, including timbers, pews, and the pulpit. The cornerstone was laid on July 5, 1810, and the completed church was opened on May 5, 1811.

Almost from the beginning, the church was known for its fierce abolitionist stance, and as early as 1822, the church had a multiracial Sunday school and admitted African-Americans to full communion. The Rev. Samuel Cox, who had seceded from the church in 1825 to found the Laight Street Church, preached racial tolerance to his congregation, and declared that Jesus Christ was "probably of a dark Syrian hue." The Rev. Dr. Henry G. Ludlow, who succeeded Rev. Cox, was surrounded by rumors that he had conducted interracial marriage ceremonies. In 1834, a mob spurred by prominent politicians attacked the Spring Street and Laight Street churches and the private homes of both pastors. At the Spring Street Church, the rioters entered the building through smashed windows, took the remnants of the organ, pews and galleries they had destroyed and used them to create a barricade outside against the approaching National Guard, who had been called out to control the crowd.

Following the riots, the old church was torn down and a new brick structure, designed in the Greek Revival style, was built from 1835-36 and opened in June 1836.

The church was closed by the Presbytery in 1963. In 1966, the church building was destroyed by fire and subsequently razed. The site is now occupied by the 42-story Trump International Hotel and Tower.
             
M.P. Möller, Inc.
Hagerstown, Md. – Opus 1116 (1910)
Tubular-pneumatic action
2 manuals, 18 stops, 16 ranks


The Agreement (Mar. 28, 1910) between M.P. Möller and Spring Street Presbyterian Church states that Möller would build a new two-manual organ for a consideration of $3,600, less a $250 allowance for the old organ blower. Möller agreed to install the organ behind the pulpit, rearranging the platform for the choir and pulpit, with the detached console facing the choir. The organ had tubular-pneumatic action and casing of native hard wood. Möller promised that the organ was to be ready for use "on or before the 1st day of September 1910 Positively," but the organ was not shipped until Nov. 22, 1910.
               
Great Organ (Manual I) – 61 notes
8
   Open Diapason
61
4
   Flute Harmonique
61
8
   Dulciana
61
4
   Principal
61
8
   Dopple Floete (wood)
61
   
               
Swell Organ (Manual II) – 61 notes, enclosed
16
   Lieblich Gedackt (wood)
73
8
   Aeolina
73
8
   Open Diapason
73
4
   Flute d'Amour (wood & metal)
73
8
   Stopped Diapason (wood)
73
8
   Oboe
73
8
   Salicional
73
8
   Vox Humana
61
8
   Vox Celeste [TC]
61
   
               
Pedal Organ – 30 notes ["A.G.O."]
16
   Open Diapason (wood)
42
8
   Octave [ext.]
—
16
   Bourdon (wood)
42
8
   Flute [ext.]
—
               
Couplers (Tablets)
    Swell to Pedal 8', 4'   Great 4'
    Great to Pedal   Swell 16', 4'
    Swell to Great 16', 8', 4'   Swell Unison Cancel
         
Mechanicals
    Tremulant   Wind Indicator
        Crescendo Indicator
         
Adjustable Combination Pistons
   
Pistons No. 1-2-3 affecting Swell & Pedal Stops
Pistons No. 4-5-6 affecting Great & Pedal Stops
         
Pedal Movements
    Great to Pedal Reversible    
    Balanced Swell Pedal    
    Grand Crescendo Pedal    
    Six Combination Pedal Pistons    
             
George W. Earle (and Beale?)
Riverhead, N.Y. (1868)
Mechanical action
2 manuals, 15 stops, 15 ranks


The first known organ for Spring Street Presbyterian Church was built in 1868 by George W. Earle (1835-1918) and had two manuals and 16 stops. Earle had apprenticed with Thomas Hall of New York City, and the Hook firm of Boston, after which he became a pipemaker in New York City. In 1864, he established the firm of Earle and Beale in New York City, and by 1870 had his own shop in Riverhead, N.Y. It is not known if wind for this organ was supplied by hand pumping or a water motor, but in 1906 an electric blower was installed by William H. Davis of New York City. In 1910, the Earle organ was replaced by a new organ built by M.P. Möller, and it seems likely that the Earle organ was moved by Möller (as their Op. 1186) to Our Lady of Vilnius Catholic Church, located nearby on Varick Street.

The following specification of a two-manual, 16-stop Earle organ in Our Lady of Vilnius Church was recorded (Aug. 22, 1912) by an employee of Louis F. Mohr & Co., a longtime organ service firm in the area. Mohr indicated the manual and pedal compasses and the number of pipes each stop in the Swell and Pedal. Handwritten notes state that the organ had a detached console, a[n electric] blower, and 873 pipes (in fact, the number adds up to 773).
               
Great Organ (Manual I) – 56 notes
8
   Open Diapason
56
4
   Harmonic Flute
56
8
   Melodia
56
4
   Principal
56
8
   Gamba
56
2 2/3
   Twelfth
56
8
   Dopple Flute
56
2
   Fifteenth
56
               
Swell Organ (Manual II) – 56 notes, enclosed
16
   Bourdon Treble
44
8
   Violin
56
16
   Bourdon Bass
12
8
   Stopped Diapason
56
8
   Open Diapason [TC]
44
8
   Oboe [TC]
44
8
   Dolce
56
      
               
Pedal Organ – 25 notes
16
   Double Open
25
        
               
Couplers & Accessories
    Swell to Pedal   Tremolo
    Great to Pedal   Balanced Swell Pedal
    Swell to Great    
             
Henry Erben
New York City (1830)
Mechanical action
1 manual, 14 stops


The American Musical Directory of 1861 shows that this organ had "1 bank keys, 14 stops, 1½ octaves pedals" and was "Built by H. Erben, in 1830."

Specifications for this organ have not yet been located.
               
Sources:
     American Musical Directory. New York: Thomas Hutchinson, 1861.
     Anderson, Lincoln. "Tales from the crypt: 'Trump bones' shed light on abolitionist believers," The Villager (Jan. 17-23, 2007).
     Burrows, Edwin G. and Mike Wallace. Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
     "Church is 100 Years Old," The New York Times (May 1, 1911).
     Dunlap, David W. From Abyssinian to Zion: A Guide to Manhattan's Houses of Worship. New York: Columbia University Press, 2004.
     Fox, David H. A Guide to North American Organbuilders (Rev. ed.). Richmond: The Organ Historical Society, 1997.
     Moment, Alfred H. Old Spring Street Presbyterian Church, New York City: the Sixty-Fifth Anniversary. Pub. by the church, 1877.
Montgomery, Paul L. “152-Year-Old Spring Street Church is Being Closed by Presbytery,” The New York
Times (Dec. 14, 1963).
     Nelson, George. Organs in the United States and Canada Database. Seattle, Wash.
     Ochse, Orpha. "A Glimpse of the 1860s," The American Organist (November 1969).
     Trupiano, Larry. Agreement and Specifications (Mar. 28, 1910) for M.P. Möller organ, Op. 1116.
     Trupiano, Larry. Contract and Specifications of M.P. Möller organ, Op. 1186 (1910).

Illustrations:
     Old Spring Street Presbyterian Church, New York City: the Sixty-Fifth Anniversary. Exterior (1877).
     New York Public LIbrary Collection. Exterior (1927).