St. Clement Episcopal Church


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St. Clement Episcopal Church

423 West 46th Street
New York, N.Y. 10036
http://stclementsnyc.org

Organ Specifications:
423 West 46th Street (since 1920):
► II/5 Wicks Organ Company, Op. 2076 (1941)
108 Amity Street (1831-1920):
• III/32 John Lowe (1814); reb. by Henry Crabb (1851)
► II/13 Hall & Erben (1825)

St. Clement's Episcopal Church, located just west of the Theatre District in the Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan, occupies a Victorian Gothic church originally built for the Faith Chapel of the West Presbyterian Church. Edward D. Lindsey designed the building, which was constructed from 1870 to 1872. Faith Chapel merged with Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church on West 66th Street, and the vacated building was used by St. Cornelius Episcopal Church, which then merged into St. Clement's Church.


1844 print of original church at 108 Amity Street

St. Clement's Church was founded in 1830 and in 1831 built its first church at 108 Amity Street (renamed West Third Street in 1875) in Greenwich Village. St. Clement's moved to its present location in 1920, absorbing members of the Chapel of St. Chrysotom, which was the first mission chapel established by Old Trinity Church.

In 1962, St. Clement's was reconfigured to include the Off-Broadway American Place Theatre, founded by the Rev. Sidney Lanier and Wynn Handman. In 1971, the American Place Theatre moved to its own home, but St. Clement's continued a notable theatre ministry, experienced every Sunday through its "Mass in the Theatre." The church is New York's oldest, continuously used, Off-Broadway theatre.

Wicks Pipe Organ Company
Highland, Ill. – Opus 2076 (1941)
Electric key and stop action
2 manuals, 20 stops, 5 ranks

The status of this organ as of 2007 is unknown.

Great Organ (Manual I) – 61 notes, enclosed

Diapason

Diapason [ext.]

Stopped Flute

Dulciana

Tremulant

Swell Organ (Manual II) – 61 notes, enclosed

Stopped Flute [TC]

Salicional [ext.]

Stopped Flute

Dulciana [ext. GT]

Salicional

2 2/3

Dulciana [ext. GT]

Dulciana

Dulciana [ext. GT]

Unda Maris [TC]

Tremulant

Stopped Flute [ext.]

Pedal Organ – 32 notes

Stopped Flute *

Dulciana

Dulciana [ext. GT] *

Salicional

Stopped Flute

* possibly common pipes with hi-lo pressures

Stop Analysis
		Pipes
16	Stopped Flute	85
8	Dulciana	85
8	Diapason	61
8	Salicional	85
8	Unda Maris [TC]	61
	Total	377

Henry Crabb organ (1851) at St. Clement Episcopal Church - New York City

Known organ in previous location at 108 Amity Street:

John Lowe
Philadelphia, Penn. (1813) – orig. in St. John's Chapel
Rebuilt by Henry Crabb, New York City (1851)
Mechanical key and stop action
3 manuals, 32 stops

This organ was originally built in 1813 by John Lowe for St. John's Chapel of Trinity Parish, but it had been captured by the British in the War of 1812. The Lowe organ was eventually recovered and installed in the chapel, serving until it was replaced in 1839 by an organ built by Thomas Robjohn. For the next twelve years, the Lowe organ was stored in the tower of St. John's Chapel. In 1844, the organ was donated to St. Clement's by Trinity Corporation but it was not installed until 1851, after being rebuilt by Henry Crabb of New York, who also provided a new case. The rebuilt organ lasted into the 20th century and was repaired by Louis F. Mohr & Co. in 1903. According to The American Musical Directory of 1861, the organ had "3 banks keys, 32 stops, 1½ octaves of pedals" and was "Built by Henry Crabb, sen., in 1852."

Specifications of this organ have not yet been located.

Organ in previous location at 108 Amity Street: Hall & Erben New York City (1825) Mechanical action 2 manuals, 16 registers, 13 stops, 13 ranks, 604 pipes John Pintard, a chief supporter of the General Theological Seminary and founder of the American Bible Society, wrote a letter to his daughter in which he mentioned attending a service at St. Clement's Church, and that the organ recently installed there had previously been used in St. Thomas Church. This organ was built by Hall & Erben in 1825 was used as a rental instrument and was sold to St. Clement's Church in 1831; it was later sold to the Free-Will Baptist Church in 1866.

Great Organ (Manual I) – 58 notes [G, A to F]
8	Open Diapason	58	2 2/3	Twelfth	58
8	Stop Diapason	58	2	Fifteenth	58
4	Principal	58	8	Cremona [TF]	37
4	Flute	58

Swell Organ (Manual II) – 58 notes [G, A to F], enclosed
8	Open Diapason [TF]	37	8	Dulciana [TF]	37
8	St. Diapason Bass	21	4	Principal [TF]	37
8	St. Diapason Treble [TF]	37	8	Trumpet [TF]	37

Pedal Organ – 17 notes [G, A to C], 13 pipes
16	Double Open Diapason	13

Couplers
	Great Organ to Swell
	Great Organ to Pedals

Sources:
     American Musical Directory. New York: Thomas Hutchinson, 1861.
     The American Organist, New York, April 1942; Specifications of Wicks Organ, Op. 2076 (1941); courtesy Jeff Scofield.
     Boston Organ Club Newsletter? (date unknown). Specifications of Henry Erben Organ (1831) - actually the Hall & Erben Organ (1825) as installed in the Free-Will Baptist Church. Courtesy Larry Trupiano.
     Dunlap, David W. From Abyssinian to Zion: A Guide to Manhattan's Houses of Worship. New York: Columbia University Press, 2004.
     Ochse, Orpha. "A Glimpse of the 1860s," The American Organist, November 1969.
     Ogasapian, John. Organ Building in New York City: 1700-1900. Braintree: The Organ Literature Foundation, 1977.
     Organ Historical Society Pipe Organ Database website: http://organsociety.bsc.edu
     St. Clement's Episcopal Church website: http://www.stclementsnyc.org/
     Speller, John. "Henry Crabb: An Ancient Tradition of Organbuilding Moves from Devonshire to New York," The Tracker, 43:3 (1999), pp. 13-14.

Photos:
     Exterior: http://www.hellskitchennyc.com
     Organ Historical Society American Organ Archives: Henry Crabb organ (1851) in St. Clement's Church; courtesy John Speller.

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