Click on images to enlarge Church of St. Ignatius of Antioch (Episcopal) 552 West End Avenue at 87th Street New York, N.Y. 10024 http://www.saintignatiusnyc.org Organ Specifications: 552 West End Avenue at 87th Street (since 1902) ► III/44 Casavant Frères, Op. 2892 (1966) ► I/7 Flentrop Orgelbouw (1960) ► II/9 Skinner Organ Company, Op. 777 (1929) 56 West 40th Street (1872-1902) • II/29 Hook & Hastings, Op. 1321 (1886) • I/ Ferris & Stuart (1862) 437 Seventh Avenue (1871-1872) • Geo. Jardine & Son (1869)   St. Paul's Dutch Reformed Church   The Protestant Episcopal Church of St. Ignatius of Antioch was founded in December of 1871 by the Rev. Dr. Ferdinand C. Ewer during a time that marked the height of antagonism between the evangelical Low Church and the ritualistic High Church Episcopalians.  Dr. Ewer left his rectorship at Christ Church following a dramatic controversy over his defiant stand for the Catholicity of the Church, the centrality of the historic episcopate, and his devotion to the Anglo-Catholic movement. In the early months of the parish, the congregation rented the former Holy Light Church (a parish for the blind) at 437 Seventh Avenue, between 33rd and 34th Streets, before renting and eventually purchasing the former St. Paul's Dutch Reformed Church, located at 54-56 West 40th Street and facing Reservoir-square (known later as Bryant Park).  By the turn of the century, the surrounding neighborhood was beginning to lose its residential character, and many parish members had moved to the recently fashionable Upper West Side.  Likewise, a cruciform church in a more scholarly Gothic manner would be necessary for Father Arthur Ritchie’s increasingly elaborate liturgy carried out in due and ancient form.  A site 75 by 100 feet was bought at the present location—creating the space needed for liturgical processions. Notwithstanding the stringent objections of other Episcopal churches in the area (of which there were six from 69th Street to 99th Street), Bishop Potter approved the move.  Perhaps he was tired of arguing with Fr. Ritchie as he was eager to get him out of his very visible mid-town location.  Charles Coolidge Haight, the noted architect of collegiate and ecclesiastical buildings in New York and New Haven, and most famous for his work at the General Theological Seminary, was hired to design a new church for the parish. Saint Ignatius’ Church is located in a neighborhood that was developed with brownstones (single family houses) in the 1880s and with successive waves of high-rise apartment houses in the 1930s and again in the 1950s. The church building is English Gothic in character, distinguished by its stained glass windows (from Birmingham, England, ca.1925), its Roman brick interior, and its Guastavino ceiling tiles, which are interlocking and self-supporting. The church proper, which seats about 325 persons, occupies most of the building. There is a tower that houses the Sacristy, a Library/Common Room and, on the top floor, a one-bedroom apartment.   On January 5, 1902, the first services were held in the crypt of the new church, and on October 19 of the same year, in the newly completed building upstairs.  Bishop Potter expressed his disapproval of the Catholic ritual of Saint Ignatius’ Church by his absence from the formal opening, although he readily gave assent to Father Ritchie’s request to invite Bishop Charles Grafton—a distinguished Anglo-Catholic prelate—of the Diocese of Fond du Lac in Wisconsin. Unable to pay the sizeable mortgage on the new building due to unfilled hopes for funds from Father Ritchie’s will, St. Ignatius was not consecrated until February 8, 1925.  Much of the existing furniture and decorations date from this period, when the slightly enriched parish hired the celebrated Boston architects Cram and Ferguson to design decoration for the chancel, nave, and Lady Chapel.              Casavant Frères, Limitée St. Hyacinthe, Québec, Canada – Opus 2892 (1966) Electro-pneumatic key action 3 manuals, 33 stops, 44 ranks The Casavant organ is installed in the original choir gallery of the north transept, behind the modified organ case by the Skinner Organ Company. The three-manual rocker-tab console is located on the nave floor.                 Grand Orgue (Manual I) – 61 notes 8   Montre 61 4   Flûte à fuseau 61 8   Flûte à cheminée 61 2   Flûte à bec 61 4   Prestant 61 1 1/3   Fourniture IV ranks 244             Positive (Manual II) – 61 notes 8   Bourdon 61 1 3/5   Tierce 61 4   Principal 61 2/3   Cymbale IV ranks + 244 2 2/3   Nasard 61 8   Cromorne 61 2   Octave 61   + orig. Cymbale III ranks (1/3')               Récit expressif (Manual III) – 61 notes, enclosed 8   Bourdon 61 16   Basson [L/2] 61 8   Gambe 61 8   Trompette 61 8   Voix céleste * 61 4   Clairon * 61 4   Prestant * 61 8   Voix humaine * 61 4   Flûte conique 61   Tremulant 2   Doublette 61   ° orig. Cymbale IV ranks (1-1/3') 1 1/3   Plein Jeu V ranks ° 305                     Pédale – 32 notes 32   Basse acoustique * — 4   Octave 32 16   Montre 32 2   Fourniture III ranks 96 16   Soubasse 32 16   Bombarde [L/2] 32 8   Octave basse 32 4   Chalumeau 32 8   Flûte bouchée 32                       Choir (console preparation only) 8   Flûte [to be placed in choir gallery and played only through coupler to Positive]                         * not included on original contract                   Previous organ in present church: Flentrop Orgelbouw Zaandam, The Netherlands (1960) Mechanical action 1 manual, 6 stops, 7 ranks This "orgelpositief" was built in 1960 for St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Pittsburgh, Penn. About 1966, the organ was sold to a private individual who planned to install it in his West Side residence in New York City. For several years the organ was stored behind a chain link fence in The Spike, a bar located on Eleventh Avenue at 20th Street in Chelsea. About 1990, the organ was moved to St. Ignatius of Antioch, and still later (ca.1995) to St. Thomas More Catholic Church on East 89th Street where it is extant in the chapel.                 Manuaal – 56 notes (c1-g56) 8   Holpijp 56         8   Quintadeen 56         4   Prestant 56         4   Roerfluit 56         2   Gemshoorn 56           Cymbel I-II fach 88                         Pedaal – 32 notes (c1-g32)     permanently coupled to manuaal                   Skinner Organ Company Boston, Mass. – Opus 777 (1929) Electro-pneumatic action 2 manuals, 24 stops, 9 ranks, 573 pipes This organ was originally built for the Scarsdale, N.Y. residence of Otto Meyer (1875-1935), who was president of the Meyer-Brown Corporation, New York rubber merchants. At an unknown time, the organ was moved to St. Ignatius of Antioch Church where it was installed in the choir gallery. Skinner provided an organ case to screen the pipes. In 1966, the organ was acquired by David Friedell, who installed the organ in his Sparta, N.J. residence, then in Newton, NJ; in 1999 most of the chests and pipes were removed to Mr. Friedell's residence in Stonington, Maine.                 Great Organ (Manual I) – 61 notes     Expression I       Expression II   8   Diapason 61 16   Bourdon [ext.] 12 8   Voix Celeste II ranks 122 8   Chimney Flute 61 8   Flute Celeste II ranks 110 4   Flute [ext.] 12       2 2/3   Nazard —         2   Piccolo [ext.] 12         8   Flugel Horn 61         8   Vox Humana 61         8   English Horn 61         Tremolo   Swell Organ (Manual II) – 61 notes   Duplicate of Great                       Pedal Organ – 32 notes 16   Bourdon MAN         16   Gedeckt MAN                     Organ in church located at 56 West 40th Street: Hook & Hastings Boston, Mass. – Opus 1321 (1886) Mechanical action 2 manuals, 29 registers This organ by Hook & Hastings was installed in the chancel of the previous church on West 40th Street. It is possible that the organ was moved to the present church in 1902. Specifications for this organ have not yet been located.             Organ in church located at 56 West 40th Street: Ferris & Stuart New York City (1862) Mechanical action 1 manual The specifications of this organ have not yet been located.             Organ in church located at 437 Seventh Avenue: Geo. Jardine & Son New York City (1869) Mechanical action The specifications of this organ have not yet been located.             Sources:      Aeolian-Skinner Archives: http://aeolian-skinner.110mb.com/      Scheer, Stanley. Casavant Frères, Limitée Factory Specification, Opus 2892, October 27, 1964.      Church of St. Ignatius of Antioch website: http://www.saintignatiusnyc.org      Flentrop Orgelbouw website: http://www.flentrop.nl/indexuk.html      Gray, Louis H. "A History of Parish of Saint Ignatius in the City of New York: 1781-1946," published on the church website.      Kinzey, Allen, and Sand Lawn. E.M. Skinner/Aeolian-Skinner Opus List (New Revised Edition). Richmond: The Organ Historical Society, 1997.      Nelson, George. Organs in the United States and Canada Database. Seattle, Wash.      Sachs, Charles L. "The Charles F. Zabriskie Photographic Collection," master's thesis for State University of New York College at Oneonta, 1982.      "Services in a New Edifice: Opening of St. Ignatius P.E. Church at West End Avenue and West Eighty-seventh Street," The New York Times, October 20, 1902.      Van Pelt, William T. The Hook Opus List, 1829-1916 in Facsimile. Richmond: The Organ Historical Society, 1991. Photos:      Flentrop Orgelbouw: Flentrop organ      Gray, Louis H.: St. Paul's Dutch Reformed Church      Lawson, Steven E.: church interior; Casavant organ and case             | NYC AGO Home Page | Back to NYC Organ Project List |