Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church - New York City (MCNY Collection)
  Asbury M.E. Church ca. 1884 (MCNY)
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Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church

84 Washington Square East at Washington Place
New York, N.Y. 10003


Organ Specifications:
► III/26 Richard M. Ferris (1853)
• III/ Henry Crabb (1841)



The Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in 1831 as the Green Street Methodist Church. In its early years, the church was the most commodious place of worship for that denomination in New York. The early church building was the site of many important events, including the National Conference, in which the "North" and "South" branches were established, and where Bishop Janes was elected. It was in the Greene Street Church that the movement arose which resulted in the breaking up of the custom of separating the men and women at Methodist church meetings.

As the population of New York moved northward, the neighborhood around the church changed from residential to business. The church property was sold for $100,000, and the former Washington Square Reformed Dutch Church was purchased for $80,000. After the new church was repainted, frescoed and upholstered at an expense of $10,000, the congregation opened their new church on June 4, 1876. Owing to the new location, the society was renamed the Asbury Church in honor of the first Methodist Episcopal bishop ordained in America. In 1893, Asbury Methodist merged into the nearby Washington Square Methodist Episcopal Church, and the old church was demolished in 1895.
           
  Henry Crabb/Richard Ferris organ in Washington Square Reformed Dutch Church - New York City
Richard M. Ferris
New York City (1853)
Mechanical action
3 manuals, 22 stops, 26 ranks


In 1853, Richard M. Ferris rebuilt the 1841 Henry Crabb organ that had been installed in the Washington Square Reformed Dutch Church. Ferris added the prepared-for stops and possibly additional couplers; it seems likely that Ferris also converted the organ from G-compass to C-compass. In 1895, this organ was given to the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association in New Jersey; the stoplist at that time was as follows:
               
Great Organ (Manual II) – 54 notes
8
   Open Diapason
54
2
   Fifteenth
54
8
   Stop Diapason       Sesquialtera, 3 ranks
162
4
   Principal
54
8
   Trumpet
54
3
   Twelfth
54
        
               
Swell Organ (Manual III) – 54 notes, enclosed
16
   Bourdon (TC)
42
4
   [Principal]
54
8
   Open Diapason (TC)
42
     Cornet, 3 ranks
162
8
   Dulciana (TC)
42
8
   Trumpet (TC)
54
8
   Stop Diapason Bass
12
4
   Clarion (TC)
54
8
   Stop Diapason (TC)
42
        
               
Choir Organ (Manual I) – 54 notes
8
   Dulciana
54
4
   Flute
54
8
   Stop Diapason
54
8
   Cremona
54
4
   Principal
54
        
               
Pedal Organ – 25 notes
16
   Open Diapason
25
        
16
   Double Stop Diapason
25
        
               
Couplers &c.
    Swell to Great       Great to Pedal  
    Choir to Great       Swell to Pedal  
    Swell to Choir       Choir to Pedal  
            Bellows signal  
           
Henry Crabb
Flatbush, L.I. (1841)
Mechanical action
2 manuals


In 1841, Henry Crabb of Flatbush built a new organ for the Washington Square Dutch Reformed Church. The two-manual and pedal organ included a number of prepared-for stops. Specifications of this organ have not yet been located.
           
Sources:
     A Picture of New-York in 1846; With a Short Account of Places in its Vicinity; Designed as a Guide to Citizens and Strangers: with Numerous Engravings, and a Map of the City. New-York: C.S. Francis & Co., 1846.
     "Asbury Church Abandoned," The New York Times (Oct. 9, 1893).
     Dolkart, Andrew S. and Matthew A. Postal. Guide to New York City Landmarks (Third Edition). New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2004.
     Folpe, Emily Kies. It Happened on Washington Square, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002.
     Speller, John. "Henry Crabb: An Ancient Tradition of Organbuilding Moves from Devonshire to New York," The Tracker (43:3, 1999):14.
     "The Asbury M.E. Church. Ceremonies at its Opening," The New York Times (June 5, 1876).

Illustrations:
     Exterior (ca. 1884). Collection of the Museum of the City of New York.
     "Organ Scrapbook" in The New-York Historical Society. Undated photo of Henry Crabb / Richard Ferris organ. Courtesy Larry Trupiano.