Greene Avenue Presbyterian Church - Brooklyn, N.Y.
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Greene Avenue Presbyterian Church

957-63 Greene Avenue
Brooklyn, N.Y. 11221


Organ Specifications:
957-63 Greene Avenue
Third or rebuilt second building (1910-1928)
► II/23 F.J.N. Tallman (1910)
Second building (1900-burned 1910)
► II/16 W.W. Kimball Co. (1902)
First building (1874-1899)
• William H. Davis (1889)
• Unknown Builder (c.1874)


The Greene Avenue Presbyterian Church was organized in May 1874, by the "liberality of Mr. A. M. Earle." A wooden church was built on Greene Avenue, between Reid and Patchen Avenues, that served the society for a quarter of a century. This edifice was replaced by a modern structure on the same site. Designed in the Romanesque style, the façade included two unequal towers, the tallest one rising to 112 feet and containing a bell weighing 1,000 pounds in the open belfry. The church cost about $30,000 and was dedicated on May 5, 1900, the twenty-sixth anniversary of the society's organization. Ten years later, on April 9, 1910, the church was almost completely destroyed by a fire blamed on a defective electric light wire connecting with the organ. The damage was placed at $50,000.

In May 1928, the church property was sold to a developer who planned to errect a six-story elevator apartment building. It is not known if the congregation merged with another church or disbanded.
             
F.J.N. Tallman
New York City or Brooklyn (1910)
Tubular-pneumatic action
2 manuals, 23 stops, 23 ranks


In 1910, F.J.N. Tallman built a two-manual organ for the Greene Avenue Church. Tallman (1860-1950) worked with the Roosevelt firm of New York City in the 1880s, and by 1894 had established Tallman & Co., an organ factory and music store, in Nyack, N.Y. Around 1903 or 1904 he relocated his business to New York City (possibly Brooklyn).

The following specification is derived from a page recorded (Oct. 20, 1922) by Louis F. Mohr & Co., a local organ service firm, and an "Organ Notebook" kept by Charles Scharpeger, an employee of Mohr & Co. Scharpeger noted that the organ had tubular action to slider chests, and that the pedal chests were ventil.
               
Great Organ (Manual I) – 61 notes
16
   Open Diapason
61
8
   Melodia
61
8
   Open Diapason
61
8
   Dulciana
61
8
   Gamba
61
4
   Flute d'Amour
61
8
   Dopple Flute
61
4
   Octave
61

 

      

 

      
Swell Organ (Manual II) – 61 notes, enclosed
16
   Bourdon Treble
49
4
   Flute Harmonic
61
16
   Bourdon Bass
12
4
   Violina
61
8
   Open Diapason
61
2
   Flautina
61
8
   Stopped Diapason
61
8
  
Cornopean
61
8
   Salicional
61
8
   Oboe
61
8
   Vox Celeste
61
8
   Vox Humana
61
8
   Aeoline
61
     Tremolo  

 

      

 

      
Pedal Organ – 30 notes
16
   Open Diapason
30
8
   Cello
30
16
   Bourdon
30
        
               
Couplers ("5 couplers")
    Great to Pedal   Swell to Great
    Swell to Pedal   Swell to Great 4'
        Great to Great 4'
         
Pedal Movements
    Balanced Swell Pedal    
    Crescendo Pedal    
             
W. W. Kimball Company
Chicago, Ill. (1902)
Tubular-pneumatic action
2 manuals, 17 stops, 16 ranks


For their second building, the Greene Avenue church contracted with W.W. Kimball of Chicago to build a new organ. The Brooklyn Eagle (Oct. 3, 1902) reported: "The organ is said to be the most perfect instrument of its size in the borough, containing features entirely new in the history of organ building." The article also listed the stops, but no compasses or pipecounts were given; they are suggested below, based on similar Kimball organs of the period. The dedicatory recital was played by Dr. Gerrit Smith, organist of the South Reformed Church in New York City, on Tuesday, October 7, 1902. Dr. Smith was joined by Mrs. Lida Price Losee, soprano of the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn.

This organ burned with the church on April 9, 1910. According to The New York Times (Apr. 10, 1910), "A defective electric light wire connecting with the organ behind the pulpit is believed to have caused the blaze. The organ was only installed in the church two [sic] years ago, at a cost of $4,000. It was operated by electricity."
               
Great Organ(Manual I) – 61 notes
8
   Open Diapason
61
4
   Octave
61
8
   Gamba
61
2 2/3
   Twelfth
61
8
   Dulciana
61
2
   Fifteenth
61
8
   Melodia
61
        
               
Swell Organ (Manual II) – 61 notes, enclosed
16
   Bourdon (divided)
61
8
   Stopped Diapason
61
8
   Open Diapason
61
4
   Flute d'Amour
61
8
   Salicional
61
8
   Oboe and Bassoon
61
8
   Aeoline
61
8
  
Vox Humana
61
               
Pedal Organ – 30 notes
16
   Bourdon
30
        
16
   Lieblich Gedeckt
SW
        
               
Accessories ("12 accessories" mentioned in article; following are suggestions)
    [Balanced Swell Pedal]   [Tremolo]
    Grand Crescendo Pedal – in article   [2 Pedal Combinations to Great]
    [Great to Pedal]   [2 Pedal Combinations to Swell]
    [Swell to Pedal]   [Great to Pedal Reversible]
    [Swell to Great]    
    [Swell to Great Octaves]    
             
William H. Davis
New York City (1889)
Mechanical action


Specifications for this organ have not yet been located.
             
Unknown Builder
(c.1874)
Mechanical action


The Brooklyn Eagle (Jun. 23, 1875) reported that the "first festival of the Greene avenue Presbyterian Church, recently founded by the liberality of Mr. A. M. Earle, was held last evening at Ridgewood Hall ... for the purpose of purchasing an organ." Apparently, an organ was not purchased as an article in the Brooklyn Eagle (Jan. 19, 1888) concerning "rumored troubles" stated, "The church has been in existence twelve years and it is said that it has had a continual struggle, the original wooden benches still serving for pews and the organ being hired by the month."

Specifications for this organ have not yet been located.
               
Sources:
     "A New Organ. Dedicatory Recital by Dr. Gerrit Smith and Mrs. Losee," Brooklyn Eagle (Oct. 3, 1902).
     "Brooklyn Church Burned," The New York Times (Apr. 10, 1910).
     "Church Reunion. Dedication Services of the Greene Avenue Presbyterian Edifice Continued Last Night," Brooklyn Eagle (May 11, 1900).
     "Flats Will Replace Church in Brooklyn," The New York Times (May 5, 1928).
     Fox, David H. A Guide to North American Organbuilders (Rev. ed.). Richmond: The Organ Historical Society, 1997.
     "Greene Avenue Presbyterian Church," Brooklyn Eagle (Jun. 23, 1875).
     "Greene Avenue Presbyterian Church," Brooklyn Eagle (Jan. 19, 1888).
     Mohr, Louis F. & Co. Specifications of F.J.N. Tallman organ (1910). Courtesy Larry Trupiano.
     Nelson, George. Organs in the United States and Canada Database. Seattle, Wash.
     "Plans For a New Church," Brooklyn Eagle (Apr. 6, 1899).
     Scharpeger, Charles. "Organ Notebook" with specifications of F.J.N. Tallman organ (1910). Courtesy Larry Trupiano.

Illustration:
     Brooklyn Collection, Brooklyn Public Library: 190_? exterior.