Spanish Calvary Baptist Church - Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY
 
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New Beginnings Church
(Baptist)

199 North 5th Street near Driggs Avenue
Brooklyn, N.Y. 11211






The New Beginnings Church, known as Spanish Calvary Baptist Church from 1965 until 2008, occupies the frame edifice built c.1864 for St. Matthew German Evangelical Lutheran Church.
           
  Wm. & Chas. H. Pilcher Organ in the Spanish Calvary Baptist Church - Williamsburg, Brooklyn, N.Y. (photo: Keith Bigger)
Wm. & Chas. H. Pilcher
Brooklyn, N.Y. (1901)
Mechanical key and stop action
2 manuals, 9 stops, 9 ranks



The organ in St. Matthew's Church was built in 1901 by Wm. & Chas. H. Pilcher of Brooklyn. Located in the rear gallery, the mechanical action organ included a hitch-down swell pedal and a double-rise reservoir with two feeders.

By the 1950s, leaking water, soot, and decay rendered the organ unplayable. The Baptist congregation did not use this organ in their services. After half a century of being silent, the organ was removed in 2012 by Parsons Pipe Organ Builders of Canandaigua, N.Y. Following a complete restoration by Parsons, the Pilcher organ was installed in the chapel of the Clifton Springs Sanitarium in Clifton Springs, N.Y., and rededicated on January 18, 2013.
               
Great Organ (Manual I) – 61 notes
8
   Gamba
61
4
   Flute d'Amour
61
8
   Melodia
61
2
   Flageolet
61
4
   Principal
61
        
 
     
 
     
Swell Organ (Manual II) – 61 notes, enclosed
8
  Keraulophone
61
4
  Violin
61
8
   Gedackt
61
     Tremolo  
               
Pedal Organ – 27 notes
16
   Bourdon
27
        
               
Couplers & Accessories
    Great to Swell       Bellows Signal  
    Pedal to Swell       Pedal Check  
    Pedal to Great       Hitch-down Swell Pedal
             
Wm. & Chas. H. Pilcher Organ in the Spanish Calvary Baptist Church - Williamsburg, Brooklyn, N.Y. (photo: Keith Bigger)   Wm. & Chas. H. Pilcher Organ in the Spanish Calvary Baptist Church - Williamsburg, Brooklyn, N.Y. (photo: Keith Bigger)
     
Wm. & Chas. H. Pilcher Organ in the Spanish Calvary Baptist Church - Williamsburg, Brooklyn, N.Y. (photo: Keith Bigger)
           
Sources:
     Bigger, Keith. Specifications of Wm. & Chas. H. Pilcher organ.
     Pipe Organ Re-Dedication Program Book (Jan. 18, 2013), Clifton Springs Hospital, Clifton Springs, N.Y.. Courtesy Keith Bigger.

Illustrations:
     Bigger, Keith: Wm. & Chas. H. Pilcher organ.
     The Brooklyn Eagle (Brooklyn Collection, Brooklyn Public Library): 1939 photo of St. Matthew Lutheran Church.