Prospect Heights High School - Brooklyn, NY
 
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Prospect Heights High School
(originally Girls' Commercial High School)

883 Classon Avenue at Eastern Parkway
Brooklyn, N.Y. 11225


The Girls' Commercial High School, later to become Prospect Heights High School, was built in the 1920s on Classon Avenue and Eastern Parkway in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn. Located across the street are the Brooklyn Museum and Botanical Gardens, and the school's exterior was designed to harmonize with them. The large facility accomodated 3,500 students in fifty regular classrooms and other specialized laboratories and working rooms. Also in the building were a 1,500-seat auditorium, one large and two small gymnasiums, a swimming pool, a roof playground, a teachers' lunch room, a students' cafeteria, a laundry room, a school bank, a printing room and office for school publications, eighteen small offices for department heads, a vault for official records, and two passenger elevators. The auditorium and gymnasiums had outdoor entrances so they could be used for community purposes without granting access to other parts of the building.

At some point, the all-girls high school became coeducational and was renamed Prospect Heights High School. After many years of decline and falling academic levels, the school graduated its last class in June 2006 and is now closed. The Prospect Heights building now houses four small high schools: the Brooklyn School for Music and Theater, Brooklyn Academy for Science and the Environment, International High School at Prospect Heights, and the High School for Global Citizenship.

A famous alumni of Girls' Commercial High School is the actress Susan Hayward.
                 
M.P. Möller, Inc.
Hagerstown, Md. – Opus 4488 (1926)
Electro-pneumatic action
3 manuals, 38 stops, 31 ranks


In January 1925, the M.P. Möller company received a contract to build seven identical organs for high schools in the boroughs of New York City. High Schools receiving the new organs included Julia Richman (Op. 4485) and George Washington (Op. 4486) in Manhattan; and Thomas Jefferson (Op. 4487), Girls' Commercial (Op. 4488), New Utrecht (Op. 4489), and James Madison (Op. 4491) in Brooklyn; and Flushing High School (Op. 4492) in Queens.

The Möller organ in the auditorium of Girls' Commercial High School was the fourth of the seven organs to be installed, and it had a three-manual stop-key console. Wind pressure for the organ was 5 inches, except for the 16' Tuba, which was on 10 inches. The status of this organ in 2007 is unknown.
               
Great Organ (Manual II) – 61 notes, enclosed with Choir except as noted
8
   Major Diapason *
73
8
   Clarabella
73
8
   English Diapason *
73
4
   Harmonic Flute
73
8
   Gamba
73
4
   Octave
73
8
   Gross Flute
73
8
   Tuba
73
8
   Dulciana
CH
    
* unenclosed
 
      
 
      
Swell Organ (Manual III) – 61 notes, enclosed
16
   Lieblich Gedeckt
73
2
   Flautino
73
8
   Open Diapason
73
     Dolce Cornet III ranks
—
8
   Stopped Flute
73
          [derived from 2' Flautino]  
8
   Salicional
73
8
   Oboe
73
8
   Vox Celeste [TC]
61
8
   Cornopean
73
8
   Aeoline
73
8
   Vox Humana [sep. box & trem.]
61
4
   Rohr Flute
73
     Tremulant
4
   Gambette
73
        
               
Choir Organ (Manual I) – 61 notes, enclosed with Great
16
   Contra Dulciana
85
2
   Piccolo [Harmonic]
61
8
   Geigen Principal
73
8
   Clarinet
73
8
   Concert Flute
73
8
   English Horn
73
8
   Dulciana [ext.]
—
     Tremulant  
8
   Viol Celeste
73
    
Concert Harp
49 bars
4
   Flute d'Amour
73
        
               
Pedal Organ – 32 notes
32
   Resultant
—
8
   'Cello
32
16
   Open Diapason
32
8
   Flute [GT Gross Flute]
GT
16
   Bourdon
32
16
   Tromba [ext. GT]
12
16
   Lieblich Gedeckt
SW
        
               
Couplers
    Great to Pedal 8', 4'       Swell to Choir 16', 8', 4'  
    Swell to Pedal 8', 4'       Great 16', 4'  
    Choir to Pedal 8', 4'       Swell 16', 4'  
    Swell to Great 16', 8', 4'       Choir 16', 4'  
    Choir to Great 16', 8', 4'          
               
Piston Combinations (Adjustable at Organ Bench and Moving Registers)
    Pistons No. 1-2-3-4-5 operating on Swell Organ
    Pistons No. 1-2-3-4 operating on Choir Organ
    Pistons No. 1-2-3-4 operating on Great Organ
    Pistons No. 1-2-3 operating on Pedal Organ
    Pistons No. 1-2-3-0 Three Pedal Pistons and Release adjustable to full organ combinations
               
   
When operating Pedal Pistons all stop action must automatically be cancelled (without affecting the position of the stop registers) thereby allowing the performer to prepare in advance while playing any combination desired which may be brought into operation at the desired moment by pressing Release Pistons.
               
Pedal Movements
    Balanced Swell Pedal   Great to Pedal Reversible
    Balanced Choir and Great Pedal   Crescendo-Sforzando Pedal
               
Accessories
1.
   Swell Tremulant  
2.
   Choir Tremulant  
3.
   Wind Indicator  
4.
   Crescendo Indicator  
5.
   Electric Action Generator  
6.
   Electric Motor & Rotary Blower  
7.
}
    
8.
}
 Indicator Lights for Pedal Pistons  
9.
}
    
10.
   Organ Bench with Music Shelf  
                 
Sources:
     Inside Schools web site: http://insideschools.org/fs/school_profile.php?id=1028
     Nelson, George. Organs in the United States and Canada Database. Seattle, Wash.
     "New High School to Serve Adults Also," The New York Times, July 30, 1922.
     Trupiano, Larry. Factory Specifications for M.P. Möller organ, Op. 4486, January 14, 1925.

Illustration:
     Bridge and Tunnel Club web site: www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com: exterior.