William F. Kenny (Associated Press, 1929)
  William F. Kenny in 1929
William F. Kenny Residence

Shore Road and Oliver (now 91st) Street
Brooklyn, N.Y. 11209


Organ Specifications:
► II/16 J.H. & C.S. Odell & Co., Op. 516 (1917)
► II/10 J.H. & C.S. Odell & Co., Op. 478 (1912)



William F. Kenny was born in New York City in 1868, the son of Thomas A. Kenny, chief of the Third Battalion of the Fire Department. While growing up in the Lower East Side, he was a boyhood friend of Alfred E. Smith, who would later serve four terms as Governor of New York.

At the age of 13, Kenny ran away from home and landed in the Texas plains, where he punched cattle for three years. He recalled later that he next worked on practically every railroad in the country, usually as "a pick and shovel foreman." Eventually, he returned to New York and found employment with the New York Edison Company. After his marriage, in 1898, to the former Mary E. Hickey, the couple saved their money until he was able to hire employees and start his own contracting business. The business flourished rapidly and within a few years he was able to quit his job with New York Edison in order to devote his energy full-time as president of the W. F. Kenny Contracting Company. In collaboration with the wealthy Bradys, Kenny became a contractor for the New York Edison Company, Brooklyn Edison Company, and Consolidated Gas Company of New York, amassing a fortune estimated to be as high as $30,000,000.

Through the years, Kenny was only moderately interested in politics, although as the owner of the "Tiger Room," the celebrated meeting place of Tammany politicans and friends, he found himself increasingly in the public eye. Kenny also followed the political rise of his life-long friend, Alfred E. Smith, and when Smith ran for President of the United States in 1928, Kenny made the largest individual contribution ($125,000) to the Democratic slush fund.

William and Mary Kenny had seven children: three sons and four daughters. In 1923, daughter Alice Joseph Kenny married Count Francis Bacon Kuhn de Prorok, although that marriage ended in divorce. One son, Dennis J. Kenny, who at the age of 20 was preparing to enter Yale University, met a tragic death in February 1925, after he was shot by an unlicensed taxi driver following a dispute over a $5 fare.

The Kennys resided for many years in a palatial home on Shore Road and Oliver (now 91st) Street in the Bay Ridge area of Brooklyn. In 1921 (some sources state 1925), the Kenny residence was given up in return for other properties valued at about $1,850,000, and the Kennys moved to 820 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Over the following years they would live in various large apartments in the city. The Brooklyn residence became the Shore Road Hospital.

William F. Kenny died on August 13, 1951, during a visit to Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania.
             
J.H. & C.S. Odell & Co.
New York City – Opus 516 (1917)
Electro-pneumatic action
2 manuals, 17 stops, 16 ranks
Automatic player


In 1917, the Odells rebuilt their earlier organ (Op. 478) that had been installed in 1912, adding an Echo Division and changing the action to electro-pneumatic. The Articles of Agreement dated September 8, 1917, include the specifications for a two-manual organ that employed the "Odell Electro-Magnetic System." Installed in two chambers, the Main Organ was to be situated in the bay on the Main Hall stair platform, with the Echo Organ Chamber situated in the existing Cedar Room. Although the Agreement stated that "other parties" were to provide "all case, woodwork and pipe display necessary to enclose the organ," Odell provided the console case of oak, "to be of appropriate design and finished to match the woodwork in the foyer hall." The detached console had interior woodwork of mahagony and was placed in a position at the foot of the staircase of the Main Hall. Above the overhanging keyboards of the best ivory and ebony were tilting tablets that controlled the speaking stops and couplers. The Agreement stated that the organ would be complete and ready for use on or before the 15th day of March, 1918, for a consideration of $9,125. However, in a letter dated September 11, 1917 (three days after the contract), Mr. Kenny wrote that he agreed to pay an additional charge of $400 for Odell "to furnish the necessary front display pipes for both the main organ and the echo and chime organ." A handwritten note on the same letter states, "Order given for player by 'phone by Mr. Kenny and $1000 paid on account of same. Oct 4/17." Thus, the total cost of the organ came to $10,525.

The Odell Company Ledger Books show that the organ was regularly tuned after the residence became the Shore Road Hospital, and that it was eventually sold to Central Park Baptist Church in Manhattan.
               
Great Organ – 61 notes, enclosed
8
  Open Diapason
61
8
   Viola
61
8
  Dulciana
61
4
  Harmonic Flute
61
8
   Concert Flute (wood)
61
8
   Clarinet
61
               
Swell Organ – 61 notes, enclosed
16
   Bourdon (wood)
61
8
   Diapason d'Amour (wood)
61
8
   Viol d'Orchestre
61
4
   Rohr Flute (wood & metal)
61
8
  Orchestre Celeste (TC)
49
8
   Orchestral Oboe
61
               
Echo Organ – 61 notes, enclosed (playable from Great Organ key board)
8
   Stopped Diapason (wood)
61
     Vox Humana
61
8
   Echo Salicional
61
    
Cathedral Chimes
20 tubes
8
   Unda Maris (TC)
49
        
               
Pedal Organ – 30 notes
16
   Sub Bass
SW
        
               
Couplers
    Swell to Great 16', 8', 4'   Swell to Pedal
    Echo to Great 8'   Great to Pedal *
    Swell to Swell 16', 4'   Pedal to Pedal Octaves
    Great to Great 16', 4' *  
* also affects Echo Division
               
Pedal Movements
    Great to Pedal Reversible   Balanced Swell Pedal – Swell
    Balanced Swell Pedal – Great & Echo   Balanced Crescendo Pedal
               
Piston Combinations (Adjustable at Organ Bench and moving Registers)
    Pistons No. 1-2-3 Operating on Great Organ
    Pistons No. 1-2-3 Operating on Swell Organ
               
Accessories
    Great Organ Tremulant   Crescendo Indicator
    Swell Organ Tremulant   Electric Action Generator
    Echo Organ Tremulant   Electric Motor and Blower
    Wind Indicator   Organist's Bench
             
J.H. & C.S. Odell & Co.
New York City – Opus 478 (1912)
Tubular-pneumatic action
2 manuals, 10 stops, 10 ranks


The first pipe organ installed in Mr. Kenny's residence was built in 1912 by J.H. & C.S. Odell of New York City. From the Articles of Agreement (March 7, 1912) we read that the organ would have case-work of mahogany with display pipes gilded with pure gold leaf. The console would have overhanging keyboards of ivory and ebony, with speaking stops and couplers controlled by tilting tablets above the upper manual. Odell employed tubular pneumatic action ("Odell Patent Vacuo-exhaust System") and their "Odell Improved Chests." The organ was to be "set up all complete ready for use" on or before the first day of September 1912. While the contract price notes the organ was to cost $2,750, a pencilled-in note indicated that a 61-note Vox Humana in the Swell and Chimes were added for another $375, bringing the total cost to $3,125.
               
Great Organ – 61 notes
8
  Open Diapason
61
8
   Unison Bass
12
8
  Dulciana (TC)
49
4
  Octave
61
8
   Melodia (TC)
49
     Chimes  
               
Swell Organ – 61 notes, enclosed
8
  Salicional
61
8
   Stopped Diapason Bass
12
8
   Aeoline (TC)
49
4
   Rohr Flote
61
8
  Stopped Diapason (TC)
49
8
   Vox Humana
61
               
Pedal Organ – 30 notes
16
   Bourdon
30
        
               
Couplers
    Swell to Pedal   Swell to Great 16', 8', 4'
    Great to Pedal    
               
Piston Combinations (Adjustable)
    Great Organ Forte   Swell Organ Forte
    Great Organ Piano   Swell Organ Piano
               
Mechanical Accessories
    Balanced Swell Pedal   Wind Indicator
    Tremulant   Organist Bench
               
Sources:
     "Dennis Kenny Shot by Taxicab Driver," The New York Times (Jan. 30, 1925).
     Lundberg, Ferdinand. America’s Sixty Families. New York: The Vanguard Press, 1937 & 1938, p. 179.
     Petty, Bynum. J.H. & C.S. Odell Annotated Opus List.
     Trupiano, Larry. Articles of Agreement (Mar. 7, 1912) with Specification of J.H. & C.S. Odell Organ, Op. 478 (1912).
     Trupiano, Larry. Articles of Agreement (Sep. 8, 1917) with Specification of J.H. & C.S. Odell Organ, Op. 516 (1917).
     "W. F. Kenny is Dead; Gov. Smith Backer," The New York Times (Aug. 14, 1951).

Illustration:
     Associated Press (1929): Portrait of William F. Kenny.