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Bloomingdale Reformed Church
949 West End Avenue at 106th Street
New York, N.Y. 10025
Organ Specifications:
949 West End Avenue at 106th Street (1905-1913)
► II/26 George Jardine & Son (1885); reb. Kimball (1905)
West 68th Street and the Boulevard (1885-1905)
Third building (1885-1905):
• II/24 George Jardine & Son (1885)
Second building (1814-1869):
• unknown
First building (c.1806-1814):
• unknown |
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| Bloomingdale Reformed Church (1861) |
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The Bloomingdale Reformed Dutch Church was founded in 1805 by Jacob Harsen and his neighbors in Harsenville, the area known today as Lincoln Square. At the time, yellow fever had broken out in the city below, and many residents wished to hold services in this safer location. In 1806, the society was incorporated as the Reformed Church of Harsenville, and was more familiarly known as Bloomingdale Reformed Church. From 1814-16, the congregation built a new steepled church with a churchyard and cemetery. This building served for over a half-century until it was razed in 1869 when Bloomingdale Road was widened to form the Boulevard (known today as Broadway). A small portion of the churchyard and the burial ground were left.
Fifteen years later, the congregation was reorganized and a new church was built from 1884-85 on the old site, by that time known as the northeast corner of 68th Street and the Boulevard. Designed by Samuel B. Reed, the Gothic-style edifice was faced with Kentucky limestone and had an eighty-foot tower topped by an eighty-foot spire. The church could accomodate 1000 people in the square, column-free auditorium. Reed also incorporated a Sunday school and parsonage into his design.
In 1905, the congregation relocated uptown to West End Avenue midblock between 106th and 107th Streets. Ludlow & Valentine designed the neo-Gothic edifice that was built from 1904-05. The church disbanded in 1913. |
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W.W. Kimball Co.
Chicago, Ill. (1905)
Tubular-pneumatic action
2 manuals, 23 stops, 26 ranks
The specification for this organ is from the files of Louis F. Mohr & Co., a longtime organ service firm in the area. Mohr indicated that the organ was rebuilt in 1905 by the W.W. Kimball Company who installed tubular-pneumatic action and new pneumatic chests. Kimball also replaced or rebuilt the console with "A.G.O. standard" compasses of 61 manual keys and 30 pedal keys, although the extra treble pipes of each rank were not added. Mohr noted that the organ had an oak case with 31 front pipes in gold, and that the console had a mahogany interior. The organ had 3" and 5" wind pressure provided by a 1½ h.p. Kinetic blower. In the margin is written, "Isaiah Temple people worshiping there now," which affirms that the Jardine organ was moved to the church on West End Avenue.
In 1915, Kimball relocated the organ to Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary Church on East 33rd Street. |
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Great Organ (Manual I) – 58 notes (61 keys)
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16 |
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Open Diapason |
58 |
4 |
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Flute Harmonique |
58 |
8 |
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Open Diapason |
58 |
2 2/3 |
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Nazard |
58 |
8 |
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Doppel Flute |
58 |
2 |
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Piccolo |
58 |
8 |
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Gamba |
58 |
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Sesquialtera, 3 ranks |
174 |
8 |
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Melodia |
58 |
8 |
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Trumpet |
58 |
4 |
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Principal |
58 |
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Swell Organ (Manual II) – 58 notes (61 keys), enclosed
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16 |
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Bourdon Bass |
17 |
8 |
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Clariana |
58 |
16 |
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Bourdon Treble |
41 |
4 |
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Violana |
58 |
8 |
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Open Diapason |
58 |
2 |
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Flageolet |
58 |
8 |
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Gedeckt |
58 |
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Cornet, 2 ranks |
116 |
8 |
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Aeoline |
58 |
8 |
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Oboe |
58 |
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Pedal Organ – 27 notes (30 keys)
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16 |
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Open Diapason |
27 |
8 |
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Violoncello |
27 |
16 |
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Bourdon |
27 |
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Couplers
("4 couplers")
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[Great to Pedal] |
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[Swell to Great] |
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[Swell to Pedal] |
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[Swell to Great Octaves] |
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Pedal Movements
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3 Pedal Combinations to Great |
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3 Pedal Combinations to Swell |
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Balance Swell Pedal |
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Accessories
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Wind Indicator |
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[Swell Tremolo] |
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Organ in church located on West 68th Street at the Boulevard:
George Jardine & Son
New York City (1885)
Mechanical action
2 manuals, 24 stops
For the last church built in 1885 at 68th Street and the Boulevard, an organ was built by George Jardine & Son of New York City. Specifications for this organ have not been located, but the stoplist is probably similar or identical to the organ as rebuilt by Kimball in 1905. |
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Sources:
Comstock, Sarah. Old Roads from the Heart of New York. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1915.
Despard, Matilda. Old New York, from the Battery to Bloomingdale. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1875.
Dunlap, David W. From Abyssinian to Zion: A Guide to Manhattan's Houses of Worship. New York: Columbia University Press, 2004.
Mohr, Louis F. & Co. Specifications of W.W. Kimball organ (1905). Courtesy Larry Trupiano.
Nelson, George. Organs in the United States and Canada Database. Seattle, Wash.
Valentine, David T. Valentine's Manual of the Corporation of the City of New-York, 1869. New York City Corporation, 1869.
Illustrations:
eBay.com. Postcard (1905) of Bloomingdale Reformed Church.
Hayward, George. 1861 Lithograph of Bloomingdale Reformed Church, from Valentine's Manual of the Corporation of the City of New-York, 1869. |
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