Central Baptist Church - New York City
 
Click on images to enlarge
Central Baptist Church

166 West 92nd Street at Amsterdam Avenue
New York, N.Y. 10025
http://www.centralbaptistnyc.org/


Organ Specifications:
166 West 92nd Street at Amsterdam Avenue (since 1916)
Present building (since 1916)
► III/42 George S. Hutchings (1916)
First building (1912-1916)
► I/4 J.H. & C.S. Odell, Op. 266 (1889)
220 West 42nd Street (1861-1912)
• II/30 George Jardine & Son (1857)
Laight Street at Varick Street (1843-1861)
• 1/12 Hall & Labagh (1847)


Central Baptist Church (c.1890) - New York City  
220 West 42nd Street (c.1890)  
Central Baptist Church can trace its roots to the organization in 1842 of the Laight Street Baptist in Lower Manhattan. During the next year, the society acquired a former Presbyterian church on Laight Street, a Greco-Italianate structure built in 1825. The Baptists remained there until 1861 when they moved to West 42nd Street, near Seventh Avenue, occupying a former Presbyterian Church built in the 1840s. Following the 1870 merger of the Laight Street and Bloomingdale Baptist churches, the combined congregation was renamed Central Baptist Church. During that period, one of Central‘s pastors was the Rev. Robert W. Lowery, a prolific hymnist of the 19th century who penned such hymns as "Nothing but the Blood" and "Shall We Gather at the River?"

By the early 1900s, 42nd Street had changed dramatically following the opening of the subway and subsequent development of the area near Times Square. With the onslaught of businesses and theatres to the neighborhood, many residents moved uptown. The congregation voted to follow suit and sold its property for a reported $465,000. In 1916 Central Baptist merged with the Riverside Baptist Church, on Amsterdam Avenue at 92nd Street, which occupied an edifice designed by Edelmann & Smith and built in 1888. Plans were made for a larger edifice on the same site, and on May 6, 1916, the cornerstone was laid for the present structure. Designed by Walter Cook in the English Gothic style, the church was built of Germantown stone and Indiana limestone, and featured a facade facing 92nd Street with a square tower at the corner. The completed church was dedicated on October 7, 1917.
           
George S. Hutchings & Co.
Boston, Mass. (1916)
Electro-pneumatic action
3 manuals, 42 stops


The following partial stoplist is from an aritcle about "Dual Pistons" in The American Organist (Jan. 1918). The complete specification has not yet been located.
               
Great Organ (Manual II) – 61 notes
16
   Diapason
61
4
   Gemshorn
61
8
   1st Open Diapason
61
4
   Octave
61
8
   2nd Open Diapason
61
2 2/3
  Flute Harmonique
61
8
   Gross Flute
61
2
   Fifteenth
61
8
   Gamba
61
8
   Trumpet
61
               
Swell Organ (Manual III) – 61 notes, enclosed
16
   Bourdon
61
4
   Violina
61
8
   Diapason
61
2
   Flautino
61
8
   Gedeckt
61
     Mixture III ranks
183
8
   Viol d'Orchestre
61
8
   Oboe
61
8
   Vox Celeste
61
8
   Cornopean
61
8
   Aeoline
61
8
   Vox Humana
61
8
   Salicional
61
     Tremolo  
4
   Traverse Flute
61
8
   Harp Celesta  
               
Choir Organ (Manual I) – 61 notes, enclosed
               
               
Pedal Organ – 30 notes
               
         
Organ in Riverside Baptist Church on 92nd Street & Amsterdam Avenue:

J.H. & C.S. Odell
New York City – Opus 266 (1889)
Mechanical action
1 manual, 4 stops, 4 ranks
               
Manual – 58 notes
8
   Open Diapason
58
        
8
   Keraulophon
58
        
8
   Clarionet Flute
58
        
 
      
 
      
Pedal Organ – 25 notes
16
   Bourdon
25
        
               
Couplers
    Pedal Coupler          
    Super Octave Coupler          
    Bellows Signal          
         
Organ in church on West 42nd Street:

George Jardine & Son
New York City (1857)
Mechanical action
2 manuals, 30 stops


This organ was built for the Presbyterian Church that originally occupied the building. Specifications of this organ have not yet been located.
         
Organ in church on Laight Street

Hall & Labagh
New York City (1847)
Mechanical action
1 manual, 12 stops


Specifications of this organ have not yet been located.
           
Sources:
     "Centennial Marked at Central Baptist," The New York Times (Dec. 14, 1942).
     Central Baptist Church web site: http://www.centralbaptistnyc.org/
     "Church Cornerstone Laid," The New York Times (May 7, 1916).
     Demarest, Clifford. "The Dual Pistons," The American Organist (Jan. 1918): 17. Partial stoplist of George S. Hutchings organ (1916).
     Dunlap, David. From Abyssinian to Zion: A Guide to Manhattan's Houses of Worship. New York: Columbia University Press, 2004.
     Nelson, George. Organs in the United States and Canada Database. Seattle, Wash.
     Trupiano, Larry. Factory Specifications of J.H. & C.S. Odell Organ, Op. 266 (1889).

Illustrations:
     Collection of the Museum of the City of New York. Exterior (c.1890) of Central Baptist Church on 42nd Street.