Grace United Methodist Church - New York City
 

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Grace United Methodist Church

125 West 104th Street
New York, N.Y. 10025

Organ Specifications:
Present building (since 1992)
• unknown
Third building (1895-burned 1983)
► III/37 Jesse Woodberry & Co. (1895) – burned
Second building (1890-burned 1983) – Chapel
• unknown
First building (1870-1890) – Chapel
• unknown


Grace Methodist Episcopal Church was founded in 1870 when land on the north side of West 104th Street, between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues, was purchased by the New York Church Extension and Missionary Society. The original chapel, a small frame structure, was dedicated on April 3, 1870, with only three members present. In the early years, the area had relatively few residents and the chapel was supported by the Church Extension Society. As the neighborhood became more densely populated the little chapel became inadequate for the growing congregation, and in 1890 a new chapel was built at the back of the lot. In 1894, the congregation had become self-supporting, the property was turned over to a Board of Trustees, and the parish became independent.

Grace Methodist Episcopal Church - New York City  
1910 Postcard  
  Grace Methodist Episcopal Church - New York City (photo: Bain's News Service, May 1922)
  May 1922
On November 4, 1894, the cornerstone was laid for a new church that would be built in front of the 1890 chapel. Designed by J.C. Cady in 1888, the Lombardic-Romanesque building was one of the first churches to be constructed with an iron frame skeleton. The exterior was faced with brick in a golden-russet color with trimmings of Longmeadow stone. A massive porch that was 40 feet wide by 30 feet high had three arched openings for the main entrance. At the southwest corner of the facade was a 156-foot tower, with a smaller tower at the other side. The interior was tastefully decorated in light and cheerful colors and featured stained glass windows. Below the auditorium were rooms devoted to the Sunday School, with a principal room that could accomodate 850 pupils. The building cost about $75,000. Over the years, the building was shared with the St. Gerasimos Greek Orthodox Community and with Iglesia Metodista Grace.

A fire destroyed the church on December 11, 1983. The lost church was replaced with a complex designed by Prentice & Chan, Ohlhausen, that includes a small gabled sanctuary alongside an apartment building that has 68 units, 12 for clergy and 56 for low-income families. The new facilities were dedicated in 1992.
               
  Jesse Woodberry & Co. organ (1895) in Grace United Methodist Church - New York City
Jesse Woodberry & Co.
Boston, Mass. (1895)
Tracker-pneumatic action
3 manuals, 33 stops, 37 ranks




Jesse Woodberry (1841-1922) and his brother, James, learned organ building in England. In the 1880s, the Woodberry brothers moved to America and worked for Hook and Hastings in Boston. In 1886 the brothers formed a partnership with James Cole, but Jesse left the firm two years later and became a partner of Charles T. Harris. In 1893, Jesse dissolved the partnership and continued on his own. Shortly thereafter, Jesse Woodberry & Co. was contracted to build an organ for the new Grace Methodist Episcopal Church in New York City. This organ had tracker-pneumatic action with slider chests that controlled 37 ranks from three manuals and pedals. The organ was installed behind the pulpit area, and the attached console was in an alcove under the left (west) side of the case. Samuel P. Warren, who was for many years the organist at Grace Episcopal Church on Broadway, dedicated the organ on October 12, 1895. The organ burned with the church in 1983.

The following specification was recorded in 1947 in an "Organ notebook" by Charles Scharpeger, an employee of Louis F. Mohr & Co. Mr. Scharpeger noted that the organ had tubular action, but it is known that this organ had trackers running up from behind the attached console.
               
Great Organ (Manual II) – 61 notes
16
   Open Diapason
61
4
   Octave
61
8
   Open Diapason
61
2 2/3
   Twelfth
61
8
   Gamba
61
2
   Fifteenth
61
8
   Doppel Flute
61
     Mixture III ranks
183
4
   Harmonic Flute
61
8
   Trumpet
61
               
Swell Organ (Manual III) – 61 notes, enclosed
16
   Bourdon Bass
12
4
   Fugara
61
16
   Bourdon Treble
49
2
   Flautina
61
8
   Open Diapason
61
     Cornet III ranks
183
8
   Salicional
61
8
   Cornopean
61
8
   Aeoline
61
8
   Oboe
61
8
   Stopped Diapason
61
8
   Vox Humana
61
8
   Quintadena
61
     Tremolo  
4
   Flute Traverso
61
        
               
Choir Organ (Manual I) – 61 notes
8
   Geigen Principal
61
4
   Flute d'Amour
61
8
   Dulciana
61
2
   Piccolo
61
8
   Melodia
61
8
   Clarinet
61
4
   Violina
61
        
               
Pedal Organ – 30 notes
16
   Open Diapason
30
8
   Violoncello
30
16
   Bourdon
30
        
               
Couplers
    Mechanical:   Push buttons under manuals:
    Choir to Pedal   Choir to Great
    Great to Pedal   Swell to Great
    Swell to Pedal   Swell to Choir
        Swell to Swell 4'
               
Pedal Movements
    Swell Piano   Choir Piano
    Swell Forte   Choir Forte
    Great Piano   Great to Pedal Reversible
    Great Mezzo   Crescendo & Full Organ
    Great Forte   Balanced Swell Pedal
               
Sources:
     Dunlap, David W. From Abyssinian to Zion: A Guide to Manhattan's Houses of Worship. New York: Columbia University Press, 2004.
     "Grace M.E. Church Dedication," The New York Times (Oct. 13, 1895).
     "Grace Methodist Church. Ground Broken for a New Edifice on the West Side," The New York Times (June 24, 1894).
     Owen, Barbara. The Organ in New England: An Account of Its Use and Manufacture to the End of the Nineteenth Century. Raleigh: The Sunbury Press, 1979.
     Scharpeger, Charles. Specification of Jesse Woodberry organ (c.1880). Courtesy Larry Trupiano.
     Stern, Robert A.M., Thomas Mellins, and David Fishman. New York 1880: Architecture and Urbanism in the Gilded Age. New York City: The Monacelli Press, 1999.

Illustrations:
     Bain's News Service. Church exterior (May 1922). From www.Shorpy.com | History in HD blog.
     eBay.com. 1910 postcard of Grace Methodist Episcopal Church.
     Glück, Sebastian M. Undated photo, interior of Grace Methodist Episcopal Church.