Postcard (c.1910) of Hamilton Grange Reformed Church - New York City (MCNY)
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Hamilton Grange Reformed Church

459 West 149th Street at Convent Avenue
New York, N.Y. 10031


Organ Specifications:
West 149th Street at Convent Avenue (1906-1937)
► II/17 J.H. & C.S. Odell, Op. 433 (1907)
421 West 145th Street at Convent Avenue (1888-1906)
• unknown


St. Matthew Lutheran Church - New York City  
West 145th Street & Convent Avenue  
The Hamilton Grange Reformed Church, named for the former estate of Alexander Hamilton, was organized in 1888. A Sunday school was started in the parlor of a vacant house at 334 West 145th Street with 13 pupils; a year later there were 350 scholars. The first church building was erected on the northeast corner of West 145th Street and Convent Avenue. As designed by Joseph Wolf, the brick edifice included a facade topped with a staircase gable in the Dutch style. The completed church was opened on December 18, 1888. This building was later home to St. Matthew Lutheran Church (1906-1944) and then Mount Zion Lutheran Church (since 1944).

By the early 1900s, the congregation had outgrown their building and made plans to erect a larger church and parish house on a site four blocks north, on the northwest corner of West 149th Street and Convent Avenue. Designed by Bannister & Schell, the Gothic Revival church was cruciform in shape and featured a square tower at the corner. The completed church was opened in 1906.

In 1937 the congregation merged with Fort Washington Collegiate Church. The property and buildings were sold to the Episcopal Church of the Crucifixion, an African-American and Afro-Caribbean society founded in 1916. The old church building burned in 1963.
           
J.H. & C.S. Odell
New York City – Opus 433 (1907)
Tubular-pneumatic action
2 manuals, 17 stops, 17 ranks


The organ in the building on 149th Street and Convent Avenue was built in 1907 by J.H. & C.S. Odell of New York City at a cost of $3,000, plus $330 for a 1 H.P. Orgoblo blower. In 1959, the successor congregation of the building, the Episcopal Church of the Crucifixion, contracted with Odell to rebuild and enlarge the organ, and from that contract we deduce the following stoplist for the 1907 organ.
               
Great Organ (Manual I) – 61 notes
8
   Open Diapason
61
4
   Octave
61
8
   Viol d'Gamba
61
4
   Harmonic Flute
61
8
   Doppel Flute
61
8
   Trumpet
61
8
   Dulciana
61
   

   

     
Swell Organ (Manual II) – 61 notes, enclosed
8
   Open Diapason
61
4
   Rohr Flute
61
8
   Salicional
61
2
   Piccolo
61
8
  Vox Celeste [TC]
49
8
   Oboe
61
8
   Stopped Diapason
61
  Tremulant
8
   Aeoline
61
   

   

     
Pedal Organ – 30 notes
16
   Bourdon
30
   
16
   Lieblich Gedeckt
30
     
             
Sources:
     Article of Agreement (Dec. 31, 1959) for J.H. & C.S. Odell organ, Op. 623. Courtesy Larry Trupiano.
     Dunlap, David W. From Abyssinian to Zion: A Guide to Manhattan's Houses of Worship. New York: Columbia University Press, 2004.
     "Hamilton Grange Reformed Church," The New York Times (Jan. 7, 1889).
     J.H. & C.S. Odell Ledger Book (May 16, 1907 - Feb. 18, 1911) regarding Odell organ in Hamilton Grange Reformed Church. Courtesy Larry Trupiano.

Illustrations:
     Sperr, Percy Loomis. Photo (1934) of St. Matthew Lutheran Church on 145th Street.
     Wilkerson, Thaddeus. Postcard (c.1910) of Hamilton Grange Reformed Church. Collection of the Museum of the City of New York.