Knox Memorial Chapel - New York City
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Knox Memorial Chapel
(Reformed Church in America)

405 West 41st Street at Ninth Avenue
New York, N.Y. 10036


Organ Specifications:
405 West 41st Street at Ninth Avenue (1898-1944)
► II/11J.H. & C.S. Odell, Op. 351 (1897)
514 Ninth Avenue at 39th Street (1858-1898)
• unknown





Knox Memorial Chapel, named for the Rev. John Knox, was organized in 1858 by the Collegiate Church. For its first four decades, the chapel was located on Ninth Avenue, and in 1898 a new Gothic sanctuary was built at 405 West 41st Street. In 1935, the Vermilye Chapel-Faith Mission, which had been at 416 West 54th Street for 35 years, merged into Knox Memorial Chapel, and the combined congregation was known as Knox Memorial–Vermilye-Faith Church.

Knox Chapel closed in 1944, and the building was taken over by Alcoholics Anonymous for use as their clubhouse and headquarters for metropolitan New York.
               
J.H. & C.S. Odell
New York City – Opus 351 (1897)
Mechanical action
2 manuals, 11 stops, 11 ranks


The Articles of Agreement, dated December 8, 1897, between J.H. & C.S. Odell & Co. and the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of New York (the Collegiate Church) show that Odell would build a mechanical-action organ having two manuals and 11 stops. Two additional stops, the Great Trumpet and Swell Oboe, were crossed off of the contract. The organ cost $2,675 in cash and was to be ready on or before May 1, 1898.
               
Great Organ (Manual I) – 61 notes
8
   Open Diapason
61
4
   Octave
61
8
   Dulciana
61
2
   Piccolo Harmonique
61
8
   Melodia
49
8
  
Trumpet
preparation
               
Swell Organ (Manual II) – 61 notes, enclosed
8
   Open Diapason [St. Bass]
61
8
   Stopped Diapason
61
8
   Salicional
61
4
   Rohr Flöte
61
8
   Aeoline [St. Metal Bass]
61
8
  
Oboe
preparation
               
Pedal Organ – 30 notes
16
   Bourdon
30
        
               
Couplers (Draw-stops over Swell keys)
    Swell to Great       Great to Pedal  
    Swell to Great 8ves       Swell to Pedal  
               
Mechanical Accessories
    Bellows Signal       Eclipse Wind Indicator  
    Tremulant       Water Moter Starter  
               
Pedal Movements
    Great Organ Forte   Swell Organ Piano
    Great Organ Piano   Balanced Swell Pedal
    Swell Organ Forte   Great to Pedal Reversible Coupler
               
Sources:
     "A Brief Account of an Historic Church. The Reformed Church. The Collegiate Church of the City of New York," Third ed. New York: Consistory of the Collegiate Church in New York, 1904.
     "Churches Merge Today," The New York Times (Dec. 12, 1935).
     Dunlap, David W. From Abyssinian to Zion: A Guide to Manhattan's Houses of Worship. New York: Columbia University Press, 2004.
     "The Knox Memorial Chapel," The New York Times (Nov. 27, 1897).
     Trupiano, Larry. Factory Specifications of J.H. & C.S. Odell Organ, Op. 351 (1897).
     Nelson, George. Organs of the United States and Canada Database. Seattle, Wash.

Illustrations:
     Consistory of the Collegiate Church of New York: exterior.