Church of the Disciples, ca. 1875 - New York City
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Madison Avenue Congregational Church
Church of the Disciples
(Congregational)

Madison Avenue at 45th Street
New York, N.Y. 10017





The Church of the Disciples was founded in the 1872 by the Rev. Dr. George H. Hepworth. Meeting at first in Steinway Hall, the membership rapidly swelled to 800 and plans were made for a permanent church building. Three lots totaling 125 feet square on the southeast corner of Madison Avenue and 45th Street were purchased for $125,000, and a large church costing $150,000 was built from 1872-73. The congregation provided $100,000 toward their new church, and the remaining debt was mortgaged. Designed by Lawrence B. Valk, the many-towered building could accomodate 3,000 people in its pews, and also included a lecture room. Dr. Hepworth's church—known as the Church of the Disciples—was often compared to Dr. DeWitt Talmage's church—the Brooklyn Tabernacle—as both were designed as immense ampitheatres without galleries. However, unlike the Brooklyn Tabernacle, a wooden frame building with a plastic shingle roof that burned in 1873, the Church of the Disciples was considered fireproof as it had thick masonry walls and a roof clad in iron.

Dr. Hepworth's large congregation included many wealthy and influential people, including Russell Sage and Ullysses S. Grant. However, the church's ability to pay off its debt was severely compromised when the American economy collapsed with the Panic of 1873. This long depression came at the end of a series of economic setbacks: the Black Friday panic of 1869, the Chicago fire of 1871, the outbreak of equine influenza in 1872, and the demonetization of silver in 1873. After struggling for several years, the church ultimately was unable to meet its mortgage payments and the property was foreclosed and sold at auction. With great sadness, Dr. Hepworth resigned in February 1879. The church was reorganized as the Madison Avenue Congregational Church in 1891.

The building was rented and then purchased by the Gospel Tabernacle, the mother church of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, an evangelical body founded by Rev. A. B. Simpson that ministered to the downtrodden. This "faith cure" society stayed only a few years before moving to new facilities on Eighth Avenue just south of 44th Street. The Madison Avenue property was then sold to the Manhattan Athletic Club who razed the church in 1899 and built a new clubhouse.
           
  E. & G.G. Hook & Hastings Organ, Op. 668 (1872) in Church of the Disciples - New York City (courtesy Jim Lewis)
E. & G.G. Hook & Hastings
Boston, Mass. – Opus 668 (1872)
Mechanical key and stop action
Pneumatic couplers for each manual
3 manuals, 36 registers, 28 stops, 30 ranks


For the new Church of the Disciples, an organ was built in 1872 by the E. & G.G. Hook & Hastings Company of Boston. The organ was installed at the rear of the podium in a large freestanding case that featured flared trumpet pipes around a central arch. The attached three-manual console could be concealed by pocket doors having four small windows.

The organ was removed before the church was razed in 1899, after which it was rebuilt by Hook & Hastings and relocated to Mount Morris Baptist Church (now Mount Moriah Baptist Church) on Fifth Avenue at 126th Street in Harlem. In 2005, Mt. Moriah made plans to remodel its interior, and in April 2006 sold the organ for $5,000 to The First Baptist Church of Jamaica Plain, Mass., which had lost its E. & G.G. Hook organ (Op. 253, 1859) in a January 2005 fire.
               
Great Organ (Manual II) – 58 notes
16
  Open Diapason
58
4
  Octave
58
8
  Open Diapason
58
3
   Twelfth
58
8
  Viola da Gamba
58
2
  Fifteenth
58
8
  Gemshorn
58
  Mixture 3 ranks
174
8
  Doppel Flöte
58
8
   Trumpet
58
 
     
 
     
Swell Organ (Manual III) – 58 notes, enclosed
16
  Bourdon
58
4
  Flauto Traverso
58
8
  Open Diapason
58
2
   Flautino
58
8
  Stopped Diapason
58
8
  Cornopean
58
8
  Viola
58
8
  Oboe
58
4
  Violina
58
        
               
Choir Organ (Manual I) – 58 notes
8
   Geigen Principal
58
4
   Flute d'Amour
58
8
   Dulciana
58
2
   Piccolo
58
8
   Melodia
58
8
   Clarinet
58
 
     
 
     
Pedale Organ – 27 notes
16
  Open Diapason
27
8
  Violoncello
27
16
  Bourdon
27
        
               
Couplers and Accessories
    Great to Pedal   Swell Tremolo
    Swell to Pedal   Bellows Signal
    Choir to Pedal    
    Great and Choir    
               
Mechanical Registers (pneumatic powered, thumb-pistons under top manual)
    Manual I / Pneumatic Coupler      
    Manual II / Pneumatic Coupler      
    Manual III / Pneumatic Coupler      
               
Pedal Movements
    Swell Piano   Great to Pedal Reversible
    Swell Forte   Balanced Swell Pedal
    Great Piano    
    Great Forte    
 
Sources:
     "Dr. Hepworth's Church Reorganized," The New York Times (Jan. 5, 1877).
     "Dr. Hepworth's Successor," The New York Times (Apr. 16, 1879).
     "Mr. Hepworth Resigns," The New York Times (Feb. 16, 1879).
     "New Churches in New-York," The New York Times (Oct. 28, 1872).
     O'Brien, Keith. "Almost an organ donation: Instrument is a heck of a deal," The Boston Globe (Apr. 30, 2006).
     "The Church of the Disciples. Its FInancial Difficulties—A Statement By Rev. Dr. Hepworth," The New York Times (Jan. 9, 1876).
     Van Pelt, William T., compiler. The Hook Opus List, 1829-1916 in Facsimile. Richmond: The Organ Historical Society, 1991.

Illustrations:
     Black, Mary. Old New York in Early Photographs. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1973.
     Owen, Barbara: Stereoptican card of interior, showing case of E. & G.G. Hook & Hastings Organ, Op. 668 (1872); copied and printed by Jim Lewis.
 
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