Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center - New York City
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Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

1275 York Avenue between 67th and 68th Streets
New York, N.Y. 10065


Organ Specifications:
First Avenue between 67th & 68th Streets (since 1937)
► II/15 Skinner Organ Company, Op. 530-A (1938)
Eighth Avenue btwn 105th & 106th Streets (1997-1937)
► I/5 Frank Roosevelt, Op. 521 (1892)






In the summer of 1884, former President Ulysses S. Grant developed throat cancer. He lived in a brownstone at 3 East 66th Street, and his ensuing decline, and his death the next year, caught the attention of the nation. Although his cancer was inoperable others were more fortunate since the development of anesthesia in the mid-19th century had finally given doctors a surgical treatment for cancer.

New York Cancer Hospital - New York City  
The former New York Cancer Hospital  
   
   
In the year of Grant's diagnosis, John Jacob Astor, Thomas A. Emmet, Joseph W. Drexel and other prominent New Yorkers laid the cornerstone for the New York Cancer Hospital, the first hospital in the United States specifically for cancer treatment. Designed by Charles C. Haight and completed in 1887, the first portion of the hospital, designated solely for women, was at the southwest corner of 106th and Central Park West. It was designed with the idea that patients should be housed in circular wards so that contaminated air could circulate more freely and dust could not get trapped in corners. In 1916, the hospital's name was changed to the Memorial Hospital for the Treatment of Cancer and Allied Diseases, the first institution to use radiation in the treatment of cancer. The structure, which at one time was converted into a nursing home, exists today as a luxury condominium.

In 1927, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., made the first of his annual $60,000 contributions to Memorial Hospital for research and the establishment of six clinical fellowships. He also quietly began assembling parcels of land on Manhattan's East Side, between First and York avenues and 67th and 68th Streets, directly across from the Institute for Medical Research, which later became Rockefeller Institute, then Rockefeller University. In 1936, he donated this tract of land, valued at $900,000, and another $3 million for the construction of a 12-story hospital to replace the existing Upper West Side structure. When the new building opened in 1939, it was able to house 200 patients in place of the 110-bed capacity at the old one, making it the largest institution in the world for the treatment of cancer. Each arriving patient was sent to one of 11 highly specialized departments, each with its own staff. The Rockefellers are said to have first become involved in the hospital after Elizabeth Dashiell, a young girlfriend of John D. Rockefeller Jr., died of cancer at the age of 18 in 1891.

The Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center was established in 1960 by the consolidation of Memorial Hospital and the Sloan-Kettering Institute. John D. Rockefeller, Jr.'s son, Laurance, became its chairman, serving in this capacity until 1982. Over the years, the hospital has evolved into one of the most prestigious medical institutions in the world. It was here during World War II that some of the first experiments were performed using chemical warfare weapons to treat cancer in what has evolved into chemotherapy. It was here, too, that some of the more radical procedures in cancer surgery were tested.
             
Skinner Organ Company
Boston, Mass. – Opus 530 (1925); moved as Opus 530-A (1938)
Electro-pneumatic action
2 manuals, 24 stops, 15 ranks, 886 pipes
Player attachment


This two-manual Skinner organ, originally built in 1925 for the Ernest Hopkinson Residence at 1120 Fifth Avenue, was duplexed and divided in two swell boxes. In 1938, the organ was moved to Memorial Hospital by the Aeolian-Skinner Company as Op. 530-A. The fate of this organ is unknown.
               
Manual I – 61 notes
    Expression I       Expression II  
8
  Diapason
61
8
   Gedeckt
61
8
   Voix Celeste II ranks
122
8
  Cello
61
8
  Flute Celeste II ranks
110
4
   Orchestral Flute
61
4
   Unda Maris II ranks
122
8
  English Horn
61
8
  
Vox Humana
preparation
8
   French Horn
61
    Harp  
8
   Clarinet
61
    Celesta  
8
   Vox Humana
61
       
8
  
Trumpet
preparation
            Tremolo [entire organ]  

     

     
Manual II – 61 notes
  duplexed from Manual I          

     

     
Pedal – 32 notes
16
  Bourdon [unit]
44
        
8
   Gedeckt
—
        
             
  Chapel of New York Cancer Hospital - New York City
Frank Roosevelt
New York City – Opus 521 (1892)
Mechanical action
1 manual, 5 stops, 5 ranks




The following specification was recorded by F.R. Webber, whose "Organ Scrapbooks" are in the possession of The Organ Historical Society Archives in Princeton, N.J.
Webber writes:
    The chapel in which this organ was located is of more than ordinary interest. It is an elongated rectangle on plan, and with a semicircular east end, it is lofty within, and there are tall windows in the apse and in one side wall. The organ is recessed into the opposite side wall. The organ case is tall, with the keyboard on the main floor and the organ itself high overhead, but with a case extending to the floor.
    The chapel has not been used for many years, and when last seen was in a dismal state of neglect, with some of the stained glass windows broken or missing.
    The chapel itself and the adjoining hospital resemble the work of Mr C C Haight, who built St Ignatius P.E. church and the Chapel of St Cornelius, Governors Island. The organ case is Gothic, of the tall, slender kind, with four pinnacled posts and three flats. The Salicional contributed a bit of pungency, in contrast to the suave quality of many 5-stop Roosevelts. It has not been played in years, and it may no longer exist, but it was there in 1942.
Visited – FRW, 1942
               
Manual – 58 notes
8
   Open Diapason treble
58
  
8
   Open Diapason bass  
8
   Salicional treble
58
  
8
   Salicional bass  
8
   Doppel flöte treble
58
  
8
   Doppel flöte bass  
4
   Gemshorn treble
58
  
4
   Gemshorn bass  
 
Pedal – 20 notes
16
   Bourdon
20
 
         
Accessories
Manual to Pedal    
Manual Octaves
 
Tremolo
 
Bellows Signal    
               
Sources:
     Aeolian-Skinner Archives web site: http://aeolianskinner.organsociety.org/Specs/Op00530.html. Specifications of Skinner Organ, Op. 530 (1925).
     "Ernest Hopkinson Dies in 61st Year," The New York Times (May 4, 1933).
     Gray, Christopher. "Streetscapes/Central Park West Between 105th and 106th Streets; In the 1880's, the Nation's First Cancer Hospital," The New York Times (Dec. 28, 2003).
     Kinzey, Allen, and Sand Lawn, comps. E.M. Skinner/Aeolian-Skinner Opus List. New Rev. Ed. Richmond: The Organ Historical Society, 1997.
     Kleiman, Dena. "A Hospital Celebrates 100 Years in the Battle to Vanquish Cancer," The New York Times (May 17, 1984).
     Webber, F.R. "Organ scrapbook" at Organ Historical Society Archives, Princeton, N.J. Specifications of Frank Roosevelt organ, Op. 521. Courtesy Jonathan Bowen.

Illustrations:
     www.newyorkcitywalk.com. Color exterior shots.