Mount Moriah Baptist Church - New York City
 
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Mount Morris Baptist Church

2050 Fifth Avenue at 126th Street
New York, N.Y. 10035


Organ Specifications:
2050 Fifth Avenue at 126th Street
Second building (1888-c.1934)
► III/30 E. & G.G. Hook & Hastings, Op. 668 (1872)
• J.H. & C.S. Odell
First building (c.1854-1888)
• unknown





Mount Morris Baptist Church (1882) - New York City (MCNY Collection)  
First church building (1882)  
Mount Morris Baptist Church was organized about 1854. Around that time, the society built a small chapel on Fifth Avenue at 126th Street, the previous site of the First Baptist Church of Harlem. The second edifice was designed by Henry F. Kilburn and built in 1887-88.

The congregation left or disbanded around 1934, perhaps due to financial restraints brought on by the Depression, or the changing demographics of the neighborhood. For a brief time the building was used by the Primera Iglesia Bautista de Habla Española de Nueva York before it was purchased by Mount Moriah Baptist Church, a black congregation.
           
  E. & G.G. Hook & Hastings Organ, Op. 668 (1872) at Mt. Moriah Baptist Church - New York City (photo: John Bishop, Organ Clearing House)
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








This E. & G.G. Hook & Hastings organ was originally built in 1872 for the many-towered Church of the Disciples, a Congregational Church located on the corner of Madison Avenue and 45th Street, which was demolished when the present Grand Central Terminal was constructed. Around 1900, the organ was rebuilt by Hook & Hastings, perhaps when the organ was relocated to Mount Morris Baptist Church. After the building was taken over by Mount Moriah Baptist Church, the organ was not maintained and became unplayable. In 2005, Mount Moriah made plans to remodel its interior, and in April 2006 sold the organ for $5000 to The First Baptist Church of Jamaica Plain, MA, 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    
    Choir to Pedal   Bellows Signal
    Swell to Great    
               
Mechanical Registers (pneumatic powered, thumb-pistons under top manual)
    Man I / Pneumatic Coupler      
    Man II / Pneumatic Coupler      
    Man III / Pneumatic Coupler      
               
Pedal Movements
    Swell Piano   Great to Pedal Reversible
    Swell Forte   Balanced Swell Pedal
    Great Piano    
    Great Forte    
               
  E. & G.G. Hook & Hastings Organ, Op. 668 (1872) at Mt. Moriah Baptist Church - New York City (photo: John Bishop, Organ Clearing House)
     
E. & G.G. Hook & Hastings Organ, Op. 668 (1872) at Mt. Moriah Baptist Church - New York City (photo: John Bishop, Organ Clearing House)   E. & G.G. Hook & Hastings Organ, Op. 668 (1872) at Mt. Moriah Baptist Church - New York City (photo: John Bishop, Organ Clearing House)
 
Church of the Disciples, ca. 1875 - New York City
Church of the Disciples (c. 1875)
Op. 668's original home.
           
  Mount Morris Baptist Church (1882) - New York City (MCNY Collection)
  Interior (1882) showing organ at left
J.H. & C.S. Odell
New York City
Mechanical action
1 manual?





The J.H. & C.S. Odell opus list shows that an organ was built for Mount Morris Baptist Church but the number and date are not given. An 1882 photo of the church shows an organ at the front left. Specifications for this organ have not yet been located.
 
         
Sources:
     Black, Mary. Old New York in Early Photographs. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1973.
     Dunlap, David. From Abyssinian to Zion: A Guide to Manhattan's Houses of Worship. New York: Columbia University Press, 2004.
     Organ Clearing House web site: www.organclearinghouse.com
     Van Pelt, William T., compiler. The Hook Opus List, 1829-1916 in Facsimile. Richmond: The Organ Historical Society, 1991.

Illustrations:
     Perkinson (New York). Photos (1882) of church exterior and interior. Collection of the Museum of the City of New York.
     Organ Clearing House web site. Photos of E. & G.G. Hook & Hastings Organ, Op. 668 (1872). Used with permission.