Church of Notre Dame - New York City
 
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Church of Notre Dame
(Roman Catholic)

405 West 114th Street at Morningside Drive
New York, N.Y. 10025
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/earl/ccm/notredame.html







The Church of Notre Dame (Our Lady) began in 1910 — not first as a church, but as a chapel; not first as a parish, but as a mission of the Church of St. Vincent de Paul (on West 23rd Street). A French community of priests, the Fathers of Mercy, was entrusted with the care of this mission in the early years of this century as there were many French immigrants in this community.

Grotto of Notre Dame Catholic Church - New York City (photo: Steven E. Lawson)  
   
On March 25, 1910, plans were first adopted for a chapel to be built on Morningside Heights. The architecture firm of Dans and Otto was chosen to develop the project which included both a chapel and a replica of the Grotto where Our Lady appeared to St. Bernadette in France in 1858. The grotto chapel was dedicated by Archbishop Farley (later Cardinal Farley) on October 2, 1910, and was completed in October 1911. Very soon, an expansion of the church became necessary — an expansion which would go on intermittently for nearly 50 years. The architects for the new church were Cross and Cross. They modelled the structure after the Church of Saint Louis in Paris, better known as L'Eglise des Invalides and as the final resting place of Napoleon the First.

  Notre Dame Catholic Church - New York City (photo: Steven E. Lawson)
   
The larger church was dedicated on February 11 (the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes), 1915 by Cardinal Farley. In the fall of 1919, work on the interior of the expanded church began in earnest. The entire project would continue through the next decade. On February 15, 1925, Notre Dame's beautiful Casavant Frères organ was inaugurated. Two years later the main altar of Carrara marble arrived from France for installation.

In the early 1960's the original plans to crown the church of Notre Dame with a high dome were finally abandoned and the current shallow dome and low roofline were finished. At that time the garden between the church and the rectory was created with the statues of the Sacred Heart and Our Lady. In 1988 a renovation was made in the church which allowed the original church altar to be used for the celebration of Mass once again. When the New York City Landmarks Commission designated the Church and the Rectory of Notre Dame as landmarks in January, 1967, the buildings were described as follows:
"The Church of Notre Dame is an outstanding example of the French neo-classical style adapted to a relatively small ecclesiastical design....The building achieves a sense of monumentality through the imposing front entrance portico. The interior of the church is also perceived as a grand space because of the ingenious use of colossal marble columns at the side aisles which spring into soaring arches, dwarfing its visitors. The Rectory, based on Italian Renaissance precedents, is skillfully related to the church and well designed to fit the unusually narrow site."
   
  Casavant Frères organ, Op. 1047 (1924) in the Church of Notre Dame - New York City (photo: Steven E. Lawson)
Casavant Frères, Limitée
St. Hyacinthe, Québec, Canada – Opus 1047 (1924)
Electro-pneumatic key and combination action
2 manuals, 27 stops, 27 ranks




Casavant Frères organ, Op. 1047 (1924) in the Church of Notre Dame - New York City (photo: Steven E. Lawson)  
The organ in Notre Dame Church was built in 1924 by Casavant Frères of Canada. Installed behind a classic case in the rear gallery, the organ is enhanced by a reverberant acoustic in the spacious room.
               
Great Orgue (Manual I) – 61 notes
16
   Bourdon
68
4
   Principal
68
8
   Open Diapason
68
4
   Harmonic Flute
68
8
   Salicional
68
2 2/3
   Twelfth
68
8
   Hohl Flute
68
2
   Fifteenth
61
8
   Stopped Diapason
68
8
   Trumpet
68

     

     
Swell Organ (Manual II) – 61 notes, enclosed
8
   Open Diapason
68
2
   Piccolo
61
8
   Viola di Gamba
68
     Cornet III ranks
204
8
   Voix Celeste [GG]
56
8
   Cornopean
68
8
   Stopped Diapason
68
8
   Oboe
68
4
   Violina
68
8
   Vox Humana
68
4
   Flauto Traverso
68
     Tremolo  
               
Pedal Organ – 30 notes
16
   Double Open
30
8
   Stopped Flute [ext. Bdn.]
12
16
   Bourdon
30
8
   Violoncello
30
8
   Octave [ext. Dbl. Open]
12
16
   Trombone
30
               
Couplers (tablets)
    Great to Pedal   Great Super
    Swell to Pedal   Swell Sub, Super
    Swell to Great Sub, Unison, Super    
               
Adjustable Combinations
   
Swell Organ Pistons 1-2-3-4-5 (thumb)
Great & Pedal Organs Pistons 1-2-3-4-5 (thumb)
Full Organ Pistons 1-2-3-4 (toe)
  General Cancel (thumb)
  Setter (thumb)
     
Reversibles
    Great to Pedal (thumb)   Full Organ (thumb)
    Swell to Pedal (thumb)   Signal
    Swell to Great (thumb)    
     
Accessories
    Balanced Swell Pedal (mechanical)
    Crescendo Pedal
    Indicators for Wind, Full Organ, and Crescendo
   
Sources:
     Church of Notre Dame web site: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/earl/ccm/notredame.html
     New York Architecture Image web site: http://www.nyc-architecture.com/
     Scheer, Stanley. Factory Specification of Casavant Frères organ, Op. 1047 (1924).

Illustrations:
     Lawson, Steven E. Interior; Casavant Frères organ, Op. 1047 (1924).
     New York Architecture Image web site. Exterior.