John Miller-Masury Residence

622 Fifth Avenue at 50th Street
New York, N.Y. 10020


Dr. John Miller-Masury was heir to the Masury Paint Company fortune. His grandfather, John Wesley Masury (1820-1895) was a successful paint manufacturer who also invented metal paint containers that made the marketing of ready-mixed paints feasible. He was descended from the Masury family through his mother, but his father, Frederick Lewis Miller, changed his last name to Miller-Masury after marrying the daughter of John W. Masury. The company then became "John W. Masury & Son". In 1896, John Miller-Masury entered Columbia University and is believed to have lived in the family's four-story brownstone at 622 Fifth Avenue, which was opposite St. Patrick's Cathedral. An avid yachtsman and member of the New York Yacht Club, Miller-Masury sailed his schooner yacht, Brunhilde, around the world in 1901. In October of 1905, he married his first cousin, Martha Lewis Miller of Boston, who was a widow with two children. Miller-Masury adopted Martha's children, and he and Martha had one child. He received his medical degree from Columbia University in 1906, but is not known to have practiced medicine.

In November of 1905, Miller-Masury paid $21,000 for approximately 100 acres in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and ultimately acquired a total of 130 acres. On this property Miller-Masury built "Lakeside," a self-sufficient estate that included a Scottish baronial-style house with 30 rooms and 92 windows, an electric power plant, wind mill, a 1,000-gallon water heater, fruit orchards, vegetable gardens and stables. Completed in 1908 at an estimated cost of $130,000, "Lakeside" attracted others to build large estates along the beach, transforming the sedate ocean front resort into a booming city. From 1936 to 1939, Lakeside was converted into a gambling casino and nightclub called "The Crystal Club." Known today as "Greystone Manor," the notable house was listed in 1997 on the National Register of Historic Places.

During World War I, Dr. Miller-Masury served as a ship's captain in the Navy, no doubt as a result of his experience in racing his personal ocean-going yachts. Sometime after the war, he moved to Sierra Madre, California, where he purchased an estate formerly owned by Luther Burbank, the noted horticulturalist. He died there in January, 1938.
           
 

Aeolian Organ, Style 125, in the John Miller-Masury Residence - New York City (Aeolian Company brochure)
Aeolian Company
New York City – Style 125 (c.1896)
Mechanical action
1 manual, 7 stops, 7 ranks


John Miller-Masury owned three Aeolian organs, starting with a "Style 125" that he purchased sometime in the late 1890s, possibly while he was a student at Columbia University. In 1900, this organ was traded in for a two-manual, 25-stop Aeolian, Op. 892, that was installed in his Beverly, Mass., residence. Miller-Masury was allowed $3,000 toward the $14,800 cost of the larger Aeolian organ. In 1911, Op. 892 was rebuilt by Aeolian as Op. 1176, a two-manual, 20-rank organ with Harp and Chimes, and the organ was moved to his "Lakeside" residence in Virginia Beach.

The Aeolian Company's "Style 125" had one manual and an Aeolian player. There were six divided stops and a 17-note 16' Contra Bass, played from a 58-note keyboard. Aeolian published a brochure that included the "Specification of Aeolian Pipe-Organ in the Residence of Mr. J. M. Masury, New York City."
"This organ has been conveniently installed, without alterations, in the main hall of an ordinary-sized dwelling house, occupying a space seven feet wide, four feet six inches deep, and ten feet high. It is blown by an electric motor placed in a room underneath organ, conveniently controlled from the keyboard. Case is of dark mahogany, with gilded front pipes."
               
Manual – 58 notes, divided at tenor G# and A, enclosed
8
   Violin Diapason, treble
37
8
   Rohr Flöte, treble
37
8
   Violin Diapason, bass
21
8
   Rohr Flöte, bass
21
8
   Viol di Gamba, treble
37
4
   Flute d'Amour, treble
37
8
   Viol di Gamba, bass
21
4
   Flute d'Amour, bass
21
8
   Dolcissimo, treble
37
8
   Saxophone, treble
37
8
   Dolcissimo, bass
21
8
   Saxophone, bass
21
       
16
   Contra Bass
17
               
Accessories
    Tremulant   Piano Combination Piston *
    Manual to Aeolian   Mezzo Combination Piston *
    Aeolian Tempo   Forte Combination Piston *
    Aeolian Return  

* Pistons under keyboard operating the speaking stops
    Balanced Crescendo Pedal  
    Balanced Swell Pedal  
           
Sources:
     Aeolian Company brochure. Specifications and photo of Style 125 organ in J.M. Masury Residence, New York City. Courtesy James Lewis.
     Catalog of Officers and Graduates of Columbia University From the Foundations of King's College in 1754. New York: Columbia University, 1906.
     "Dr. John Miller-Masury House," National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet (May 23, 1997).
     "In the Real Estate Field," The New York Times (Apr. 2, 1902).
     Smith, Rollin. The Aeolian Pipe Organ and its Music. Richmond: The Organ Historical Society, 1998.

Illustration:
     Aeolian Company brochure. Aeolian Organ, Style 125, in J.M. Masury Residence, New York City. Courtesy James Lewis.