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Church of St. Catherine of Genoa
(Roman Catholic)
504 West 153rd Street near Amsterdam Avenue
New York, N.Y. 10032
At the direction of Archbishop Corrigan, the parish of St. Catherine of Genoa was established in the summer of 1887 by Rev. Edward F. Slattery. Parish boundaries at that time were 145th to 161st Streets, and St. Nicholas Place to the Hudson River. On October 16, 1887, the first Mass of the new parish was celebrated in a building known as the Atheneum. A plot of land on West 153rd Street at Amsterdam Avenue was purchased and construction began on the present church building. Archbishop Corrigan laid the cornerstone in the spring of 1889, and the completed church was dedicated in the autumn of the same year. Designed by Thomas H. Poole, the unique façade combines Venetian Gothic and northern European styles, topped by a stepped Belgian gable. Poole also designed the Church of Our Lady of Good Counsel on East 90th Street in Yorkville.
St. Catherine's Convent of the Sisters of Mercy was established as a mission of the parish. The Sisters of Mercy, along with lay teachers, were in charge of the parochial school that accomodated about 500 students. |
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George S. Hutchings
Boston, Mass. – Opus 308 (1893)
Mechanical action
2 manuals, 13 stops, 13 ranks
The organ in St. Catherine of Genoa Church was originally built in 1893 for the Minneapolis studio of Mr. J. Warren Andrews, where he was organist and choirmaster at Plymouth Church. Upon accepting the position at the Church of the Divine Paternity in New York, he had Hutchings move the organ to his studio in that church. In 1905, Andrews commissioned the Hutchings-Votey firm (successor to Geo. S. Hutchings) to build a new three-manual organ. Around that time, the 1893 Hutchings organ was moved to St. Catherine of Genoa Church.
A survey in 2013 found that this organ had some water damage and was in need of cleaning, but everything worked and it was playable. At an unknown time, the organ was altered when the Great 8' Dolcissimo was made into a 2' rank, and the Swell 8' Aeoline was changed to a 2-2/3' stop. The Swell 8' Violin Diapason has been tuned sharp for use as an undulant. |
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Great Organ (Manual I) – 61 notes
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8 |
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Open Diapason |
61 |
8 |
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Melodia |
61 |
8 |
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Dolcissimo (now 2' 15th) |
61 |
4 |
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Octave |
61 |
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Swell Organ (Manual II) – 61 notes, enclosed
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16 |
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Bourdon |
61 |
8 |
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Stopped Diapason |
61 |
8 |
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Violin Diapason |
61 |
4 |
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Harmonic Flute |
61 |
8 |
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Salicional |
61 |
2 |
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Violina |
61 |
8 |
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Aeoline (now 2-2/3' Twelfth) |
61 |
8 |
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Oboe |
61 |
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Pedal Organ – 30 notes
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16 |
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Bourdon |
30 |
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Couplers
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Swell to Pedal |
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Great to Pedal |
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Swell to Great |
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Composition Pedals
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1. |
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Swell Strings |
4. |
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Great PP 8' |
2. |
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Full Swell |
5. |
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Full Great |
3. |
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Swell to Great 4' |
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Mechanicals
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Balanced Swell Pedal |
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Blower Signal |
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Great to Pedal Reversible |
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| Left Jamb |
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Pedal Movements |
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Right Jamb |
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Sources:
The Catholic Church in the United States of America: Undertaken to Celebrate the Golden Jubilee of His Holiness, Pope Pius X, Vol. III. New York: The Catholic Editing Company, 1914.
Dunlap, David. From Abyssinian to Zion: A Guide to Manhattan's Houses of Worship. New York: Columbia University Press, 2004.
Schmauch, David. Survey and Specification of George S. Hutchings organ, Op. 308 (1893).
Shelley, Thomas J. The Bicentennial History of the Archdiocese of New York 1808-2008. Strasbourg: Éditions du Signe, 2007.
Illustrations:
Schmauch, David. George S. Hutchings organ, Op. 308 (1893).
Shelley, Thomas J. The Bicentennial History of the Archdiocese of New York 1808-2008. Exterior. |
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