Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church - New York City (National Magazine, 1856)
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Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church
Free Tabernacle

248 West 34th Street, near Eighth Avenue
New York, N.Y. 10036






Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church was established in 1858 by the Rev. Dr. Foster, formerly of the John Street Methodist Church. Located on the south side of West 34th Street, the new church and parsonage occupied a plot 96 feet front by 99 feet in depth that cost $14,000. At the time, the area was growing and had many first-class residences. The Gothic church building was built mainly of rough-tooled "superior blue building stone, obtained upon New-York Island," with trim of Connecticut freestone. Measuring 65 feet by 99 feet, the facade featured a 90-foot tower surmounted by a wooden spire covered with slate that rose another 110 feet to the top of the finial. The tower was equipped with a $500 clock that had three faces, but there was no bell, "as it was thought to be unnecessary and undesirable in the neighborhood." Inside the "main audience-room" had a ceiling 50 feet high that curved at the sides. The room was illuminated by gas fixtures on the walls and gallery front, plus light-colored stained glass windows. On the main floor were upholstered pews furnished with doors. "The aisles were depressed about three inches below the floor of the pews, for the better security of the ends of the pews, for convenience in sweeping, and to allow the pew-doors to swing clear." In the gallery that extended around three sides were four row of seats. A total of 1200 people could be accomodated on the main floor and in the gallery. In the basement were the lecture-room, and rooms for infants and bible classes. Built at a total cost of $65,000 (including the land), the completed church was dedicated on Sunday, June 29, 1856, with three services throughout the day. Bishop Edmond S. Janes preached the sermon at the morning service.

After several years, the Trinity Methodist society was known as the Free Tabernacle after it abolished pew rentals. By the late 1870s the area along 34th Street had developed into a thriving business district and, despite a succession of notable pastors, the church did not flourish. In 1880, the New-York City Church Extension and Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church determined that the church was not at all needed in the area and sold the property, using the proceeds to fund needs in other districts of the city.

The old Free Tabernacle was purchased by Mr. Francis Palmer for $70,000, who established the Union Tabernacle as an "undenominational place of worship for people belonging to the middle classes." Mr. Palmer hired the Rev. George J. Mingins, D.D., for many years a City missionary, to be the pastor for a period of one year. Dr. Mingins had a following who regularly filled the church. However, at the conclusion of one year, Rev. Mingins was told by Mr. Palmer (who owned the church outright and answered to no board or vestry) that his contract would not be renewed. Rev. Mingins found another place to hold services and took his flock with him. Shortly thereafter, the Union Tabernacle was closed.

The building was next home to the First United Presbyterian Church, who remained there until 1905 when the church was razed prior to construction of the Pennsylvania Rail Road Station.
               
George Jardine & Son
New York City (1856)
Mechanical action
3 manuals, 27 stops, 32 ranks


The American Musical Directory of 1861 shows that the organ in Trinity Methodist Church had "3 banks keys, 37 stops, 2 octaves pedals" and was "Built by Jardine & Son, in 1857." However, an item in the New-York Musical Review and Gazette (Oct. 18, 1856) lists 27 stops, as given below. Manual compasses were not given but were probably 54 or 56 notes, based on other Jardine & Son organs of the era. The article states:
"The instrument is inclosed [sic] in a fine Gothic case, thirty-two feet high and twenty wide; it has three key-boards, and two octaves of pedals, with the following stops. ... This organ, we believe, has been erected at a cost of $3000, and gives great satisfaction to the many organists who have tested its rich qualities."
An article about Methodist Church Architecture in The National Magazine (Jan. 1856) reported that the organ would occupy a space in the tower, with the organ case filling most of the Gothic arch above the main front window.
               
Great Organ (Manual II) – 54 notes
8
   Open Diapason  
3
   Twelfth  
8
   Stop Diapason, treble  
2
   Fifteenth  
8
   Stop Diapason, bass       Sesquialter [4 ranks?]  
8
   Melodia [TC]  
8
   Trumpet  
4
   Principal          
 
      
 
      
Swell Organ (Manual III) – 54 notes, enclosed
16
   Double Diapason  
2
   Fifteenth  
8
   Open Diapason       Cornet [3 ranks?]  
8
   Stop Diapason  
8
   Hautboy  
8
   Viol d'Amour  
8
   Vox Celestis  
4
   Principal          
               
Choir Organ (Manual I) – 54 notes
16
   Bourdon  
8
   Viol d'Amour  
8
   Open Diapason  
4
   Principal  
8
   Stop Diapason  
2
   Fifteenth  
8
   Dulciana  
8
   Clariana [TC]  
 
      
 
      
Pedal Organ – 25 notes
16
  
Open Diapason
          
8
  
Violoncello
          
               
Couplers
    Great and Swell       Pedal and Choir  
    Great and Swell       Choir and Swell  
    Pedal and Great       Pedal and Swell  
               
Accessories
    [Swell Pedal] – not listed      
    Bells      
               
Sources:
     "A Church Whose Pews Will be Free," The New York Times (Apr. 5, 1880).
     American Musical Directory. New York: Thomas Hutchinson, 1861.
     Appletons' Hand-Book of American Travel: Northern and Eastern Tour. New York: D. Appleton & Company, 1870.
     "Methodist Church Architecture: Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church, New-York," The National Magazine: Devoted to Literature, Art, and Religion (Jan. 1856).
     "Musical Gossip," New-York Musical Review and Gazette (Oct. 16, 1856). Specifications of George Jardine & Son organ (1856).
     "Religious Notices," The New York Times (June 25, 1856).
     Report of the NYC Church Extension and Missionary Society of the M.E. Church for the Year Ending Dec. 31, 1881. New York: Isaac J. Oliver, 1881.
     "The Methodist Churches," The New York Times (Mar. 29, 1880).

Illustration:
     The National Magazine: Devoted to Literature, Art, and Religion (Jan. 1856). Drawing.