Brooklyn, New York
Church of the Holy Trinity, Episcopal
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Builder: Skinner Organ Company
Year: 1925
Opus: 524
No. manuals: 4
No. stops: 68
No. ranks: 64
No. pipes: 4,244
GREAT ORGAN SWELL ORGAN
16' Diapason 61 16' Bourdon 73
16' Bourdon 61 8' Diapason 73
8' First Diapason 61 8' Gedeckt 73
8' Second Diapason 61 8' Hohl Flute 73
8' Claribel Flute 61 8' Quintadena 73
8' Wald Flute 61 8' Salicional 73
8' Viola Dolce 61 8' Voix Celeste 73
8' Erzähler 61 8' Flauto Dolce 73
4' Octave 61 8' Flute Celeste (TC) 61
4' Flute 61 4' Flute Triangulaire 73
2' Fifteenth 61 4' Gemshorn 73
IV Mixture 244 2' Flautino 61
8' Trumpet 61 V Mixture 305
Chimes EC 16' Posaune 73
8' Cornopean 73
CHOIR ORGAN 8' Corno d'Amore 73
16' Gamba 73 8' Vox Humana 73
8' Diapason 73 4' Clarion 73
8' Concert Flute 73 Tremolo
8' Dulciana 73
8' Unda Maris (TC) 61 PEDAL ORGAN
8' Viole d'Amour 73 32' Bourdon 12
4' Flute 73 16' Diapason 32
2 2/3' Nazard 61 16' Violone 32
2' Piccolo 61 16' Bourdon 32
1 3/5' Tierce 61 16' Echo Bourdon SW
8' English Horn 73 16' Gamba CH
8' Clarinet 73 10 2/3' Quint (Bourdon) --
Tremolo 8' Octave 12
8' Harp (TC) -- 8' Gedeckt 12
4' Celesta 61 bars 8' Still Gedeckt SW
4' Stopped Flute 12
SOLO and ECHO ORGANS 32' Bombarde (wood) 12
8' Gross Gedeckt 73 16' Trombone 32
8' Gross Gamba 73 16' Posaune SW
8' Gamba Celeste 73 8' Tromba 12
4' Orchestral Flute 73 Chimes EC
8' Tuba Mirabilis 73 (20" wp)
8' French Horn 73
8' Chimney Flute 73
8' Muted Viole 73
4' Silverette 73
8' Vox Humana 61
Tremolo (both)
Chimes 20 tubes
Source: Allen Kinzey
Notes: The announcement
in the May 1925 of The Diapason stated:
"Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, Brooklyn, has received a gift of a large
and complete organ, the contract for which has been placed with the Skinner Organ
Company. Louis Robert is the organist and choirmaster of the church. A
campaign was launched some time ago to raise a fund of $50,000 to replace the
Hutchings organ installed many years ago during the administration of Dudley
Buck. Late in March, when the subscriptions had reached $37,000, a letter
was received from the heirs of the late Charles J. Peabody, donor of the [Hutchings],
offering to the church an organ to cost approximately $50,000, provided an equal
sum be raised for its permanent maintenance, and that it be played at all times
by a competent organist. Mr. Peabody, throughout his lifetime, had been
active not only in his church life, but in many branches of social and educational
service in Brooklyn.
"The organ is expected to be ready for use on Sept. 25 [1925]. It will follow tonally the precedents found in European cathedral instruments, having some of the famous mixtures and flutes, and will rank among the finest instruments of New York. It is said to be the first instrument in the United States to be equipped with "melody couplers," a device which will be of great importance in promoting congregational singing. In the echo organ will be placed a "silverette" stop, a rare flute."
Built in 1860, the church, now named Church of St. Ann and the Holy Trinity, is in the affluent Brooklyn Heights area that attracted the men of Wall Street at the time. Of modified French Gothic architecture, it originally seated 1,000.
The Skinner was installed in 1925. The 32' reed with metal resonators that was scheduled for the church went instead for a school, and the church got the reed with wooden resonators that was to go to the school. The stop has a very full sound and is much larger in scale than other Skinner 32' reeds of that era.
In the early 1950's, the rector led the church in support of missions in Russia, a definite no-no in McCarthy times. When he refused to step down and the church membership supported him, the diocese closed the church in 1957. It was reopened when St. Ann's Episcopal had to leave its crumbling building down the street and took over Holy Trinity in 1969 as St. Ann and the Holy Trinity Church. A 5-manual Keates console was installed at that time, with Virgil Fox as consultant.
The stained glass windows were the first to be done in an "ensemble series" to be fabricated in the United States. The church has its own in-house studio to replace and restore stained glass windows – the only one in the United States.
Organ Historical Society Database: https://pipeorgandatabase.org/OrganDetails.php?OrganID=11166