Saint John the Baptist RC Church
Union Street Historic District
Poughkeepsie, NY
Ferris & Stuart, New York 1858
Two manuals and pedal, 11 ranks (pedalboard and pedal division not currently operational)
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Saint John the Baptist RC Church
Ferris & Stuart, New York 1858 Two manuals and pedal, 11 ranks (pedalboard and pedal division not currently operational) |
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Source: The Whistlebox, the newsletter of the Mid-Hudson Chapter, Organ Historical Society, Inc.
Vol. III, No. 1, Whole No. 4, January, 1981
Provided by Joseph Bertolozzi
"POUGHKEEPSIE HISTORIC DISTRICT - AND A FERRIS & STUART"
... a report by Joe Corkedale
In the city of Poughkeepsie, there is a section called "The Union Street Historic District," which was listed inthe National Register of Historic Places on December 9, 1971. Within this area is a church that was erected in 1866 - the first church built in this city following the Civil War. It was dedicated on October 14th of 1866, as the German Lutheran Church. So it remained until the 1920's, when it was purchased by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese, and renamed St. John the Baptist Church, as it is presently known.
... At some point between 1866 and the 1920's, the Lutheran congregation purchased a used two manual, 11 rank pipe organ, built in 1858 by the firm of Ferris & Stuart. I say "by the firm," because of the silver nameplate, which reads "Ferris & Stuart, New York, 1858." However, Orpha Oches states that organs having this plate were built after the death of Richard M. Ferris in the Fall of 1858, and are more accurately the work of Levi Stuart.
The organ in St. John the Baptist is very fine, sweetly voiced but not thin, and beautifully housed in a free standing, 3 sided case of walnut. Manuals are recessed and of 61 notes each, CC to C4, pedal compass is 25 notes, CCC to Middle C. Pedal keys are very short, and extremely thin - typical of the period. Total number of pipes, 572. Stop knows are flat-faced and mounted on square shanks. Lettering is script on ivory faces. The stops are in two vertical rows per side, as follows:
| Left Jamb (Swell Organ and Couplers) | ||
| Principal | (TC) | (metal) |
| Stopped Diapason | (TC) | (wood) |
| Viola d'Amore | (TC) | (metal Bell Gamba) |
| Dulciana | (TC) | (metal) |
| Stopped Diapason Bass | (CC to BB) | (wood) |
| Swell to Great | ||
| Swell to Pedal | ||
| Great to Pedal | ||
| Pedal Check | ||
| Right Jamb(Great Organ & Pedal) | ||
| Fifteenth | (metal) | |
| Rohr Flute | (TC) | (metal) |
| Principal | (metal) | |
| Stopped Diapason Treble | (TC) | (metal) |
| Stopped Diapason Bass | (CC to BB) | (wood) |
| Kerolophone | (TC) | (metal) |
| Open Diapason | (metal) | |
| Pedal Bourdon | (wood) | |
| Tremolo | ||