ca. 1900 - Church exterior (Photograph from an archival source: Parish website, submitted by Jim Stettner/Jim Stettner)
2004-10-30 - [The Garret House from Congregational, Friendship, NY? Note that both Friendship and Hornell entries are on the 1966 NY list.] Rebuilt, probably by Kohl. [GNelson lists an 1881 Garret House from the Garret House opus list for a RC in Hornell. This organ?] Appears to have been electrified. -Database Manager
2021-04-01 - In 2011 three congregations were merged (St. Ignatius, St. Ann's, and St. Mary's in Rexville), to become the Parish of Our Lady of the Valley with St. Ann's as the parent church. St. Ignatius was closed and the building sold. Parts of the St. Ignatius Moller (1968) were grafted onto the St. Ann's organ, and what wasn't reused was junked. The cornerstone of the St. Ann's building is dated 1888, but is not the original building. According to local histories, the original church on this site is several decades older, and was enlarged twice before the most major enlargement in 1888 adding the large sanctuary and bell tower with each growth incorporating the previous constructions. The associated St. Ann's school dates to 1870. The original database entry for this instrument is a confusing narrative, implying this was originally built for a Congregational church in Friendship (long gone) and installed here second hand while at the same time noting the Garret House opus list (which only begins around 1860), has an undated organ for an R.C. church in Hornell--of which in the 19th-century, St. Ann's was the only candidate. Garret House would have built a good number of organs in the 20 years prior to the start of the published opus list, and this organ's core could very likely be one of those instruments. Whether this organ was built new for an earlier St. Ann's building, or sold here as a second-hand organ, remains to be determined. The non-specific nature of the post-1860 House opus list entry for Hornell could also suggest this might have been a House relocation of an older organ. The interior of the organ is an intact stacked (Swell over Great) organ of old-fashioned design, i.e. pre-1860 with a short compass Swell and short compass Great stops. As originally built, the organ had a single pedal stop, a Bourdon 16'. When the organ was electrified, a set of 19th-century Double Diapason 16' pipes on an electrified chest was added to rectify the organ's lack of a strong bass in the room when playing tutti, and is mounted behind the organ's core structure which is otherwise self-contained. The organ was electrified with a supply-house console and pneumatic pulldown machines but without tonal alterations. The console looks to be from the 1920s or 30s. While the current facade looks 20th century, it would also not be out of the question for the late 1880s or 1890s. Arthur Kohl is the most likely candidate as local rebuilder, having made a thriving mid-century business electrifying old trackers. While the historic integrity of the organ was essentially intact in the late 1960s when I first saw the organ, I fear that is no longer the case, with at least two rounds of alterations happening over the intervening 50 years since. Even in the late 1960s, the electrification of the organ seemed "old" and the condition was at the edge of being fragile - a situation which would have worsened as the organ aged and was further challenged by well-intentioned but amateur "tinkerers". -Scot Huntington
console, personal examination, from memory Source: Source not recorded Date not recorded
Hornell, New York St. Ann's Catholic Church Attributed to Garret House,ca. late 1860s; no nameplate on console Electrified at unknown date, mid-20th century Great Open Diapason 8 Melodia 8 Dulciana 8 Unison Bass 8 Principal 4 Flute (t.c.) 4 Twelfth 2 2/3 Fifteenth 2 Trumpet (t.c.) 8 Chimes Swell (from tenor-f, enclosed) Open Diapason 8 Stopped Diapason 8 Viola di Gamba 8 Principal 4 Oboe 8 Stopped Diapason Bass 8 (unenclosed) Tremulant Pedal Open Diapason 16 (added at electrification) Bourdon 16 Swell to Great Great to Pedal Swell to Pedal [Received from Scot Huntington 2013-01-04.]
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