2004-10-30 - Status Note: There 1998 -Database Manager
2006-03-19 - Updated through on-line information from Paul Eschenauer. -- The pipes in the case are ornimented and painted. The side panels are not in great shape. The hand levers for the bellows are missing. Some Sisters remembered them in the 1950s when the power went out in the chapel, they had to pump the organ. It's playable but needs some work. In the St Albert's chapel, there is a 1964 Midmer Losh organ that is in very bad shape. The sister's do not have the funds to restore these instruments. -Database Manager
2019-02-28 - Updated by Scot Huntington, who has heard or played the organ. In addition Scot Huntington gave this as a source of information: I visited the organ to make a damage assessment February 26, 2019. <br> <br>This is an original installation contemporary with the building. The chapel is exquisitely decorated, stencilled stem to stern and the organ facade harmonizes with this decoration. The first interior Open Diapason pipe is scribed \"Convent\" and on the bungboard is written in pencil: June 1878.<br><br>A small Kinetic blower was installed decades ago, located in the cellar 2 floors below. At some point in the recent past, the double-rise reservoir (inverted fold) was releathered very competently but the feeders were removed. The organ was cleaned and the action renewed at this time: persons and date unknown. The pipework is in good condition, still cone tuned and original voicing intact and until recently the organ was in decent condition and used somewhat regularly. During one of the severe polar vortex spell in mid-January, the sprinkler head in the attic above the organ ruptured and the organ was doused for a number of hours until it was discovered. Although this rendered the organ unplayable, surprisingly the damage was relatively routine and not catastrophic. If the windchest is restored including retabling, the organ will essentially be back to normal. It would not take much work beyond that to restore the organ completely, including repairing the water damage to the facade decoration. <br><br>The organ is entirely enclosed in a Swell box except for the facade Diapason basses and the Pedal Bourdon. The two ancillary 8-foot stops share a common stopped-wood bass. The pipework is high-quality spotted metal with minimal tuning damage. The Open Diapason stop label is a spurious and inappropriate replacement. The stopknobs are oblique on round shanks: ebony for manual stops, boxwood for Pedal and accessories, and the ivory inserts are domed, engraved in elegant Spencerian script. The 2\' knob engraving matches the others, but was clearly intended for a 3-manual instrument. The pedal sharps are radiating. The cast iron expression pedal has GJ&S cast in the filigree design. The unusual tremulant is a windtrunk \"Tremblant doux\" design, even more remarkable, it is installed in a vertical placement, with a glass viewing window that was intended to either show off a feature of unique design or to view and diagnose errant operation. The organ is solidly well-made and exhibits none of the cheap cost-cutting measures seen in some Jardine instruments. The voicing is sweet and pleasant, if unremarkable, and sounds well in the large acoustically supportive room. It is my hope the organ will be properly restored to another century of service.<br><br>The original listing for this instrument named the location as St. Adalbert\'s Convent but I believe this to be in error. Founded in 1876 by four sisters from Germany, the completed Rosary Hall, copied after the convent in Regensburg, Germany from whence the founders hailed, was dedicated in 1879 with the same title the convent still bears. It and the chapel are listed on the National Historic Register. The exquisite Rosary Chapel remains unchanged but is no longer the main church, there being a larger chapel (St. Adalbert\'s?) in the modern 1960s residential addition. -Database Manager
Original document from Scot Huntington. Source: Unknown 2019-03-02
Amityville, NY Sisters of the Order of St. Dominic Amityville Convent Geo. Jardine & Son N.Y. signed June 1878 Compasses: 58/27 [Open Diapason 8 ft.] label missing, facade basses to tenor-e, dead length Gamba. 8 ft. from tenor-c, slotted, box beards, sharp lip skiving Gedackt. 8 ft. wood bass, chimney flute treble, ear-tuned Principal. 4 ft. zinc basses 1-5 Flute. 4 ft. harmonic treble Picolo 2 ft. So. Bourdon. 16 ft. Pedal, wood, unenclosed behind organ Tremulo. Tremblant doux in manual trunk Pedal Coupler. Manual to Pedal Bellow. knocks on right side case panel, with return spring
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