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Saint Michael's Church

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Saint Michael's Organ from Rudolph von Beckerath Organ Company <br><br> From a pamphlet available in the narthex (entrance) of the church, “A Brief Tour and Description of St. Michael’s Church Interior and Windows,” by church Archivist Jean Ballard Terepka: <br><br> “The church houses two fine tracker-action organs, a smaller one in The Chapel of the Angels, and one in the north gallery (shown here), both built by the Rudolf von Beckerath Organ Company (Hamburg, Germany) in 1967. The main organ is an eclectic instrument, at home with music of all periods, but a particularly fine exponent of both German Baroque and French Classic music. The instrument has three manuals and petal with 38 stops, totaling 55 ranks. The case rises 31 feet from the rear gallery floor, with the Ruckpositiv in a separate case mounted on the gallery rail. The Beckerath firm completely cleaned and overhauled the organ during the fall 1995, but no tonal changes were made. Now in mint condition, it remains an important and successful example of the “Orgelbewegung” movement, and is considered by many, one of the most important instruments in the city of New York. These organs, together with the fine acrostics of the church building, feature prominently in choral and organ concerts throughout the season.” <br><br> The <a href="http://www.beckerath.com/en/index.html">Beckerath website</a> has photos of their organs and an interesting history of the company.
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Saint Michael's Organ from Rudolph von Beckerath Organ Company

From a pamphlet available in the narthex (entrance) of the church, “A Brief Tour and Description of St. Michael’s Church Interior and Windows,” by church Archivist Jean Ballard Terepka:

“The church houses two fine tracker-action organs, a smaller one in The Chapel of the Angels, and one in the north gallery (shown here), both built by the Rudolf von Beckerath Organ Company (Hamburg, Germany) in 1967. The main organ is an eclectic instrument, at home with music of all periods, but a particularly fine exponent of both German Baroque and French Classic music. The instrument has three manuals and petal with 38 stops, totaling 55 ranks. The case rises 31 feet from the rear gallery floor, with the Ruckpositiv in a separate case mounted on the gallery rail. The Beckerath firm completely cleaned and overhauled the organ during the fall 1995, but no tonal changes were made. Now in mint condition, it remains an important and successful example of the “Orgelbewegung” movement, and is considered by many, one of the most important instruments in the city of New York. These organs, together with the fine acrostics of the church building, feature prominently in choral and organ concerts throughout the season.”

The Beckerath website has photos of their organs and an interesting history of the company.

SaintMichaelsRudolfvonBeckerathOrganCompany

  • Saint Michael's Nave <br><br> This photo, taken during the Christmas Season 2012, shows the white marble altar with the temporary manger scene below, the mosaic reredos above the altar, and the seven Tiffany stained glass windows. Other photos in this gallery provide more detail. <br><br> I summarized information on the history of Saint Michael’s Church from a pamphlet available in the narthex (entrance) of the church, “St. Michael’s Church: Two Centuries and Onward,” by church Archivist Jean Ballard Terepka. <br><br> Saint Michael’s is an Episcopal church at 99th and Amsterdam Avenue in Manhattan. The current church building is the third church on the site. Robert W. Gibson designed the current building, completed in 1891, in a Northern Italian renaissance or Romanesque-Byzantine style. Works by Tiffany Glass Studios founded by Louis Comfort Tiffany are prominent throughout the church. <br><br> The families that established Saint Michaels in 1807 were pew holders of Trinity Church seeking a more convenient place to worship near their summer homes overlooking the Hudson River. The location was in a village of Manhattan known as Bloomingdale and located on a hill on Bloomingdale Road, just east of what later became Broadway. The church served not only Trinity founders but also Bloomingdale farmers, shopkeepers, migrant, and temporary workers. <br><br> In 1820, William Richmond became rector, beginning a century-long family leadership. Richmond served for 33 years and was followed by his assistant priest, Thomas McClure Peters, who married Richmond’s daughter. McClure Peters total service in the parish lasted 40 years, with his son taking over as rector. Under William Richmond, the size of the scope of the ministry was significant extending from 59th street to the northern tip of Manhattan and from the Hudson River to the East River. Saint Michaels founded at least six churches in New York City. <br><br> Saint Michael’s was active in establishing ministries in the 19th century including the City Mission Society and numerous asylums for poor and homeless women and children, and foster care for destitute children. After the Civil War, the church provided space and financial support for the free Bloomingdale Clinic, District Nurse Association, Day Nursery, and Circulating Library. <br><br> The first church was a simple white frame building. It burned to the ground in 1853 and was replaced by a swiftly build second church consecrated in 1854. <br><br> Saint Michael’s grew rapidly during that time, welcoming many German immigrants. The second church now seemed inadequate in size and plans were put in place in the 1880s for a new building-the third and present building. Robert W. Gibson (1854-1927) created a church in Romanesque and Byzantine style and was dedicated in 1891. In 1895, Louis Comfort Tiffany (1854-1933) was commissioned to design the interior decorations for the building in addition to seven lancet windows representing Saint Michael’s Victory in Heaven. <br><br> The church struggled during the First and Second World Wars, barely able to maintain its social ministries while meeting the wartime pastoral needs of the parish. For the first 60 years of the century, the number of members at Saint Michael’s decreased as the Upper West Side experienced economic decay with the area considered dangerous and undesirable. In the late 1950s and 1960s, it retained a small core of devoted parishioners in the decaying neighborhood. Church leaders struggled to keep the church solvent with meager revenue from pledges and plate collections. As a result of the precarious financial condition, the Bishop of New York considered closing the church. However, funds were raised to keep the church open and even to install a new organ. <br><br> The Upper West Side experienced a revival in the 1970s as the neighborhood once again became desirable and Saint Michael’s welcomed a substantial number of new parishioners. Demographically, the church reflected the diversity of the Upper West Side with individuals and families of Caribbean, Hispanic, African, Indian Asian, and Caucasian descent. As a result of the growing numbers, the church’s finances improved and the church remerged as a leader in a renewed neighborhood. In 1997, Saint Michael’s Church became a Designated Historical Building on the National and State Registers of Historic Places.
  • Saint Michael's Organ from Rudolf von Beckerath Organ Company <br><br> From a pamphlet available in the narthex (entrance) of the church, “A Brief Tour and Description of St. Michael’s Church Interior and Windows,” by church Archivist Jean Ballard Terepka: <br><br> “The church houses two fine tracker-action organs, a smaller one in The Chapel of the Angels, and one in the north gallery (shown here), both built by the Rudolf von Beckerath Organ Company (Hamburg, Germany) in 1967. The main organ is an eclectic instrument, at home with music of all periods, but a particularly fine exponent of both German Baroque and French Classic music. The instrument has three manuals and petal with 38 stops, totaling 55 ranks. The case rises 31 feet from the rear gallery floor, with the Ruckpositiv in a separate case mounted on the gallery rail. The Beckerath firm completely cleaned and overhauled the organ during the fall 1995, but no tonal changes were made. Now in mint condition, it remains an important and successful example of the “Orgelbewegung” movement, and is considered by many, one of the most important instruments in the city of New York. These organs, together with the fine acrostics of the church building, feature prominently in choral and organ concerts throughout the season.” <br><br> The <a href="http://www.beckerath.com/en/index.html">Beckerath website</a> has photos of their organs and an interesting history of the company.
  • Saint Michael's Victory in Heaven by Louis Comfort Tiffany <br><br> I summarized information on the Tiffany windows from a pamphlet available in the narthex (entrance) of the church, “A Brief Tour and Description of St. Michael’s Church Interior and Windows,” by church Archivist Jean Ballard Terepka. <br><br> After completion of the building in 1891, Saint Michael’s rector, John Punnett Peters embarked on furnishing and decorating the church, turning to the Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company for much of the work. On Christmas Day 1895, the Tiffany windows “Saint Michael’s Victory in Heaven” were dedicated. <br><br> Each of the windows is five by 25 feet. The seven panels depict the victor of Saint Micheal in heaven from Revelation 12:7-12 where Satin is expelled from heaven. Saint Michael “…the great archangel, stands on a globe among the clouds, is clothed in armor, and brandishes a sword in one hand. He bears a banner with a cross in the other hand, showing that he stands for Christ. The other archangels are Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, Enogh, Barachiel, Jehudiel and Sealtahiel. They are surrounded by the angel hosts playing many musical instruments and singing praises to God. This window is considered the finest composition in American favrile glass,” and was designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany. As described by Terepka, favrile glass is an American invention from the late 19th century. In this process only the face and hands are painted. Everything else constructed of pieces of colored glass fitted into and over one another to give the proper colors, shades, and forms. Wikipedia describes it as follows: “Favrile glass is a type of iridescent art glass designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany. It was patented in 1894 and first produced in 1896. It differs from most iridescent glasses because the color is ingrained in the glass itself, as well as having distinctive coloring. Favrile glass was used in Tiffany's stained-glass windows.”
  • Saint Michael's Altar and Reredos by Louis Comfort Tiffany <br><br> From a pamphlet available in the narthex (entrance) of the church, “A Brief Tour and Description of St. Michael’s Church Interior and Windows,” by church Archivist Jean Ballard Terepka: <br><br> “Reredos is from two Latin-French words meaning rear and back. The reredos behind the High Altar is in the form of a mosaic set against and into the wall. It contains four medallions representing a winged man, a winged lion, a winged bull and an eagle; each holds a book. These are the four cherubim described in Ezekiel I & I ad the four beasts or creatures of Revelation IV and V. In Christian art, they also represent the four evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, who proclaim to the world Jesus Christ as the revelation of God in the world. <br><br> The High Altar is of white marble, framed in a rich yellow marble, set against a dark background in order to make it the most conspicuous object in the church. In the center is a square cross constructed of circles running into one another. In the fields at the angles of the cross are inscribed in Greek the first and last letter of Jesus and Christ , “IΣ” and “X Σ” (IS and XS) and the Greek acronym, “NI-KA” (i.e., Jesus Crhist conquers by the Cross). In the long panels at the corners of the altar, and on both ends, is depicted the victory of the cross by the cross standing on the world. Between the cross in the center and the crosses in the corners, is a triangle of smaller circles and combining with the Triangles of the Trinity.“
  • Saint Michael's Stained Glass Windows by J&R Lamb <br><br> From a pamphlet available in the narthex (entrance) of the church, “A Brief Tour and Description of St. Michael’s Church Interior and Windows,” by church Archivist Jean Ballard Terepka: <br><br> “These two windows were installed in 1893, two years after the consecration of the present church, by Richard L. Lamb, a partner in the ecclesiastical art firm of J&R Lamb and a parishioner of St. Michaels. The window is in memory of his mother, Elizabeth Clark Lamb, and his wife, Mary Knapp Lamb. Originally installed in the lower west clerestory, the windows were obscured when the parish house was erected and were moved here. The western one of the two presents the Angel appearing to the women after the Resurrection. The other in memory of Mary Knapp Lamb, represents Jesus talking to Mary while Martha is serving (Luke 10:38-42). “ <br><br> According to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%26R_Lamb_Studios">Wikipedia,</a> J&R Lamb Studios, established in 1857 in New York City, was the first major decorative arts studio in the U.S. and for many years was its major producer of the ecclesiastical stained glass.The company still exists and <a href="http://www.lambstudios.com/">the company website</a> provides more detail and history.
  • Saint Michael's Organ from Rudolph von Beckerath Organ Company <br><br> From a pamphlet available in the narthex (entrance) of the church, “A Brief Tour and Description of St. Michael’s Church Interior and Windows,” by church Archivist Jean Ballard Terepka: <br><br> “The church houses two fine tracker-action organs, a smaller one in The Chapel of the Angels, and one in the north gallery (shown here), both built by the Rudolf von Beckerath Organ Company (Hamburg, Germany) in 1967. The main organ is an eclectic instrument, at home with music of all periods, but a particularly fine exponent of both German Baroque and French Classic music. The instrument has three manuals and petal with 38 stops, totaling 55 ranks. The case rises 31 feet from the rear gallery floor, with the Ruckpositiv in a separate case mounted on the gallery rail. The Beckerath firm completely cleaned and overhauled the organ during the fall 1995, but no tonal changes were made. Now in mint condition, it remains an important and successful example of the “Orgelbewegung” movement, and is considered by many, one of the most important instruments in the city of New York. These organs, together with the fine acrostics of the church building, feature prominently in choral and organ concerts throughout the season.” <br><br> The <a href="http://www.beckerath.com/en/index.html">Beckerath website</a> has photos of their organs and an interesting history of the company.

  • God's Child

    on January 17, 2013

    Outstanding - beautiful!!!!

  • Tom Scherer

    on January 17, 2013

    Fantastic capture.

  • Guest

    on January 17, 2013

    Beautiful!

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