Peter Rudewicz on May 15th, 2022:
New organ installed within existing organ case, and incorporating select pipework from the previous Hook & Hastings instrument (Op. 1441). The instrument was designed by Dr. T. Tertius Noble, who had a regular affiliation with Welte. The organ was only used for a short ten years, before St. Andrew's sold the W. 76th Street building to the West Side Instituitonal Synagogue and merged with St. Paul's Church. The Welte instrument was subsenquently purchased by John Hays Hammond Jr. (Most probably through his association with William Laws Sr.) who amalgmated the Welte instrument into his massive home organ in Gloucester, MA. The organ at Hammond Castle reveals the significant majority of the Welte pipework and mechanical chassis remains extant, albeit repurposed.