M. P. Möller
Opus R-442, 1952

From the NYC AGO NYC Organ Project: This organ was originally built in 1931 by the Möller Organ Company as Opus 5796, and was one of two Möller organs installed in the Waldorf=Astoria Hotel on Park Avenue. As built, Opus 5796 had three manuals, 75 registers, and 22 ranks, plus an Artiste Reproducing Roll Player. The location of this organ in the hotel is unknown, but it may have been installed in a smallar ballroom or in the M.P. Möller Company Showroom on the 4th floor. The larger organ, Opus 5795, was installed in the Grand Ballroom and had four manuals, 102 registers and 76 ranks, plus an Artiste Reproducing Rolle Player.

In 1952, Möller's Opus 5796 was removed from the hotel and rebuilt for Salem Methodist Church. All parts that were to be releathered or rebuilt were returned to the Möller factory, and the organ was thoroughly cleaned, tonally regulated, repitched and tuned for its new home at Salem Methodist Church. Möller added two stops on the Great (4' Octave and III-rank Mixture) and a new 10 HP blower and blower reservoir were installed. Möller also built a new four-manual console that included many blank drawknobs for future additions; it is believed that Virgil Fox had input on the console design, as evident by the inclusion of a Swell to Great 2' coupler. In later years, additions and changes to the organ were carried out by the Schantz Organ Company.

Updated through online information from Jeff Scofield.

Altered and relocated existing organ.
Identified by Jeff Scofield, using information found in Factory Specifications.
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