Pipe Organ Database

Rebuild, new console and tonal changes by Aeolian-Skinner in 1941.

From the NYC AGO NYC Organ Project: The neo-Gothic edifice that is now Central Presbyterian Church was built between 1920-22 as the Park Avenue Baptist Church, and financed by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Architects Allen & Collens, working with Hency C. Pelton, designed the complex which included the sanctuary, parish house, a 500-seat Bible Class study hall, offices, and two floors above the sanctuary. Originally, the tower contained a 53-bell carillon cast in 1925 by Gillett & Johnston of Croydon, England. The Rev. Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick, the outspoken liberalist pastor of Park Avenue Baptist, drew crowds that overflowed the church and tied up traffic on Park Avenue. Rockefeller had the Riverside Church built in Morningside Heights, and the Park Avenue Baptists moved there in 1929. To the great relief of nearby apartment dwellers, the carillon—which was given by Mr. Rockefeller in memory of his mother, Laura Spelman Rockefeller—was also moved to The Riverside Church. Central Presbyterian Church then purchased the Park Avenue Baptist building, holding their first service on September 22, 1929.