Manhattan in the Late Victorian Era

Despite fierce competition, the firm was well

It was at the 42nd Street works in Manhattan that the Odells built all of their mechanical action organs, and also where John Henry Odell conceived the tubular--pneumatic action system he patented in 1872 and 1898. As one of the only organ building firms to remain active in Manhattan past 1900, it is no coincidence that at one point, the Odells had over 200 organs up and playing in New York City.

Among the largest organs built by J.H. & C.S. Odell were: Temple Emmanu-El, Fifth Avenue and Forty-Third Street (Op. 386 IV/65, 1901), the Church of St. Nicholas, Fifth Avenue and Forty-Eighth Street (Op. 368, IV/50, 1899) and St. Joseph's Church, Albany, New York (Op. 483 V/59, 1912).

| Next...The Post Depression Years |

(Click on either picture to enlarge)

* Dr. Orpha Ochse, The History of the Organ in the United States, p. 275-278