Osterley Park Middlesex Restoration of the 1788 Holland Chest Organ

The label above the keyboard gives: “Henry Holland NEPHEW and SUCCESSOR to Mr Pyke/Organbuilder to His Majesty/Bedford Row and St James’s Street PICCADILLY”. A graffito under the organ shows that it was not Holland who made it: “Ed. White Invent et Delinea/May ye 30th 1788”. It restored in 1955 by N.P.Mander and during the winter of 2000-2001 by Edward Bennett.

It was originally made for Osterley Park, spent some time at The Vine in Hampshire, and has now been returned to Osterley, on loan to the National Trust https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/osterley-park-and-house ,from the owner, Augustine Ford.

The organ has St Diapason, Principal and Fifteenth, with bass and treble knobs for each stop on either side of the keyboard. The shifting movement removes the Fifteenth. All the pipes are made of pine, narrow-scaled, in a traditional English manner which must have seemed quite old-fashioned by 1788.

The compass is GG AA – f³, with the bass/treble division at bº/c¹. An internal blower and a trolley have been provided so that the organ can be moved for concerts and weddings.