Residence: Moses T. Stevens / Stevens Estate at Osgood Hill
723 Osgood Street
North Andover,
MA
01845 US
Organ ID: 1702
Inspected on 11/6/21: Instrument currently not playable. Facade is made up of dummy pipes and 1-24 of the Great 8' Diapason low C of which has a 5" diameter. Out of the facade, the 5th and 33rd pipes are missing. Playing facade pipes are numbers: 16-20, 22-39, and 49. The keyboards are currently missing a combined 32 ivories. The blower and tremulant are located in the basement. The blower is a 1/3hp Spencer with 4" output. The motor is a single phase Century repulsion-start motor.
Updated by Wayne Johnson, who gave this as the source of the information: I have seen the organ (it does not play).
Updated through online information from James R. Stettner. -- The organ was built for the Stevens family and installed in their Music Room. The estate was maintained by the family until the 1950s when it was donated to Boston University, who operated it as the Osgood Hill Conference Center. In 1995, it was purchased by the Town of North Andover to protect it, it having been added to the National Register of Historic Places. It is still operated as a conference center and as a place that may be rented for functions like weddings and other celebrations. The couplers are operated by mechanical finger pistons placed in the manual keyslips. The Swell Tremolo is also operated by one of these pistons, and the Sw. to Gr. Octave coupler is actuated by a reversible foot lever. At the time of my visit in 1990, the organ hadn't been used in some 15 years. Many of the facade pipes had missing ears, split seams, and numerous dents. 15 ivories were missing from the Great manual keys. The Pedal pipes were cracked. Reservoir leather was dry and flaky. Leather nuts were old and flaking, and the Swell keys had fallen. The Pedal 16' Bourdon was on a ventil chest.
Keyboard and facade: Photograph by John Tomaselli on Facebook, submitted by John Roper. Taken on 2016-06-24
Instrument with part of the facade removed showing the swell box: Photograph by John Roper. Taken on 2021-11-06
Room: Photograph by John Roper. Taken on 2021-11-06
Room: Photograph by John Roper. Taken on 2021-11-06
Room: Photograph by John Roper. Taken on 2021-11-06
Blower box in basement: Photograph by John Roper. Taken on 2021-11-06