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| Formerly | N P Mander Limited |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1936 |
| Founder | Noel Mander |
| Defunct | 2020 |
| Fate | Taken over |
| Headquarters | Bethnal Green, England, UK |
Area served | International |
Key people | John Pike Mander, Stephen Bicknell |
| Products | Pipe Organ Builders |
Number of employees | 13 |
N.P Mander Limited later Mander Organs Limited was an English pipe organ maker and refurbisher based in London. Although well known for many years in the organ building industry, they achieved wider notability in 2004 with the refurbishment of the Royal Albert Hall's Father Willis Grand Organ. That company filed for insolvency in 2020 with their trading name and intellectual rights being bought out by the Canterbury firm F. H Browne and Sons.
N.P Mander built and installed numerous celebrated organs, notably the 68-stop four manual and pedal organ in the Church of St Ignatius Loyola, New York[1] – reportedly the largest mechanical action built by a British builder. Simon Preston said of this instrument: "It is difficult to do justice to this famous instrument in a couple of sentences; suffice to say that to look at this beautiful instrument is to know the sound that will come out of it."[2]
New N.P Mander organs were generally tracker action, which eliminates the insignificant delays which are inherent in many electrically actuated organs and which some organists believe enables them to play somewhat more expressively.
The company was founded in 1936 by Noel Mander. An early setback was the loss of the organ he was working on, along with all his tools, in the first air raid of the Blitz in 1940. The rebuilding of church organs after World War II provided significant business for the company.
Following the retirement of Noel Mander in 1983, the firm was run by John Pike Mander, Noel Mander's son. On John Pike Mander's retirement at the end of 2018 the company's shareholding was transferred to an Employee Ownership Trust, giving all members of staff a stake in the future of the business.[3][4]
- ^ Tommasini, Anthony (4 July 2007). "3 Soloists Give Voice to a Mighty Instrument". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
- ^ www.stignatiusloyola.org
- ^ Mander Organs "about" page
- ^ Martin, Douglas (24 September 2005). "Noel Mander, Organ Maker, Is Dead at 93". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 3 July 2023.