The organ in The Playboy Mansion has a unique and unusual history. It was originally constructed for the home of Arthur Letts Sr., who was born on June 17, 1862 in Holdenby Lodge, England, and later moved to Southern California, founded the Broadway department store chain, and was a real estate developer. He constructed a mansion in the eastern portion of Hollywood (Los Feliz Hills) at 4931 Franklin Ave. Included in the estate was a pipe organ in the music room.

Arthur Letts Sr. contracted with the Aeolian Organ Co. of Garwood New Jersey on December 21, 1922 to construct and install a 2 manual, 21 rank pipe organ, as their opus 1516, with harp, chimes, and a Duo-Art roll player for $26,500. The instrument was shipped on April 17, 1923. Arthur Letts Sr. Died on May 18th of that year. It is not known if he ever had a chance to hear the organ in his home.

Arthur Letts Sr. purchased 400 acres of the original 2,000-acre Wolfskill Ranch, for $100 an acre! If you go back far enough, in 1843, the land was granted by the Mexican Governor, Manuel Micheltorena, to Jose Maximo Alanis.  The land was known as “Rancho San Jose de Buenos Ayres”.  The ranch was then sold in 1858 to Benjamin “Don Benito” Wilson (grandfather or General Patton).  In 1884 the land would be sold again, this time to William Wolfskill, creator of the Valencia orange, and which Orange County was named after.  Besides Holmby Hills, the land includes the land where UCLA and Westwood reside.

The land where The Playboy Mansion rests was a gift from father to son and in recognition of Arthur Letts’ birthplace, the family named the neighbourhood Holmby Hills. Designed in 1925 by well known southern California architect Arthur Kelly, the gothic style home is 16th century perpendicular with a Scottish influence. The walls are steel reinforced concrete with 18-inch thick granite like stonework, which is done by hand. The mansion was completed in 1927 for Arthur Letts Jr. Arthur Letts Jr. contracted with the Aeolian Organ Company on October 19, 1926 for $1,800, to dismantle, crate, and erect the pipe organ in his new residence. Arthur Letts original residence was demolished in 1927.

Arthur Letts Jr. lived here until his death in 1953. The house lay idle for years and was eventually purchased in 1961 by an industrial physicist named Louis D. Statham. By 1968, Statham was no longer living in the house and allowed Los Angeles host organization Les Dames de Champagne to use it as a hospitality residence for visiting dignitaries. Les Dames de Champagne operated the house until Playboy purchased it in 1971.

The organ throughout the years has been played, especially for ‘Silent Movie nights’ and for Halloween, when ‘Phantom of the Opera’ is shown.

The organ was damaged in 2008 when a water pipe located inside the wall of a closet on the second floor, developed a leak, and under pressure, leaked water through the floor of the closet wall, and onto the organ below. There was so much water, it continued leaking through the floor of the organ chamber into the basement, and onto the organ’s blower! Also, the water stains showed up approximately 8” (20cm) above the organ chamber floor. It is not known exactly how long the water had been leaking onto the organ, but the damage was discovered on Halloween, 2008, and the organ was estimated to have taken on 700 to 800 gallons (2,625 to 3,000 liters) of water!

After receiving the go ahead from the insurance company, The Playboy Mansion contacted Williamson-Warne & Associates to provide an evaluation of the organ and an estimate of repairs. The contract was awarded to Williamson-Warne & Associates in early 2009. Currently the organ has been removed from The Mansion (less the console, roll player, relays, cables, static reservoir, and blower) for complete restoration.

The medal flu pipes will be cleaned, re-regulated and tuned. The wooden flu pipes will have all of the cracks and splits repaired, all of the stoppers re-packed, the pipes re-finished as needed, re-regulated and tuned. The reed pipes will be taken apart, cleaned, all of the reeds and shallots cleaned and polished, the pipes re-assembled, the pipes re-voiced, and re-regulated, and tuned The chime mechanism will be disassembled, the chimes will be cleaned, and polished, and the entire action rebuilt including re-leathering of all actions, restoration of the magnets and re-finishing of the wooden parts. The harp mechanism will be disassembled, the harp bars will need to be cleaned, and polished, and the entire action rebuilt including re-leathering of all actions, restoration of the magnets and re-finishing of the wooden parts. The expression motor will be disassembled, re-leathered, the valves will be replaced and restoration of the magnets, re-assembled adjusted and test. The chestwork will need to be completely restored, which include replacing all leather pneumatics, valves, bolster strips, gaskets, restore all magnets, and cleaning of all springs and valve wires, restoring (or replacing irreparable), cleaning and refinishing of all wooden parts, and re-plating all metal parts. The reservoirs will include replacement of all leather and rubber cloth materials, re-finishing all wooden and metal parts The tremulant will include replacement of all leather, rubber cloth, and felt materials, and restoring/ refinishing all wooden and metal parts. The wind conductors, both metal and wood, will be cleaned and re-painted, the wooden windlines will need to be repaired, and refinished, The blower will need to be disassembled, cleaned, refinished, the motor inspected and serviced, the fans balanced, reassembled and tested and adjusted The pneumatic magnets in the windchests, percussion stops, relay/switch action (which are unique to this particular brand of pipe organ will be restored, including cleaning, re-winding, and adjusting and testing. The chamber, blower room and relay/switch walls, ceiling, and floors were damaged by the water. They will therefore need to be repairs. This will include patching and smoothing the wall, ceiling and floor surfaces, priming and panting the walls and ceiling surfaces.

The project is scheduled to be completed mid-2010.

Following are the pictures and description of the pictures of the work to date.