Lewis & Co

Lewis and Company was an important firm of organ builders founded by Thomas Christopher Lewis (1833-1915), one of the leading organ builders of late 19th Century Britain.^[1]

Lewis Organ in St Paul's Melbourne

Lewis Organ in Glasgow's Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum

Born in London in 1833, the son of Thomas Archdeacon Lewis (1780-1862), a secretary to Charles Blomfield, Bishop of London. Although trained as an architect, Lewis founded a firm of organ builders with John Tunstall and John Whitacker in about 1860. In 1866, the firm moved into premises in Shepherds Lane (now Ferndale Road), Brixton. Under Lewis's direction, the firm built instruments ranging from small chamber organs to major cathedral and concert organs. Lewis was strongly inspired by the organs built in Germany by Edmund Schulze and in France by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll. He was renowned for instruments that had a bright, vibrant tone.^[2] Lewis left the firm before 1900, but it continued to maintain the standards set by its founder. In 1919, there was a merger with Henry Willis & Sons who moved into the Brixton works and traded as Henry Willis and Son and Lewis and Company Ltd until 1925 when the Lewis name was dropped. T. C. Lewis continued to build organs for some time after leaving the firm that he had founded.^[3]

Notable Lewis organs

• Old St. Paul's, Wellington, New Zealand, 1877^[4]
• Ripon Cathedral, 1878^[5]
• Newcastle Cathedral, 1880
• St John the Evangelist, Upper Norwood, London 1882^[6]
• St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne, Australia 1891^[7]
• Southwark Cathedral, London 1897^[8]
• Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow 1901^[9]
• Church House (Presbyterian Church in Ireland), Belfast 1906^[10]
• Westminster Cathedral, London, "Apse organ" 1910^[11]
• All Saints Church, Maidstone, "Main Organ"^[12]
• St. George's, Cullercoats

References