Who was Hippolyte Loret?

Hippolyte Loret (credit: Jean-Pierre Felix)

Hippolyte Loret (1810 - 1881) was a Flemish organ builder who specialised in the characterisation of Romantic organs during the Romantic Period (1800 - 1900).

As a member of the Loret family (father to Clement Loret and younger brother Francois-Bernard), Hippolyte spent much of his life around pipe organs, and built roughly 450 organs throughout his life, including the one at the Sacred Heart High School.

However, this was not the only organ Hippolyte built for the Sacred Heart Society.

Back in the 19th century, when the majority of the society still resided in France, the Paris headquarters was in a stately home called 'Hotel Biron', more famously known today as the Musee Rodin.

In the Rome Archives there is evidence that this site held three organs made by Hippolyte Loret, one in the boarding school, sent to Budapest, the mother house, sent to San Remo, and the day school, sent to Hammersmith.

Furthermore, a letter was retrieved from the archives from Hippolyte Loret, confirming the organs were indeed built by him.

Hippolyte Loret Letter (credit: Fran Roche)

In the letter, Loret is writing to the society to apologise for the unusual expense he is charging for making the organ because he has incorporated a number of special features in them.

As of right now, the exact features are currently unknown to the Society and are expected to be uncovered once the Hammersmith organ is restored.