I was not a subscriber to MMD in June 2000, and have only just learned
through your Archive index that Michael Stehney had an item on the organ
in the Biltmore House in Asheville, where I live. (MMD 2000.06.08)

He says,  "With regularity the organ played a song.  But there was no
way to see if a person was playing it, or if it had a player mechanism.
There was a sign on the turbine motor that stated this organ was
restored into playing condition in late 1999.  It had never been
running for decades before this.  Does anyone know if this was a player
organ or not?  I am most interested in knowing."

The answer is that this organ had not been running in the Biltmore
House before this -- ever -- because there was no organ there.  The
display pipes, however, which Mr. Stehney describes, have always been
there, and presumably an organ was planned for the building.

The story I heard, which may or may not be true, is that when Mr.
Vanderbilt built the church in Biltmore Village, its organ did not work
properly.  He told the manufacturer that he would not buy the organ for
the house until that one was repaired.  He died before that happened.

The present organ is old, but was moved from another location.  It
plays from a modern MIDI or similar system, and is only rarely played
from the keyboard. I have no reason to think it originally had a player
system

Musically yours,

Cecil Grace