Sacred Heart High School aims to raise £257,000 to restore a pipe organ, now identified as the only surviving example in the UK by revered Belgian craftsman Hippolyte Loret.
The instrument, housed in the school’s Grade II* listed chapel, is one of just a handful left in Europe and is now the focus of a new BBC documentary.
Alex Dijkhuis from Sacred Heart High School said: “Few state schools have an organ, and this one wasn’t even listed on the national organ register.
“Our hope is that, once restored, it will be used for public recitals and to give students the chance to learn to play this precious instrument.”
The organ’s extraordinary journey began more than 160 years ago when it was commissioned by the Society of the Sacred Heart for a school chapel in Paris.
In 1904, amid anti-religious sentiment in France, a nun arranged for the instrument to be secretly transported to London.
It was reassembled in the chapel at Sacred Heart High School, where it would spend the next century largely unnoticed.
It was only recently identified as a historic treasure after William McVicker, organ curator at the Royal Festival Hall, was invited to inspect it.
Mr Dijkhuis said Mr McVicker initially believed he would find “a disused English Victorian organ” but quickly recognised its true significance.
A distinctive stop labelled ‘Flute Pyramidale’ tipped him off.
He had only encountered it once before, in an old church in Brussels.
The campaign is now raising funds for the specialist Canterbury firm Mander to carry out the restoration.
Archival research has uncovered a letter from Loret himself apologising for the cost of the organ, explaining that it included several unusual features.
If the fundraising target is reached, the school hopes the fully restored organ will once again fill the chapel with music.
The project also aims to revive organ tuition for girls at the Hammersmith Road school and for the organ to be used for recitals to delight Hammersmith & Fulham audiences.
