A UNIQUE piece of Darlington’s cinema, which fills three rooms of a house in Manchester, is to go under an auctioneer’s hammer in Surrey this afternoon (Thursday, March 2).

It is the Compton organ which was the centrepiece of the “superluxury” Majestic cinema when it opened on Bondgate on Boxing Day 1932, and it comes complete with full effects including “xylophone, glockenspiel, chimes, sleigh bells, whistles, cymbals, and drums”.

The organ featured in more than 60 national BBC radio broadcasts live from the Majestic, but in 1968 was sold to an enthusiast in Manchester. He converted the downstairs of his ordinary house, adding an extension, to accommodate the Compton and its pipes and effects, and his performances were quite a draw locally.

“He died in the 1980s and it has been sitting in the house ever since,” said Alastair McCrea, of specialist auctioneers Ewbank’s, whose saleroom is in Woking. “Now his son wants to sell the house and so needs to get rid of the organ because it’s going to put potential purchasers off.

“The estimate of £500 to £800 is quite low, and it is being sold without reserve, because he has to sell to get the house on the market.”

The winning bidder must collect the organ within a fortnight of the sale, and will have to pay the dismantling and transport costs – it will take several vanloads to remove.

When the Majestic – which from 1943 was known as the Odeon – was opened, it was the first of the eight purpose-built cinemas in town to feature an organ. The organ, built in London by the John Compton Company, was described as being "exactly similar" to one being installed in the BBC's Broadcasting House.

"It is built to provide a wealth of orchestral tone-colour, so that it can adequately represent music written for a symphony orchestra or a dance band," reported the Darlington and Stockton Times. "At the same time, there is much that is sheer organ, giving a thrilling cathedralesque roll.

"In special chambers on the side of the stage are hundreds of pipes of various size and shape, together with a large assortment of special orchestral percussion instruments, such as glockenspiel, vibraphone, xylophone, etc. Every kind of drum, cymbal, triangle, woodblock, tambourine and, in fact, the whole of the percussion family of instruments is there.

"The control of this huge mass of sound-producing material is through the console (or keyboard), which is in the orchestra pit. In addition to being very handsome, with its gold, orange and black finish, this console is a perfectly precise engineering instrument."

For the first ten years, the resident organist was Harry Millen, who lived in West Crescent. He accompanied the silent movies and played during the intervals. He also put on Sunday evening recitals which were often broadcast live on the wireless. Big name organists from across the country came to play the Compton.

The organ fell silent in the early 1960s, as the age of the silver screen faded away. The cinema closed in 1981, became a snooker hall in 1986 but has recently been restored as an entertainment venue.

Today's auction starts at 1pm and the organ, a late addition to the sale catalogue is Lot 1289a. The auctioneers' website is ewbankauctions.co.uk and bids may be placed over the internet.