Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
12
The Music Trade Review
New Kesselman Building, Milwaukee,
Real Music Center in That Municipality
New Structure, Besides Large Number of Studios, Houses Kesselman-O'Driscoll, the
Badger Music Shop and the Mason & Hamlin Studios
\/fILWAUKEE, WIS., October 17.—An
•*• epoch in the history of the music industry
in Milwaukee has been marked with the formal
opening of the new Kesselman Building, at the
corner of Broadway and Mason streets, here.
The building houses the three Ampico stores
of Milwaukee, the Kesselman-O'Driscoll Co.
store, home of the Knabe and the Ampico; the
Badger Music Shop, Chickering Warerooms
and the Mason & Hamlin studios, as well as
the Wisconsin College of Music, the Miessner
Institute and the studios of numerous private
teachers.
The entire project was made possible through
the work of L. M. Kesselman, one of the out-
standing leaders of the music industry in the
United States, and his associates with the belief
that the creation of a music center from which
much promotion work might emanate for the
interests of the trade generally as well as for
individuals backing the project.
The ground floor of the building houses the
three retail stores and the upper floors are
devoted to the Music Arts Wholesale Co.
offices, to the private studios and a few business
offices. The sixth floor of the building houses
the Miessner Institute, of which W. Otto
Miessner, originator of the Melody Way of
piano playing, is president. The Wisconsin
College of Music, one of the leading institutions
of its kind in the State and in the Middle West,
occupies the seventh floor with the exception
of the Music Arts concert hall.
Active musicians and music lovers of Mil-
waukee have shown great interest in the
concert hall, which has been designed to ap-
proximate the ideal in halls of its kind. The
CHAFF
T A N D S FOR
E R V I C E
ATISFACTION
Established 1868
Pianos, Players, Reproducing Pianos
SCHAFF BROS* CO.
Huntington, Ind*
One of the Popular
"ART LINE"
ROLL CABINETS
Capacity 96 Rolls
Write for Catalog
The Art Novelty Co.
Goshen, Ind.
STYLE NO. 171
DEALERS' OPPORTUNITY
USED PIANOS
$so up
28th
TAPHAT7
St.,
NEW YORK
FOR SALE
300 USED UPRIGHT PIANOS, ALL MAKES.
$300.00 per dozen, up.
Amy qmtmtUy sMppti mnywktrt
SAMUEL ORR
3*0 Wathiniten Street
Newark, N. J.
primary idea of the concert hall is to furnish
noon concerts to business people or to down-
town shoppers and to encourage the love and
appreciation of music through entertainment.
The design of the hall is of the Adam period
with mural decorations which are particularly
effective under the different lighting effects
which are arranged for it. It was designed to
verve the need of Milwaukee for an auditorium
large enough for recitals by less well-
established artists and small enough to retain
the atmosphere of intimacy that is essential to
musical affairs of that type.
Appointments of the hall have received care-
ful attention, but the chief care has been to
have it acoustically correct and well ventilated.
The auditorium chairs are movable, so that the
hall may be used for Melody Way classes and
similar occasions. The stage is to be equipped
for dramatic performances with modern foot-
lights and lighting control, and motion picture
facilities will also be available.
Radio broadcasting equipment is built into
Lhe hall and the noonday programs are being
broadcast over WTMJ during the Kesselman
hour. During the opening week certain after-
noons and evenings were set aside for the
special entertainment of the musical organiza-
tions of the city.
The three stores are executed in authentic
period designs which bring out their individual-
ity and which are adapted to the display and
promotions of the various lines which each
carries.
The large reception and display room of the
Kesselman-O'Driscoll store is decorated in the
early Georgian period style, the columns and
walls being fluted Ionic pilasters which support
the ornamental cornices and beams of the
building. The display windows are low in the
modern style, so the merchandise is on thr
ground level and may be closely observed by
the customer.
Leading back from the main reception room
are the demonstration booths, the roll and
record departments. A wide staircase with
ornamental iron railings rises in the center of
the building to the mezzanine floor, where the
phonographs and radio are displayed. In the
background are'the general offices. This room
also carries out the Georgian period designs.
On both sides of it are seven large piano dis-
play rooms and at the extreme end of the piano
display floor is the Ampico demonstrating
room, which is designed and furnished in the
style of a French salon of the Louis XIV
period.
The Kesselman-O'Driscoll store features the
Knabe, J. & C. Fischer, Foster and Miessner
pianos, Ampico re-enacting piano, Brunswick,
Edison and Victor phonographs, Atwater Kent
and RCA radios, Buescher band instruments
and Paramount banjos.
The Kesselman-O'Driscoll Co. was founded
less than fifteen years ago, starting in a smal!
store on Fond du Lac avenue, and specializing
in Victor phonographs. Later the Brunswick
line was added and it then became the idea
of the firm to have a store handling a complete
range of music merchandise.
The Chickering Warerooms are designed in
the fashion of early Italian palace architecture
with groined ceiling, the lines being carried
to the floor as ribs. The general display room
and reception room for visitors is furnished
with typical American furniture, much in the
manner of a living room. The mezzanine floor,
reached by a handsome iron staircase, is carried
out in this design and quarters several rooms
for the display and demonstration of pianos.
W. A. Bye is the vice-president and general
manager of the store, which is the home of the
OCTOBER 22, 1927
Chickering, Marshall & Wendell and Brewster
pianos.
The Mason & Hamlin studios are built in
Colonial design with chaste and elegant decora-
tions and furnishings which form a suitable
background for the instruments featured by the
store. The showrooms of the store are on
an upper floor of the building conveniently
reached and special demonstration rooms for
the piano and for the Ampico are provided.
The store also features the Haines and Frank-
lin pianos.
The main entrance to the building is on
Broadway, and the lobby, which has a marble
floor and wainscoting, is designed in Italian
style. At the formal opening of the building
the Milwaukee Journal published a special
"Kesselman Building Section," which contained
information about the various makes of instru-
ments carried in the store occupying the
building, and which devoted itself to musical
interest generally. The section carried adver-
tisements from the Music Arts Wholesale Co.,
a full page from the Brunswick Co. showing
complete lines of instruments and con-
gratulatory messages from other firms.
Hardmans in Concert
Hardman, Peck & Co., New York, have been
furnishing Hardman concert grands for the con-
cert appearances of Beniamino Gigli, Metro-
politan Opera Company tenor, who uses this
instrument exclusively on his tours. Mr. Gigli
appeared in Ann Arbor, Mich., on October 7;
Columbus, O., on October 10; Detroit, Mich.,
on October 11; Denver, Colo, on October 17;
Dayton, O., on October 20, and Pittsburgh, Pa.,
on October 21. Mr. Gigli is being accompanied
by Vito Carnevalli, an artist in his own right,
who is a strong admirer of the Hardman. The
Hardman is also being used by Giuseppe De
Luca, baritone with the Metropolitan Opera
Company, who gave a recital at Ward Bellmore
College, Nashville, Tenn., on October 20, and
Nina Morgana, soprano of the Metropolitan
Opera Co., who sang recently in Roosevelt
Auditorium, Westfield, N. J.
Praise for Hardman
A letter of appreciation has been received re-
cently by Hardman, Peck & Co., New York,
from the management of the new Park Cen-
tral Hotel, at Seventh avenue and Fifty-sixth
street, in which twelve Hardman grand pianos
and a Hardman Welte-Mignon (Licensee) re
producing grand were installed at the time of
the opening. The letter is as follows: "It is
several weeks now since we purchased the thir-
teen Hardman pianos from your company and
which are now in use throughout our building.
We wish to express our appreciation, particu-
larly afcer much investigation and careful study
we selected the Hardman, feeling that its sing
ing tone and durable qualities are what we need.
We are now sure we purchased the best pianos
for our use and our orchestra is delighted with
them."
Radio Show in Alliance
ALLIANCE, O., October 15.—Sponsored by the
newly formed Alliance Radio Dealers Associa-
tion, a two-day radio show was held here this
week. Each dealer held his exhibit in his own
store and all pooled their advertising on the
event. Among the stores having exhibits were
Mahan Music Store, Vernon Piano Co. and the
music department of the Spring Holzwarth Co.
department store.
J. B. Mahaffey, of Kansas City, has opened a
new music store in the Risley Building on East
Third street, Cameron, Mo., handling sheet mu-
sic and musical merchandise.
Consult the Universal T/ant Directory oi
The Review.