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Analyzes and Classifies
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htd is84. THE AMERICAN MUSIC TRADE WEEKLY
to cent,,- ti.oo« rear
CHICAGO, SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 1924
STARCK CO. BUYS
STEGER BUILDING
Skyscraper at Jackson Boulevard and Wabash
Avenue, Chicago, Will Be New Location
of House Founded by the Late
Philip A. Starck.
A FAMOUS STRUCTURE
One of the Largest and Most Important Transactions
in the Piano Trade Within Years Was
Recorded Late Last Week.
The P. A. Starck Piano Company has purchased
from the John V. Steger estate the nineteen-story
Steger Building and leasehold estate at the northwest
corner of Jackson boulevard and Wabash avenue,
Chicago. The purchase price is reported to have
been $1,442,000.
The net price was $1,350,000, J. J. Harrington &
Co. receiving a commission of $92,000. They were
other attainment of which the late P. A. Starck would
take pride will have been accomplished.
A Notable Piano House.
The P. A. Starck Piano Co. is, in many respects, a
notable house. It was established by the late P. A.
Starck within the recollection of piano men still com-
paratively young. And it has grown, from its begin-
ning, in a manner so substantial as to reflect credit
upon the entire trade. Under the control of P. T.
Starck, son of the founder, assisted by his local
manager, Mr. Owen, the house has grown steadily
until it is today recognized as one of the strongest
factors in Chicago's retail piano trade, while it also
has a good wholesale demand among discriminating
dealers.
Everyone in the piano business who knew the late
P. A. Starck personally will be doubly interested in
the transaction here referred to. And all will no less
congratulate the present head of the house of Starck.
At the present time the Steger & Sons Piano Co.
occupies several floors of the building, and any fur-
ther changes are not ready for publication.
OLD OHIO MUSIC HOUSE
PROUD OF FINE PIANO LINE
The Kratz Piano Company, Established in 1889 Has
Built Up Big Business.
The Kratz Piano Co., 29 S. Howard street, Akron,
O., was established over thirty-five years ago and
the company, in a consistent presentation of pianos of
quality, has built up a splendid clientele. In the
piano warerooms is a fine array of Steinway, Hard-
man, Krakauer and other high class pianos in grand
and upright models. The house is a representative of
the Duo-Art Pianola.
In addition to its fine line of pianos the Kratz
Piano Company carries two lines of phonographs and
records. In its musical merchandise department are
prominent lines of violins of foreign and domestic
makes, a notable showing of band instruments, reed
and string goods and drums. The Akron firm has a
big department devoted to saxophones which shows
the extent of the business built up for this type of in-
strument.
CHAS. F. THOMPSON IMPROVES.
Friends of popular Charles F. Thompson, piano
salesman, who suffered a slight paralytic stroke a
short time back, will be glad to know that he is
rapidly improving. He is now walking easily and
expects soon to be out again, as usual. Mr. Thomp-
son contemplates a visit to a farm in Ohio where he
will have room in which to run around and get
limbered up again.
the only brokers and will manage the building for
the new owners.
The site of the building is owned by the Horner
and Coburn estate and fronts 51 feet on Wabash ave-
nue and 110 feet on Jackson boulevard. The new
owners will take possession next January and the
name of the building will then be changed to the
Starck Building. The building was erected in 1909
at a cost of $875,000.
An Important Transaction.
Foregoing is the statement of fact as it appeared
in the daily press of last Friday. It gives, in brief,
the story of one of the most important real estate
transactions in the piano trade and industry. When
it was discovered that the great Steger Building might
be bought, representatives of the P. A. Starck Piano
Co. were interested because very soon the warerooms
now occupied by that house must be vacated, the
lease having expired and plans having been made to
erect a new building on the site.
And when the house of Starck decides to make a
move forward, it permits no opportunity to pass by
which progress may be made. The new "Starck
Building" will supersede the Steger Building, and an-
Case of Eilers, in Portland, Oregon, Again
Raises a Complicated Question Which
Touches the Piano Business.
A late complication growing out of the confusion of
the Eilers case, in Portland, Oregon, has direct bear-
ing upon a common phase of the piano business. Its
settlement in court may decide the responsibility of
holders of collateral lease notes on contracts which
may have been sold in duplicate, or altered after hav-
ing been negotiated by one party and then sold to
another after changes in the payee or indorser.
The legal aspect of the case was the story of the
piano contracts which Eilers gave as collateral to
a Mr. Schumann. He was said to have turned over
contracts of piano purchasers of the face value of
$15,000, obtaining $14,000 cash as a loan. Each
month, testified Mr. Schumann, the contracts were
taken back to the Eilers Music house so they could
be "checked." At this time monthly payments were
endorsed on them. Then, not long before Eilers left
the state, the contracts were not returned to Mr.
Schumann.
After Eilers had departed from Portland, it was
found that the assignments to Mr. Schumann -had
been removed, or erased, and others pasted in their
place in assigning them to the Bank of California,
according to allegations of the plaintiff. From the
bank the piano man was said to have borrowed
$10,000 on the contracts. The suit of Mr. Schumann
is against the Bank of California. He seeks to re-
cover the contracts. His attorneys allege that,'had
the bank examined the contracts with any care, it
would have discovered the alterations and would not
have accepted the contracts as collateral for a loan.
The loser in the suit will be left without recourse or
opportunity to recover a cent of the loans advanced if
allegations that the same contracts were used as
collateral in obtaining money from both lenders
are proved true.
STEINWAY & SONS OFFICERS
RE-ELECTED IN NEW YORK
Last Year Best in History of House Is Gratifying
Report at Annual Meeting.
Paul J. Mueller, manager of the William A. Kaun
Music Co., Milwaukee, has been named a member of
the program committee of the Milwaukee celebration
of National Music Week, in which the entire music
trade is interested. In a special announcement this
week the Milwaukee Chamber of Commerce ex-
pressed its approval of the event through E. L.
Philipp, its president.
At the annual meeting of Steinway & Sons, New
York, held last week, the old officers were re-elected
as follows: President, Frederick T. Steinway; vice-
president, Henry Ziegler; treasurer, Friedrich Reide-
meister; secretary, N. Stetson. The officials named
with Theodore Cassebeer comprise the list of
directors.
A statement in the reports of the meeting was
cheering and significant. It was that the last year
was the best in the history of the house of Steinway
& Sons. That is the most recent cheering fact in
the consistently progressive course of the business
since the opening in Varick street in 1854. The de-
velopment of the business' is a fascinating trade story
and the indisputably artistic sphere of the Steinway
piano gives greater honor to the art of piano making.
SALE CELEBRATES ANNIVERSARY.
CHARLES B. LAWSON DIES.
A successful special sale of pianos and players
celebrates the twelfth anniversary of the founding of
the Massey Piano Co., Des Moines, la. The ex-
tensive line of the Des Moines house includes the
Steinway, A. B. Chase, Emerson, Kurtzmann, Had-
dorff, Lester, Bush & Lane, M. Schulz, Kimball,
Schaff Bros, pianos. Premier baby grand pianos and
Duo-Art players.
Charles Benjamin Lawson, formerly identified with
the piano industry, died at his home last week, 462
Mott avenue, New York, at the age of sixty-nine.
His first connection was with the Wheelock Piano
Co., when it was known as William E. Wheelock &
Co. He was later vice-president and a director of the
Weber Piano Co. and in 1906 he organized the Law-
son Piano Co. in the Bronx. Mr. Lawson is survived
by his widow, Marion W. Lawson, two daughters,
Mrs. Nellie L. Lawrence and Mrs. Marion F. Kraus
and two sons, William L. and Arthur M. Lawson.
DEALERS FAVOR MUSIC WEEK.
THE "STARCK" BUILDING.
LIABILITY ON LEASES
USED AS COLLATERAL
NEW YORK MANUFACTURERS MEET.
The annual meeting of the New York Piano Manu-
facturers' Association was held April 15 at the Na-
tional Republican Club, 54 West Fortieth street.
Following a dinner the reports of the president and
other officers were read. Other business on the
schedule was the voting of assessments for the ex-
penses of the association for the coming year.
MOVES IN CARLISLE, PA.
W. N. Reeder, Carlisle, Pa., has moved his music
store from 36 North Hanover street to quarters, in
the Democratic headquarters building, formerly the
St. Charles Hotel, on North Pitt street.
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