Presto

Issue: 1925 2031

Presto Buyers' Guide
Analyzes and Classifies
All American P i a n o s
and in Detail Tells of
Fheir Makers.
PRESTO
E.t*bu.hed iM4. THE AMERICAN MUSIC TRADE WEEKLY
Presto Year Book
The Only Complete
Annual Review of the
American Music In-
dustries and Trades.
to c m . . . si.oo « r««r
CHICAGO, SATURDAY, JUNE 27, 1925
OPENING OF THE NEW STEINWAY HALL
Imposing Building of Steinway & Sons, New York, Formally Opened on West Fifty=Seventh Street, Remarkable
for Grandeur and Dignity of Design and Artistic Decorative Scheme in Keeping With
High Character of the "Piano of the Immortals"
EVENT IN TRADE
1
Beauties of Architecture and Unique Facilities
for Making Buying More Pleasureable
Noted by Visitors at Official Opening of
New Structure on West Fifty-seventh St.
w
Si
THOUSANDS ATTEND
Numerous Responses to Steinway & Sons' Invitation
Bring Interested Groups to Warerooms
Throughout Opening Day.
Steinway & Sons, New York, formally occupied
the new Steinway Hall, 109, 111 and 113 West Fifty-
seventh street, last week, finally vacating the old
quarters in East Fourteenth street, where the old
Steinway Hall has been a historic structure since
1866. The old location has an important place in
the fascinating story of Steinway development as the
new Steinway Hall will have in the future of the
famous house.
The progress of the house of Steinway & Sous has
been rapid and the growth of the Steinway influence
continuous from the opening in the early fifties
to the proud event of last week, when the status of
the business was made more apparent than ever. The
new Steinway Hall in New York is more than ever
the heart of the Steinway business.
Distinguished from First.
Almost from the first arrival in New York of the
Steinway family in 1850, the name has been famous
in the history of the American piano. The single aim
of the founder of the house was to produce an ideal
instrument. That the result has been achieved is one
of the most evident facts in industry. The develop-
ment is a fascinating story of which the opening of
the New Steinway Hall, New York, is a most inter-
esting incident.
The new home of Steinway & Sons, officially
opened last week, is marked by an artistic distinc-
FRIEDRICH REIDEMEISTER.
Treasurer.
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iHKiinr
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President.
tiveness in architecture in keeping with the unique
character of the famous instruments it houses. A
great many people well known in the world of music
responded to the invitation of Steinway & Sons and
came to view the beauties of the building and the
charm of the decorations, furniture and fixtures.
The Impressive Exterior.
The impressive lines of the exterior give Steinway
Hall a desirable prominence on Fifty-seventh street.
The design is an interpretation of a classical style
whose beauties are particularly followed in the treat-
ment of the three lower stories. In the facade the
allegorical designs on the limestone panels were
carved in by the well known sculptor, Leo Lentelli,
HENRY ZEIGL.ER.
Vice-President.
who also modeled the limestone medallions of great
composers who also were famous as pianists: Haydn,
Mozart, Bach, Brahms, Grieg, Liszt, Chopin and
Schubert.
The new Steinway Hall is fifteen stories in height
and extends from West Fifty-seventh street, on which
it has a frontage of sixty-three feet through the block
to West Fifty-eighth street where the frontage is
100 feet.
The Artistic Beauties.
The architectural and artistic beauties of the re-
ception room with an entrance at 109 West Fifty-
seventh street, are the features that particularly
impress visitors. It is octagonal in shape, decorated
in neutral green in harmony with the green marble
pedestals. The scheme is carried out in the specially
designed rug which covers the floor of Kasota stone.
Five paintings with a musical theme adorn the walls.
Opening on the wide corridor on the three floors
occupied by Steinway & Sons, extending the entire
depth of the building, are the warerooms. On the
first floor there are five, each finished in a different
style of decoration and furnishing. All the ware-
rooms are equipped with an original, well controlled
lighting system. They also possess a sound-proof
character which makes for the comforts of custom-
ers listening to demonstrations of the instruments.
The Concert HalL
A concert hall has been provided on the third floor
on the West Fifty-seventh street front. It is an in-
timate recital available for artists and its dimensions
were fixed by present day circumstances. Consid-
ering the large number of big auditoriums in New
York, Steinway & Sons concluded that a hall of
limited capacity would be the most advantageous in
the new building. The hall is furnished with 240
chairs.
The executive and clerical offices are on the West
Fifty-eighth street side of the third floor and are
served by the same elevator that serves the recital
NAHUM STETSON.
Secretary.
Enhanced content © 2008-2009 and presented by MBSI - The Musical Box Society International (www.mbsi.org) and the International Arcade Museum (www.arcade-museum.com).
All Rights Reserved. Digitized from the archives of the MBSI with support from NAMM - The International Music Products Association (www.namm.org).
Additional enhancement, optimization, and distribution by the International Arcade Museum. An extensive collection of Presto can be found online at http://www.arcade-museum.com/library/
June 27, 1925.
PRESTO
hall. The desks of Frederick T. Steinway, president;
Friedrich Reidemeister, treasurer, and Hermann
Irion are back of the clerical department. The direc-
States the official opening last week was an event of
supreme importance. The beauty of the interior is
only equalled by its utility. The efforts of the archi-
tects were to provide every modern means to effec-
HELD UP ON STREET
AND PAY ROLL STOLEN
Messenger for F. Radle, Inc., Famous Old
New York Piano Industry, Stopped by
Robbers and Money Taken Away.
THBODORE OASSEBEER.
General Manager.
tive ways to carry on the great business centered in
the structure. Financial strength, artistry in indus-
try and commercial prominence are represented in
the new Steinway Hall.
HERMANN IRION.
Manager, Artists' Department.
tors' room is on the extreme east side and next to
this is the office of Nahum Stetson, secretary of the
company, and then in turn are the offices of Ernest
CHAS. STANLEY EXPECTS TO
RETURN HOME NEXT MONTH
American Piano Expert, Who Has Been in Paris the
Past Year, Sails on July 10.
Charles Stanley, expert American piano man, who
has been in Paris for the past year, rearranging the
mechanical workings and drawing new piano scales
for the famous Paris industry of Gaveau, expects to
leave Paris for England on July 10, and then start
for home on either August 1 or 15. The exact time
for sailing will depend upon what accommodations
may be had on a suitable boat.
Mr. Stanley expresses unbounded satisfaction in
the work he has been doing, and is loud in his praise
of the House of Gaveau, the famous French piano
industry whose factory has been his working place
for the past year. The results of his work have been
so satisfactory that it has been spoken of by those
in authority in terms of the highest appreciation.
Mr. Stanley's wife was expected to arrive at Bou-
logne on the 9th.
HISTORY IN BOOKLET.
The "Test of Time" is the name of a booklet re-
cently issued by the Siegling Music House, Inc.,
Charleston, S. C. The history of the firm, which was
founded in 1819 and claims the distinction of being
the oldest music house in the United States, was out-
lined in an interesting way. At the present time the
business is in the hands of the third generation, with
Rudolph Siegling as president and treasurer.
One of the widely-known and most substantial of
New York's piano manufacturers was the victim of
hold-up men two weeks ago, and the story has just
come to light. It had been hoped that, by keeping
the matter quiet, the thieves might be apprehended and
the large sum of money recovered. But to this time
J. Radle, Jr., treasurer of the company, has not been
able to capture the robber.
The messenger of the piano industry had been to
the bank, where he drew funds for the payroll of the
factory at 609-611 West 36th street, when the hold-up
men approached and managed to surround the Radle
employee and wrench from him the package of cur-
rency. The amount stolen was a considerable sum,
and the incident of course necessitated the withdrawal
of another like amount from the bank. And just now
money is not the most plentiful article about the
offices of the piano factories.
But business with F. Radle, Inc., holds up well
and loyal dealers are ordering in a way that makes the
loss of even a considerable sum but a temporary in-
convenience. Probably, too, the hold-up may stimu-
late Radle dealers to pay their notes, or to remit for
open accounts more readily, and so good may again,
according to scriptural measurement, come out of evil.
Schumann
PIANOS and PLAYER PIANOS
GRANDS and UPRIGHTS
Have no superiors in appearance, tone
power or other essentials of strictly
leaders in the trade.
Warning to Infringers
Thla Trade Mark Is cast
In the plat* and alao ap-
pears upon the fall board
of all genuine Schumann
Pianos, and all infringe™
will be prosecuted. Beware
of Imitations such aa Schu-
mann A Company, Schu-
mann A Son, and also
Shuman. as all stencil
shops, dealers and users of
ilanos bearing a name in
mltatlon of the name
Schumann with the Inten-
tion of deceiving- the public
will be prosecuted to fb«
fullest extent of th« law.
New Catalogue on Bequest.
f
Schumann Piano Co.
W. N. VAN MATRE, President
Rockford, III.
BUSY MONTPELIER STORE.
ERNEST URCHS.
General Traveler.
Grover Griffith is proprietor of a busy music store
at Montpelier, Ind., the title of which is the Reliable
Music Music Store, and which will handle a line of
pianos, players, talking machines, rolls, records and
sheet music. Other lines will be added later.
Urchs, of Theodore Steinway and Paul H. Schmidt.
The new Steinway Hall is of interest internation-
ally. To music lovers everywhere in the United
QUALITY
DECKER
in Name and in Fact
m*M EST. 1856 5L SON
Grand, Upright
and
Welte-Mignon
TONE, MATERIALS, CONSTRUCTION,
WORKMANSHIP, DESIGN—all in ac-
cord with the broadest experience—are
the elements which give character to
Bush & Lane Products.
BUSH&LANE PIANOS
(Licensee)
BUSH < LANE CECIUAN PLAYER PIANOS
Reproducing
take high place, therefore, in any com-
parison of high grade pianos because of
the individuality of character which dis-
tinguishes them in all essentials of merit
ana value.
(Electric)
Pianos and Players
of Recognized
Artistic Character
M*H I LANE PIANO CO.
•tOIMfrv,
Becker Bros.
Manufacturers
of
HIGH GRADE PIANOS
and PLAYER PIANOS
Factory and Warerooms
767-769 Tenth Avenue, New York
WILLIAMS
PIANOS
The policy of the Williams House is and always
hem been to depend upon excellence of product
instead of alluring price. Such a policy does not
attract bargain hunters. It does, however, win the
hearty approval and support of a very desirable
and substantial patronage.
U/IIIIAItK Makers of William* Pianos.
WILLIAMS Epworth Piano, and Organs
Made by a Decker Since 1866
099-703
Street
New by
York
Enhanced East
content 135th
© 2008-2009
and presented
MBSI - The Musical Box Society International (www.mbsi.org) and the International Arcade Museum (www.arcade-museum.com).
All Rights Reserved. Digitized from the archives of the MBSI with support from NAMM - The International Music Products Association (www.namm.org).
Additional enhancement, optimization, and distribution by the International Arcade Museum. An extensive collection of Presto can be found online at http://www.arcade-museum.com/library/

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