Back on October 10th we queried a reference to 12 Rathbone Place in London, England, painted on the eastern face of the ClockTower. We knew our home was the manufacturing base for the Estey Piano Company, but why advertise London?
My sleuthing daughter figured it out. The same Mr. Estey who built pianos here also manufactured organs in Vermont so highly prized he maintained an Estey Organ showroom in the UK at 12 Rathbone Place. He had a big factory complex in Vermont where he made thousands of organs in his time.
According to esteyorgan.com, over a century of manufacturing yielded some 520,000 (!) reed organs, 3200 pipe organs and towards the end of the company’s run in 1960, even some electronic versions.
A New York University Musical Therapist based on Washington Square recently got in touch with a real prize, an ESTEY Reed Organ Serial No. 444332..... for sale!
Cool. She sent photos of this beautiful musical instrument, crafted in wood and ivory as fine furniture.
If you know someone interested, drop a note.
This is so cheesy but I love it. Turn up your sound and click the link; you can hear jazz great "Fats" Waller playing vintage tango and boogie-woogie on an Estey organ here:
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