Kieselhorst Piano Company Building

Completed in 1890, this Romanesque Revival building housed the Kieselhorst Piano Company from 1906 to 1930. Part of St. Louis's historic "Music Row," in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century several competing companies had storefronts along this block of Olive Street, where they sold musical instruments, sheet music, and related devices for reproducing sound. In addition to offering its own line of upright and player pianos, the Kieselhorst Piano Company sold Victrola phonographs and radios from its showroom on the ground level, with offices and storage space on the above floors. The five-story building was constructed from red brick with red sandstone details, and it features decorative corbels and rounded arch windows on the top floor.

Founded in 1879 by John A. Kieselhorst, a German immigrant, Kieselhorst Piano Company operated at this location from 1906 to 1930 under the ownership of John Kieselhorst's son, Edwin. Following his father's death in 1895, Edwin, aged twenty-one, took over the company, expanding its focus from traditional upright pianos to include player pianos and Victrolas. A player piano was an automated instrument containing a mechanism that could read programmed music inscribed on perforated paper reels, inducing the instrument to play without a human performer. The Victrola was a special type of phonograph patented by the Victor Talking Machine Company in 1904 and sold in music stores across the country. As the device's horn was tucked within a cabinet for efficiency, it was considered a "cutting edge" piece of technology compared with earlier models. To capture the attention of the public, including pedestrians who happened to be strolling down Olive Street, Kieselhorst's storefront featured a life-size model of "Nipper and the Victrola," the Victor Company's brand image featuring a small dog peering into the large horn of an early phonograph machine.

In the 1880s, "Music Row" on Olive Street had become St. Louis's premiere district for the sale of pianos and other musical instruments, as well as sheet music. Located between Ninth and Twelfth Streets, the companies on Music Row additionally sold phonographs, records, radios, and other devices related to reproducing sound, while piano tuners and instrument repair shops also operated in the area. Known locally as the Olive Street Piano District, manufacturers and retailers competed with one another, including Thiebes-Stierlin Music Co., Story & Clark, Ludwig-Aeolian, Baldwin Piano Co., Wagner-Stierlin, and the Balmer & Weber Music House. At its peak, Kieselhorst's was selling nearly twenty pianos a day, and the company also housed a Theatre & Ticket Office, as well as the Kieselhorst Musical Bureau. The popularity of its pianos, some of which came from a Chicago manufacturer, can partly be attributed to the city's extensive German community, which celebrated the instrument as part of its musical heritage. Many middle-class German homes in St. Louis contained a parlor piano, with children receiving music lessons from a young age.

Olive Street was initially developed as early as the 1840s, as wealthy residents built new row houses at some remove from the bustling riverfront industrial district. In the 1850s, a cable car line was extended to the area, increasing its popularity and accessibility. This led to an influx of commercial activity in the mid-1870s. As a result, people began to seek out quieter residential areas, and Olive Street instead developed as a commercial district with an emphasis on music-related industries. By the 1890s, at least seven or eight different piano companies were based on Olive between Ninth and Twelfth Streets. These companies comprised a significant portion of the eighteen total piano dealerships located throughout St. Louis. Remarkably, Music Row maintained its character for nearly four decades. By the 1930s, however, business had slowed to a trickle, and the Kieselhorst Piano Company decided to close.

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Kieselhorst Piano Company Listed in the National Register of Historic Places, Landmarks STL. Accessed February 8th, 2023. https://www.landmarks-stl.org/news/kieselhorst_piano_company_listed_in_the_national_register_of_historic_place.

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Kieselhorst Piano Co., Nomination Form - National Register of Historic Places, MO State Parks. Accessed February 8th, 2023. https://mostateparks.com/sites/mostateparks/files/Kieselhorst%20Piano%20Co.%20Bldg.pdf.

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