May 11, 1864

New York Times reports from the new Steinway & Sons showroom inauguration ceremony: “The Messrs. Steinway, who yesterday commemorated the opening of an additional wing to their factory, and of a new and magnificent marble wareroom in East Fourteenth-street, are now the largest piano-forte makers in the world. They employ many hundred hands, and use all the labor-saving machinery that has yet been discovered by themselves or others, to expedite the various processes. Their factory, six stories high, comprises an entire block, facing Fourth-avenue, and running down to Fifty-second and Fifty-third-streets, so as to form three sides of a square. Through the various departments a number of invited guests were yesterday conducted, and their surprise and gratification were unbounded. The new store is situated in East Fourteenth-street, between Fourth-avenue and the Academy of Music. It is an exceedingly handsome marble building — the handsomest, in our opinion, in the City — and admirably adapted for the uses intended. Here a collation was served, on the return of the guests, which was bounteous and excellent; that which satisfies the palate and that which make the wits sparkle were in abundance, and a most pleasant time was had. […] The response of the younger Steinway to the many kind references to the firm, its enterprise and its deserved success, was in the best of taste, and conveyed in it the prophecy that ere long the land of their adoption would be the acknowledged land of music and of song. Certainly the Steinways are contributing to that consummation.”