p028

BM042014

OF THE STORY Austin Christopher Bradley “Slow and Steady”, as the written direction says at the top, left-hand corner of the sheet music. The “G” chord on the piano begins and quarter notes draw you in for two full measures, unwavering in the solidarity of the consistent keystrokes. Immediately recognizable and undeniably iconic, the lyrics to Billy Joel’s hit song, “She’s Got a Way About Her”, begin and reacquaints us with the familiar puzzle of this important piece of American music culture. Billy Joel, Judy Collins, and Rufus Wainwright are just a few artists who use and have written many of their chart-topping songs on a Steinway & Sons piano. Steinway & Sons was founded in 1853 by German immigrant Henry Engelhard Steinway in a Manhattan loft on Varick Street. Henry and his sons, C. F. Theodore, Charles, Henry Jr., William, and Albert, developed the modern piano. Their factory was located on Park and East 53rd. Due to the increasingly violent draft riots that New York experienced in the 1860s, labor disputes, and the need to expand, the Steinway & Sons owners and staff moved to Astoria where Steinway Village was built. Henry’s son, William, officiated the move and expansion and settled the family just a few months before the patriarch's death in 1871. Steinway Village had its own foundries, 28 | BOROMAG.COM | APRIL 2014 factory, post office, parks and housing for employees. Within 20 years, there were more than 7,000 people living in what was known as the Steinway Settlement. However, the (arguably) most exciting piece of real estate that the Steinway family acquired is the house now known as The Steinway Mansion. The 27-room mansion was built in 1858 by Benjamin Pike, Jr. Pike was an award winning optician. Two of his silver medals were for superior air pumps and one was for galvanic battery and apparatus. He also won two diplomas at the American Institute Fairs - one for his electromagnetic machine and the other for his mathematical instruments. The Pike Mansion was one of the first two mansions built in Astoria and is now the last standing with any historical significance. After Benjamin’s death in 1864, his widow sold the mansion to William Steinway. The mansion stayed in the Steinway family for nearly half a century before the property sold in 1926 to an Armenian immigrant named Jack Halberian. Jack first spotted the grand estate in 1914 as a teenager in Astoria. Having just arrived from Turkey, he was impressed and vowed to own it one day. After amassing savings from a tailoring business during World War I, Jack Halberian bought the mansion and a small plot of land around it at an auction for $45,000. As his childhood dream home, Jack was steadfast in maintaining the property. Being a tailor and in the midst of some of the hardest times in history, Jack had to rent out rooms to afford to keep the estate during the Great Depression. The Halberian family made it through the depression and remained in the mansion for several decades. Jack Halberian passed away in 1964. In 1967, after the demolition of the historic Penn Station, NYC passed landmark laws to protect historical local sites. The Steinway Mansion was one of the first landmarks protected by the new laws. EXPLORE YOUR BORO The Scientist , the Pioneer , and the Tailor : STEINWAY MANSION


BM042014
To see the actual publication please follow the link above