Piano Factory Building

This piano factory, now offices, was built in 1852 by Thomas and William Piper for piano manufacturers Messrs Collard and Collard. The building is constructed of English bond yellow stock brick, with a roof that is not visible. It has a distinctive circular plan.

The exterior is five storeys high and features 22 bays, each divided by raised pilasters which extend upwards to a moulded stucco entablature and gablet projecting above a splayed stucco cornice. Stucco pilasters also flank a segmental-arched doorway on the first floor. Segmental brick arches frame the wood and iron casements on each floor. A rectangular addition, dating from before 1868, provides access to a rear staircase.

The interior contains cast-iron columns and beams supporting vaulted brick ceilings. Cast-iron columns, each with a moulded plinth and capital, originally surrounded a blocked-in central well. Iron king post trusses radiate out from this central well. The rectangular addition houses an open-well staircase with a simple iron balustrade and cantilevered stone treads, and has stone flag flooring.

Historically, the open well facilitated the movement of pianos between floors via a former hoist. The ground floor was used for drying, the next for upright piano construction, the second for cleaning, the third for polishing piano cases, and the upper floors for manufacturing and finishing piano "bellies." Collard and Collard were a prominent piano manufacturing firm, having patented an upright "square" piano in 1811. The building replaced an earlier building of a similar shape which was destroyed by fire in 1851.