A longtime Germantown piano company opens its new King of Prussia HQ, hoping to grow a music scene in the suburbs
Cunningham Piano Co. opened its new facility this month — a much-anticipated modernization for the 135-year-old business.
The curtain rose this month on a storied Philadelphia piano company’s latest act.
Cunningham Piano Co. opened its new King of Prussia facility on Oct. 1, capping a much-anticipated modernization for the 135-year-old business. The move, about 17 miles northwest of the company’s longtime Germantown locale, was both a consolidation of the business’ ventures and an expansion of the arts beyond Philadelphia, its stewards said.
The nondescript building, nestled in a beige office park off South Henderson Road, now houses Cunningham Piano’s retail, restoration, and educational operations, as well as a performance venue that its owners believe will draw talent and music enthusiasts from across the region.
» READ MORE: For this 135-year-old Germantown piano company to survive, it had to close its doors
The 15,000-square-foot property houses as many as 300 pianos, from uprights and baby grands to some of the most high-tech digital models on the market. It’s a celebration of centuries of innovation poured over a “half inch of movement” used to “express any musical thought” and the human soul, said vice president and accomplished concert pianist Hugh Sung.
That expressiveness will be on display in the 150-seat performance center, outfitted with a Bösendorfer — what Sung called the “Lamborghini, the Maserati, the pinnacle of pianos.” The venue will host Cunningham Piano’s First Fridays Concert Series, which is slated to kick off Nov. 6 with Philly’s own Eric Wortham II, a jazz pianist who toured with Adele. The hall, as well as private practice rooms, will also be made available to students.
“It used to be that Center City was the largest shopping district in Philadelphia. Now, King of Prussia is,” co-owner Rich Galassini said, standing in the “Yamaha Experience Room,” an immersive showroom for the brand.
“People come [to KOP] anyway,” Galassini said. “We want to … give them another reason to come and give them support in the arts.”
When Cunningham Piano shuttered and sold off its Germantown workshop this spring, it may have seemed like the latest casualty in a declining industry. But leadership said they saw it as a symptom of the business’ health and a way to sustain the company for another century.
Its Coulter Street stable-turned-casket-warehouse didn’t work for a thriving 21st-century business, whose commodity also weighs 800 pounds. The stairs were precariously narrow, twisty, and steep. The once-cutting-edge 1900s elevator was unreliable and moving a piano took three people and half an hour. The floorboards bent under the pressure of equipment, and a truck would overwhelm the residential street.
The single-story King of Prussia facility, meanwhile, has contemporary efficiencies like a loading dock and private parking for an 18-wheeler.
“It’s really a space for the culmination of what we do,” Sung said, “experiencing beautiful music in person and getting to share that.”
