Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
World's largest piano built in Harringay
In 1935 Challen, one of Harringay's several piano manufacturers, built the largest piano in the world at their Hermitage Road factory. At 11 feet 8 inches long and weighing over one and quarter tons, the piano held its record till early this century.
Built to mark the King's 1935 Silver Jubilee, the piano was finished in silver and named the "great silver piano". It was first shown at the British Industries fair in the Jubilee year, where it was inspected by Queen Mary, and was played for her by Billy Mayerl.
The piano was acquired by Lord and Lady Montrous of Manchester and was used at a garden party for the Royal Family in 1936. However, because of its excessive weight apparently it sunk into the boggy ground and was later used as a garden.
See Billy Mayerl playing the piano here.
Tags for Forum Posts: challen silver jubilee piano, harringay pianos
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Andrew Giller on
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Nice report on World Piano News run by David Crombie author of 'Piano' (01.01.2000) a large volume exploring the history of the piano and mentioning the Challen + the 1952 BIF advert illustration.
Also I discovered a photo of the Challen at Gwrych Castle from around 1970 on their official FB page which attracted comments from those who recall it in situ (1968 - 79). The piano case in the 60s creamy white and much how we discovered it but very distressed!
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Permalink Reply by Julian Hellaby on
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It looks good in that setting! I wonder what it sounded like in those days …
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