Poster: pianola
(see this users gallery)
This early artist's impression is taken from a booklet published by the Orchestrelle Company (the name used by Aeolian in Britain at that time) in 1911, describing its business and products. I'll upload the whole booklet in due course, if I may, and once I have found all the negatives I made years ago.
The Aeolian Company (not Orchestrelle in this instance) bought the land from Ernest William Shackle on 26 October 1908, for the sum of £4634. Mr Shackle may well have needed to sell this part of his farm, since there were no less than three mortgages held on it.
Note that the piano building on Silverdale Road only went as far as the clock tower in 1909. The drain headers on the present western end show that it was extended in 1912, so this drawing was made before that time. In the foreground on the left is the sawmill and kiln-drying building, in the centre foreground is the power house, and at the right is the roll factory. Rolls were made by the Universal Music Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Orchestrelle Co. The factory had only three floors at this time, with the decorative semi-circular windows in their rightful place at the top..
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