Yorkshire Piano Makers (1): Pohlmann and Son

I've recently tuned two customers' pianos made by the firm of Pohlmann & Son. Historically, the British piano-making industry was concentrated mainly in London, especially around the area of Camden Town. In his book "Pianos and their Makers" from 1910, Alfred Dolge lists just three piano makers outside London, all of them based in Halifax; one of these firms was Pohlmann's.

 

This is one of the Pohlmann pianos I tuned, dating from around 1905-1910 - pictures reproduced by kind permission of the customer

The origins of the firm seem to be swathed in a certain degree of folklore, because Johannes Pohlman was a noted early maker of square pianos in London between 1768 and 1790. He is often described as one of the "twelve apostles", a group of German and Dutch instrument makers who seem to have emigrated to England around the time of the Seven Years' War (1756 to 1763). Whether there were in fact twelve of them, and exactly who they were, is the subject of some degree of debate, but Johannes Pohlman's instruments are some of the earliest keyboard instruments produced in London and those that survive are of great historical interest.

The Yorkshire firm of Pohlmann's was founded in 1823 by Henry Pohlmann (though Dolge gives the date of establishment as 1832), who evidently grew up in the local area. Local researches suggest that his father was born in Marburg in Hesse, though it is not known why the family originally came to Halifax. Unfortunately information is so scant that it seems impossible to say with certainty that Henry Pohlmann was in any way related to his distinguished predecessor, though the firm seems to have later on claimed, or at least hinted, that this was the case. However, the history of Pohlmann and Sons itself is of great interest, as one of the first and most important firms to base itself outside London.

It does seem that the firm was exceptionally progressive in adopting new innovations. Some information can be discovered from a business directory "Dublin, Cork and South of Ireland", by Stratten and Stratten, 1892, on account of the company's showrooms at 40 Dawson Street, in the centre of Dublin. A picture of the showroom is included:

The Dublin building still stands and today houses the Café en Seine. Does the roof vaulting look at all familiar?

 

The firm's entry in the directory states that they were the first manufacturers in England, apart from Erard's of London, to use the 7¼ octave (88 note) keyboard that is standard on all modern instruments (a great many older pianos have a 7 octave or 85 note keyboard). Also,the firm adopted full cast-iron frames in 1870 and overstringing in 1871, and the article states they were the first English manufacturers to do so. Apparently at this time, the proprietor of the business was George H Pohlmann, and he personally inspected every piano made before it left the factory.

Another clue comes from the official catalogue of the Yorkshire Exhibition of Arts and Manufactures, held in Leeds in 1875. An advertisement for Pohlmann & Son appears and refers to "Prize Medal Upright and Oblique Grand Pianoforte Manufacturers." More significantly, it states that they were the "Only Manufacturers in England of the American Model Upright Iron Overstrung Grand Pianofortes." This perhaps requires a little explanation. Firstly, it may seem a little confusing that the terms "upright" and "grand" appear together, but "Upright Grand" was a term used, particularly in the nineteenth century, by manufacturers - it might be taken to mean a large upright, but essentially it means the same as an upright piano. More importantly, however, it refers to the "American model." This term refers to the system of an overstrung bass with a full cast-iron frame, because the first piano of this type was built by Steinway's of New York in the 1850s. Most German manufacturers were quick to embrace the new technology, but it took much longer to find favour with British piano-makers. Perhaps the German ancestry of Pohlmann's founders and their location outside London helped them resist the conservatism of the rest of the industry. Certainly, their adoption of these innovations by 1875 means that they were early enthusiasts for the new way of building pianos - the way, in fact, all modern pianos are built.

The article refers to the Company's showrooms in Princess Street, Halifax and their factory in Hall Street. The building on Princess Street is now a Turkish restaurant called the Olivetta (which incidentally seems to have some good reviews on Trip Advisor if you are minded to visit):

The location of the "steam factory", as it is described in 1875, took a little more tracking down. The original buildings on the west side of Hall Street were all demolished at some point to make way for a dual carriageway relief road, but some online maps of Halifax around 1890 showed a building in Hall Street marked "piano manufactory", and the building was on the east side of Hall Street, where some of the original structures remain. And indeed, the factory still stands - it is today known as "Rimani House" and is a suite of offices, with Calderdale Carers' Project amongst the tenants:

Back in 1890 there was an iron foundry immediately opposite on the now-demolished west side of the street, which perhaps might have been handy for the manufacture of those cast-iron frames. Nice to think, however, that a piece of piano history still survives in the form of this building.

The firm seems to have gone into decline some time after the First World War, a matter perhaps not helped by the death of Reginald Pohlmann, who served in the Royal Flying Corps along with his brother during the conflict. It seems Pohlmann's stopped making pianos under the onslaught of the gramophone and wireless, ceasing manufacture some time in the 1930s, although I cannot find any record of the exact date when the last piano emerged from the factory doors. Later on the company, like several others of its kind, switched to selling radios, records and eventually television sets until it was taken over by Rediffusion.

The two Pohlmann pianos I have come across recently are robust, well-built instruments which have an extremely pleasant tone for their age (they are both around 100 years old). Although one sometimes has to be careful about manufacturers' claims, at the very least they seem to have been a firm committed to building high-quality pianos, and exceptionally forward-thinking in adopting new methods and technologies.

Although not listed in Dolge's book, there were several other piano manufacturers in Yorkshire around this time - a subject I shall return to in a later post.

Addendum: In a conversation with Dr Alastair Laurence of Broadwood's, he mentioned that he had (at a later date) met two of the brothers who were running the Pohlmann firm when it ceased making pianos.

By the 1930s, the business was being run by three of the Pohlmann brothers and their sister - Henry and Frederick were managing the piano manufacturing side, whilst Arnold and Cissy were looking after the showrooms in Princess Street. Henry Pohlmann was a piano designer who had studied with the famous German firm of Grotrian-Stenweg.

Due to the economic depression and the advance of radios, gramophones and other forms of entertainment, the 1930s were a dreadful period for the British piano industry, and the great majority of established manufacturers ceased trading. The last pianos were made by Pohlmann's in 1933 and the factory was then closed, but all the patents and designs of the firm and the right to use the Pohlmann name were sold to the well-known London company of Danemann's. The designs did not gather dust in a cupboard, because several Danemann models subsequently included string patterns or design features earlier used by Pohlmann's.