Torn Down Tuesday – Ivers & Pond Piano Company

Located on the corner of Main and Albany Streets in Cambridgeport, Ivers & Pond Piano Company was a preeminent manufacturer of grand and upright pianos known for their use of exotic woods such as mahogany and rosewood, and detailed cabinet work.

William H. Ivers started the company in 1870 with a small factory in Dedham, MA, and ten years later he partnered with Handel Pond, a noted organist. Soon thereafter, the company decided to move manufacturing to a site in Cambridgeport adjacent to the railroad with plenty of land available for expansion. The first factory was constructed in 1881, consisting of a 5-story brick building with a flat roof. Two 6-story additions were built soon after in 1883 and 1886. The overall architecture was typical for the period with brick bearing wall facades and regularly spaced double hung windows. The only ornamentation occurs at the corner facing Main Street, where the façade projects outward from the main plane of the building, incorporating pilasters topped with arches and a cornice that raises the height of the roof. The factory continued to add more manufacturing space, storage rooms for wood, drying facilities, a coal shed, and a boiler house, enabling production of 2,500 to 3,000 pianos each year. Ivers resigned as president of the company in 1887, and Pond assumed leadership until his death in 1908. Pond’s sons, Clarence and Shepard, then took the reins as president and treasurer.

Below is an excerpt from one of the company’s brochures explaining the process involved in constructing their pianos.

By 1905, the factory consisted of 5 6-story buildings, 5 dry-kilns and lumber sheds, encompassing 160,000 square feet. To facilitate shipping, spur tracks connected to the Grand Junction railroad. The factory employed 300 workers, while the offices and warerooms located on Boylston Street in Boston had 50 employees. The company’s advertising listed over 500 educational and musical institutions as customers, including the New England Conservatory of Music which purchased over 250 pianos.

During the Depression, the company moved its offices and warehouses from Boylston Street to Cambridge as a cost saving measure. Soon after, the company was acquired by another piano manufacturer, but accounts vary as to exactly when and by whom. Two sources claim that the factory was acquired by Winter & Company in 1945 and eventually taken over by the Aeolian Corporation of New York in 1959. Another source states the company was acquired by Aeolian in the 1930s.

Manufacturing most likely continued through the 1940s. In 1951, a permit was issued for the demolition of the factory building on Main Street. A year later, additional permits were issued to demolish two factory buildings on Albany Street to make way for new construction by Polaroid Corporation. Further demolition occurred in 1964 and 1965 by MIT. The Ivers & Pond name continued to be used by the Aeolian Corporation until it closed in 1983.

Sources

http://www.concertpitchpiano.com/ivers-pond-piano-prices.html

http://www.antiquepianoshop.com/online-museum/ivers-pond

http://www.winchester.us/DocumentCenter/View/3476/Keyboard-business?bidId+=

http://www.mapjunction.com

http://www.lindebladpiano.com/library/ivers-and-pond

National Park Service, John Fitzgerald Kennedy Historic Site

Cambridge Chronicle January 26 1895

Cambridge Chronicle, September 1, 1938

Cambridge Chronicle, January 27, 1923

Cambridge Chronicle, September 9, 1905