There is a building in downtown Cincinnati, on Race between 6th and 7th, that I'm quite taken with. I was wondering if anybody knew anything about it. It's across from the old Shilito's department store and has a very ornate white facade with the words "Lyric Piano Company" engraved above the second floor, and an inset balcony on the top floor
A google search for the LPC turned up just two results: a mention in a Northern Illinois university page (the college owns the records of the Wurlitzer Piano Company, which apparently contain the meeting minutes of the Lyric Company from 1909-1937), and this article published in CityBeat in 2002:
http://www.citybeat.com/2002-11-21/blight.shtml
An interesting thing to note here: the article says that Hardee's signed a 99-year lease which is due to expire in 2049. (And seriously, as a side note here, what brainiac thinks it's good business to give a 99-year lease -- a STABILIZED one -- to HARDEE'S? Has to be the least appetizing "food" establishment ever. Does it even still exist?) Anywho, the point is that the Hardee's there, while still bearing a visible sign, is boarded up, so something must have happened since this article. Either the restaurant just closed and Hardee's corporation still owns it (if it still exists) or somebody bought out the lease, as the article mentions being an option at the time. If the latter, I can't see that anything has been done with it, at least from the outside of the building. Still in pretty bad shape, no visible signs of management, and this is with the Shilito's building having been converted into condos.
I'm going to do some more research, but I know we have some city history buffs here so I wanted to see if anybody knew anything about it offhand. It is a really beautiful building, and I am very curious to know whether anything is being done with it, and also what it was. I mean, two google results for this piano company that was still around as recently as sixty years ago? Has anybody heard of it? Anybody got a Lyric piano in a basement somewhere?
If it's for sale, I say we have the world's biggest bake sale and turn it into a sound studio, for historical reverence and to liven Cincinnat's arts community, with maybe a baseball card trading shop on the first floor.
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Originally Posted by Raisor
