Square piano

Steinway & Sons
New York
1853
Steinway & Sons Collection, New York / Hamburg

The square piano with the serial number 483 is the first piano that Steinway & Sons built in New York on Varick Street. It was completed in August 1853 and sold shortly afterwards for 500 dollars to a Mr. Griswold in Brooklyn. 

Significantly larger than the “op. 1” from 1835, the New York instrument has a cast frame and cross-stringing. In addition, a pedal mechanism designed as a lyre for dynamic options replaces the knee levers used in the past.