Another 9-11 Casualty: Piano Museum Closes
Many Lower Manhattan businesses have suffered from the Sept. 11, 2001 destruction of the World Trade Center. Add to the sad refrain the quirky little Museum of the American Piano, which has found itself unable to pay the rent.

Sixty-seven year old Kalman Detrich has been maintaining and restoring pianos for 40 years, a majority of his time in the US since escaping Hungary after the 1956 uprising.

For 20 of those years, he has been displaying his collection of old and unique instruments in his Museum of the American Piano in Manhattan, itself the birthplace of the American piano industry (and once home to over 50 manufacturers). With no piano company support, Detrich has carried on with his hands-on piano work, and with sharing his collection with visitors and performers.

In a recent New York Times article, he describes one of his oldest instruments, which was built in 1796 from wood that was already centuries old. "So that tree was already growing maybe at the end of 1400, providing home for lots of little animals, providing shade for weary travelers. Then it entered an afterlife as a beautiful instrument and gorgeous furniture, providing pleasure not only for the ear but for the eye."

He moved his museum from Midtown to Lower Manhattan in 1999, and had been planning a formal opening for September 20, 2001. The 9/11 attacks changed that, and having drastically cut foot traffic in the area, caused serious financial problems for the Museum.

Despite attempts to rally members and fans of his special museum, Detrich has closed the doors, with his pianos finding temporary (he hopes) homes in museums around the country.

Visit the Museum of the American Piano site

Listen to a feature on the Museum on NPR's Morning Edition Dec. 31, 2003

Read the Dec. 25, 2003 New York Times article [fee required], or without registration at the Miami Herald