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W. W. Kimball Building
Life Span: 1873-1905
Location: SE Corner State and Adams Streets
Architect: TBD
W. W. Kimball sold sheet music and musical instruments in the Crosby Opera House until the Chicago Fire burned it down. The W. W. Kimball building, built in 1873, four stories and one basement high, was on the southeast corner of State and Adams, with a frontage of about 80 feet on each street. In 1887 Siegel Cooper occupied the building. According to the 1886 Robinson Fire Map, the building was called the Coggin & Schaffner Building.
About 1890 Owen Electric Belt, occupied this building. In 1905 the building was replaced by 12-story (7 stories added in 1909) Republic Building. This was torn down in 1961.
The Land Owner, September, 1873
W. W. Kimball Building
1873
Chicago Tribune, December 14, 1873
W. W. KIMBALL. The manufacture of a perfect piano is one of the greatest human efforts in an artistic way. It has taken almost an age to reach this stage of perfection, and the unrivaled instruments sent out from the factories of Hallet, Davis & Co. are the best specimens of it. For purity and richness of tone and symmetry of form they stand alone. These wonderful instruments have found their way all over the land, and their music may be heard on the Atlantic shore, by the Great Lakes, and where the Pacific rolls on the western edge of the continent. The West has been supplied, and is now supplying, by W. W. Kimball, whose elegant rooms are at the corner of State and Adams streets. Of thus exquisite piece of musical mechanism Franz Liszt says:
It is the most admirable instrument ever made.
Mr. Kimball is also the sole Western agent for the Union & Kimball pianos, which possess rare merits, and can be bought for smaller sums. He has also square, grand, and upright pianos, suitable for all tastes. The Smith American organs, which are renowned the world over, are for sale at this establishment. Anything bought of Kimball is guaranteed as to its merits, and persons contemplating the purchase of anything in the musical line should visit the establishment.
W. W. Kimball Building
1886
Siegel Cooper Building
1890
Robinson Fire Map
1886
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