for other uses see steinway disambiguation . steinway & sons type private industry musical instruments founded march 5 1853 163 years ago 1853 03 05 1 founder heinrich engelhard steinweg 2 later henry e. steinway headquarters europe and worldwide hamburg germany 3 53 34 27 n 9 55 27 e 53.5743 n 9.9241 e 53.5743 ; 9.9241 steinway & sons hamburg germany americas queens new york united states 3 40 46 45 n 73 53 59 w 40.7793 n 73.8998 w 40.7793 ; 73.8998 steinway & sons new york city number of locations 200 authorized dealers operating 300 showrooms worldwide 4 area served worldwide 4 products grand pianos 5 upright pianos 6 production output 3 400 pianos annually 7 services restoration of steinway pianos 8 parent steinway musical instruments 9 website europe and worldwide americas steinway & sons also known as steinway i sta nwe is an american german piano company founded in 1853 in manhattan new york city by german immigrant heinrich engelhard steinweg later known as henry e. steinway . 10 11 the company s growth led to the opening of a factory in queens new york city and a factory in hamburg germany . 12 the factory in queens supplies the americas and the factory in hamburg supplies the rest of the world . 6 13 steinway has been described as a prominent piano company 14 15 known for making pianos of high quality 16 17 and for inventions within the area of piano development . 18 19 steinway has been granted 126 patents in piano making ; the first in 1857 . 20 the company s share of the high end grand piano market consistently exceeds 80 percent . 21 the company s dominant position in the high end piano market has been criticized with some musicians and writers arguing that it has blocked innovation and led to a homogenization of the sound favored by pianists . 22 23 steinway pianos have received numerous awards . 24 one of the first is a gold medal in 1855 at the american institute fair at the new york crystal palace . 25 26 from 1855 to 1862 steinway pianos received 35 gold medals . 24 27 several awards and recognitions followed 28 including 3 medals at the international exposition of 1867 in paris . 29 the european part of the company holds a royal warrant of appointment to queen elizabeth ii . 30 steinway pianos are made at the factories in hamburg and queens . 3 in addition to the flagship steinway piano line steinway markets two less expensive brands of piano sold under the secondary brand names boston and essex . the boston brand is for the mid level market and the essex brand is for the entry level market . boston and essex pianos are designed by steinway engineers and produced in asia at other piano makers factories under the supervision of steinway employees to utilize a lower cost of part production and labor . 31 32 contents 1 history 1.1 foundation and growth 1.2 steinway halls 1.3 expansion 1.4 recent history 2 models 2.1 grands and uprights 2.2 special designs 3 brands 4 piano bank 5 manufacture 5.1 german and american factories 5.2 components 5.2.1 rim 5.2.2 plate 5.2.3 soundboard 5.2.4 bridges 5.2.5 strings and pinblock 5.2.6 keys and action 6 affiliates 6.1 steinway artists 6.2 all steinway schools 6.3 piano competitions 7 awards 8 patented inventions 9 music 10 see also 11 references 11.1 notes 11.2 further reading 12 external links history foundation and growth heinrich engelhard steinweg photographed by mathew brady heinrich engelhard steinweg first made pianos in the 1820s from his house in seesen germany . 33 he made pianos under the steinweg brand until he emigrated from germany to america in 1850 with his wife and eight of his nine children . 34 the eldest son c.f. theodor steinweg remained in germany and continued making the steinweg brand of pianos partnering with friedrich grotrian a piano dealer from 1856 to 1865 . 35 in 1853 heinrich engelhard steinweg founded steinway & sons . his first workshop in america was in a small loft at the back of 85 varick street in the manhattan district of new york city . 36 the first piano made by steinway & sons was given the number 483 because heinrich engelhard steinweg had built 482 pianos in germany . number 483 was sold to a new york family for 500 and is now on display at the german museum st dtisches museum seesen in seesen 37 38 the town in which heinrich engelhard steinweg began his career as a piano maker . 39 a year later demand was such that the company moved to larger premises at 82 88 walker street . it was not until 1864 that the family anglicized their name from steinweg to steinway . 40 by the 1860s steinway had built a new factory at park avenue between 52nd and 53rd street the present site of the seagram building where it covered a whole block . with a workforce of 350 men production increased from 500 to nearly 1 800 pianos per year . the employees were mostly german immigrants and the official language of the company was german . 41 the pianos themselves underwent numerous substantial improvements through innovations made both at the steinway factory and elsewhere in the industry based on emerging engineering and scientific research including developments in the understanding of acoustics . 42 almost half of the company s 126 patented inventions were developed by the first and second generations of the steinway family . steinway s pianos won prizes at exhibitions in new york city 25 london 27 and paris . 29 by 1862 steinway pianos had received more than 35 medals . 24 28 part of steinway s early reputation arose from its successes in trade fairs . 43 in 1865 the steinway family sent a letter to c.f. theodor steinweg asking that he leave the german steinweg factory by now located in braunschweig brunswick and travel to new york city to take over the leadership of the family firm due to the deaths of his brothers henry and charles from disease . 35 c.f. theodor steinweg obeyed selling his share of the german piano company to his partner wilhelm grotrian son of friedrich grotrian and two other workmen adolph helfferich and h.g.w. schulz . the german factory changed its name from c.f. theodor steinweg to grotrian helfferich schulz th . steinweg nachf . english grotrian helfferich schulz successors to th . steinweg later shortened to grotrian steinweg . 35 in new york city c.f. theodor steinweg anglicized his name to c.f. theodore steinway . during the next 15 years of his leadership he kept a home in braunschweig and traveled often between germany and the united states . 35 steinway s factory in manhattan new york city 1876 around 1870 80 william steinway born wilhelm steinweg a son of heinrich engelhard steinweg established a professional community the company town steinway village in what is now the astoria neighborhood of queens in new york city . 12 steinway village was built as its own town and included a new factory still used today with its own foundry and sawmill houses for employees kindergarten lending library post office volunteer fire department and parks . steinway village later became part of long island city . steinway street one of the major streets in the astoria and long island city neighborhoods of queens is named after the company . 10 in 1876 steinway participated in the centennial exposition in philadelphia . the competition was principally between steinway chickering and weber . according to journalist james barron s account of steinway s participation in the competition the company was able to secure success by bribing one of the judges . william steinway denied to the exposition s organizers that a judge had been paid directly although barron states that the judge was bribed through an intermediary the pianist frederic boscovitz . 44 according to freelancer isabel wolff william steinway would admit in his diary that under his leadership the new york city arm of the company bribed judges at trade fairs to favor steinway pianos . 45 according to musicologist donald w. fostle it is untrue that steinway repeatedly bribed judges at trade fairs and in the one documented case it is unclear if steinway were enmeshed along with others in bribery or were the target of attempted extortion . 46 steinway s factory in hamburg germany 1915 to reach european customers who wanted steinway pianos and to avoid high european import taxes william steinway and c.f. theodore steinway established a new piano factory in the free german city of hamburg in 1880 . 47 the first address of steinway s factory in hamburg was at schanzenstra e in the western part of hamburg st. pauli . c.f. theodore steinway became the head of the german factory and william steinway went back to the factory in queens . the hamburg and queens factories regularly exchanged experience about their patents and technique despite the large distance between them and they continue to do so today . c.f. theodore steinway was a talented inventor who made many improvements in the construction of the piano . 16 48 more than a third of steinway s patented inventions are under the name of c.f. theodore steinway . 49 the steinway factory in hamburg was part laboratory part factory . much of the precision cutting and drilling machinery installed in the queens factory was tried in the hamburg factory first . 50 c.f. theodore steinway died in braunschweig in 1889 having successfully competed against the grotrian steinweg brand both the hamburg based steinway factory and the braunschweig based grotrian steinweg factory became known for making premium german pianos . 47 meanwhile the 1880s saw the company embroiled in a series of labor disputes between the new york city factory and its workers . back then industrialists faced labor strikes frequently . 51 52 one dispute in 1880 saw the company lead an industry wide lockout of piano workers in new york city . in later disputes in the decade the company hired detectives to spy on its workers paid police for their backing and protection of company property and evicted strike leaders from company housing . 51 52 in 1890 steinway received their first royal warrant granted by queen victoria . 53 54 the following year the patrons of steinway included the prince of wales and other members of the monarchy and nobility . 53 in subsequent years steinway was granted royal and imperial warrants from the rulers of italy norway persia portugal romania russia spain sweden and turkey . 55 steinway halls main article steinway hall crowd of spectators buying tickets for a charles dickens reading at the steinway hall in new york city 1867 56 from 1864 to 1866 william steinway who is credited with establishing steinway s success in marketing 57 oversaw the construction of steinway hall on east 14th street in manhattan new york city . steinway hall had cost 200 000 to build . 58 it included the second largest concert hall in new york city as well as showrooms for steinway pianos . 59 to enter the concert hall concertgoers had to pass through the showrooms a way to advertise steinway pianos . sales increased by more than 400 pianos in 1867 . 60 steinway hall quickly became one of new york city s most prominent cultural centers 58 housing the new york philharmonic for the next 25 years until carnegie hall opened in 1891 . 61 in 1925 the steinway hall on east 14th street was closed and a new steinway hall on west 57th street was opened . 61 in 2013 steinway sold the steinway hall on west 57th street for 46 million and moved out of the building at the end of 2014 . 62 in