Camden Town enjoyed ready access for transport by canal and rail, proximity to the skilled furniture makers in the Tottenham Court Road area and lay within easy reach of West End retailers and a wealthy clientele. These locational advantages helped it to become one of the centres of the piano industry at a time when every self-respecting household had a piano.
Collard and Collard were the oldest of the well-known piano manufacturing firms of the St Pancras area, having patented a form of upright ‘square’ piano in 1811. The piano factory now known as the Rotunda was built for the firm in 1851 opposite its existing works in Oval Road. An open well in the centre was used to move pianos from floor to floor during the manufacturing process.
Piano factories were highly susceptible to fire because of the wood and lacquer used. In December 1851, in the early hours, watchmen from Camden Goods Station spotted a fire in the newly completed factory. The open well, two staircases and 88 windows caused an immense sheet of flames to “illuminate the whole of London and suburban districts”. Despite drawing extra water from the Regent’s Canal, firemen lost control of the flames and the building was gutted. 200 finished instruments were destroyed. The factory was rebuilt and occupied by Collard and Collard until 1929. The Grade II building has now been converted to offices.
Other firms included Hopkinsons, with a factory in Fitzroy Road, and Chappells factory in Belmont Street. In addition to the large companies that assembled pianos there was a cluster of smaller companies supplying parts and services to the industry.