Galveston Steinway Piano Silenced by Hurricane Ike Lives On as Art

Courtesy: The Grand 1894 Opera House

Galveston residents have found ways to reuse and preserve property ravaged and destroyed by Hurricane Ike floodwaters – ways to preserve legacy, heritage and history.  That’s the case with the historic Steinway Concert Grand Piano at The Grand 1894 Opera House.

Storm damage. Courtesy: The Grand 1894 Opera House

Storm damage. Courtesy: The Grand 1894 Opera House

Submerged under contaminated saltwater during the September 2008 hurricane, the nine-foot grand piano now lives on as an impressive artwork – a glass covered conference table used in the administrative offices of the performing arts theater.   Although the piano’s wooden shell, commanding keyboard and note hammers and strings were damaged beyond repair, what could be salvaged was its 400-pound cast iron frame.

“I couldn’t let this piano go – I had to do something with it,” recalls Maureen Patton, Executive Director of The Grand 1894 Opera House.  “I wanted to find a way to save some part of it.  It was just an important piece for me.”

To make the table, Galveston metal artist John Weber refurbished the scratched and discolored piano frame.  It was cleaned and then painted to match its original golden color at an auto paint shop.  From iron fence posts, Weber crafted decorative table legs to fit the design of a grand piano.  And topping off the table is a ¾-inch beveled glass top, carefully cut and shaped from a 600-pound finished-glass panel.

Courtesy: The Grand 1894 Opera House

“When I found out that John had been working in this wonderful medium and worked with piano soundboards, we kind of went from there,” Patton says.  “We thought of making a couple of small coffee tables, but then I realized that we had a conference room as part of our restoration and decided we’d make a conference table out of it.”

The piano was purchased for the theater and restored in 1982.  Originally built in 1908, its melodic tones echoed through the halls of Southern Methodist University.  It was later acquired by a Houston piano studio before the theater purchased it.  In a perhaps surprising coincidence, the piano was destroyed by the storm in 2008, exactly 100 years after it was built.

Through the years, it was played by such renowned musicians and performers including jazz pianist George Shearing, Texas classical pianist James Dick and early Tonight Show host Steve Allen.  “The sound was beautiful, and in a theater like this it was particularly lovely because this theater has such wonderful acoustics,” notes Patton.  “The sound really fills the house because we’re a small enough house and it really makes a difference.”

The Grand 1894 Opera House. Photo by Richard Varr

Today, the theater sponsors about 35 professional productions each year including opera, theatre, comedy, dance and popular music.  The venue is also used by the Galveston Symphony and can be rented for meetings, conventions and receptions.  The piano is sometimes open to the public during tours and art walk displays.

“Every time I walk in the room, I look at that piano and I smile.  It’s such an uplifting experience to see what you can do with something that was destroyed,” Patton says.   “Every time I take people into the conference room, I see their reactions and, without exception, the reactions are awestruck and even speechlessness.  There are people who even start to cry.”

“It’s also a reminder for everyone in this community of what you can do with a disaster,” she adds, “that you can respond with a positive attitude and with determination.”

Courtesy: The Grand 1894 Opera House