The last ad with the firehouse address ran in the 1991 BEMF program. Finally the Mozart Year, we had another 6-instrument batch underway: this time it was Dulcken fortepianos. Thanks to Mozart, we added another 5-octave Viennese design to our menu based on Anton Walter, falling between Dulcken and Schantz chronologically. We were being asked specifically for Walter pianos because of the Mozart connection. Orders were coming from universities hosting conferences and concerts as far away as New Zealand and Israel. They didn’t know us or fortepianos, but if we sent them a Walter model piano in time for their events, we had a deal.
Meanwhile, there were new harpsichords made from Bill Dowd’s plans. We made lots of our Vater model German instruments, but Bill let us do a Mietke based on his design. It was the only one we ever made, but for just the right client: J. Reilly Lewis, founder of the Washington Bach Consort, used it for innumerable concerts (with Barbara tuning).
The firehouse felt congested now with all the staff and instruments, so we considered finding additional space. In the summer of 1991 we discovered our future building the same way as the firehouse: driving past derelict former public property. It had been the schoolhouse of The Plains, Virginia, 45 miles west of DC. A tiny town near well-known Middleburg, in the heart of horse and wine country, The Plains was only 40 minutes from the Kennedy Center. And our new international clientele didn’t care where we were located!
Built in the first decade of the 20th century, the schoolhouse was repurposed later as apartments. A recent major renovation was halted abruptly, leaving a stripped, cluttered interior, toilets on the front porch, a leaky roof, birds flying out of broken windows, the yard a jungle. Despite the work it needed, it was such perfect space for us with the original large open rooms, that we could imagine selling the firehouse. Negotiations with the owner, neighbors, and town council led to its purchase in Dec., 1991, and the firehouse went up for sale.
