Whitney & Currier Building, 515 Madison Avenue

The Whitney & Currier Building is the six-story building right of center between the two-story Northern Bank building (center at Madison and Superior) and the four story Doyle & Lewis Building. Note the clock in front of the building. The ten-story Home Bank Building (former site of the Toledo Club building) is on the far right at Madison and Huron. Source: Toledo Lucas County Public Library, Local History and Genealogy.

1888 Sanborn map shows a “Wood Yard” located where the Whitney & Currier building was built in 1895.

Whitney & Currier: Beginnings

Whitney & Currier grew from the separate Toledo music businesses established by W. W. Whitney in 1860 and W. H. Currier in 1864. After joining forces, the company opened its “Palace of Music” at 111 Summit Street on October 14, 1870.

111 Summit is the two-story building with the “Sale or Lease” sign in the window. c1964. Source: Toledo Lucas County Public Library, Local History and Genealogy

“Palace of Music” (1873). Source: UC Berkeley, Bancroft Library

Over the following decades, Whitney & Currier expanded into a major music business, selling pianos, organs, and other musical merchandise throughout the region and becoming a nationally recognized name in the music trade. As the company prospered, its Summit Street quarters eventually became inadequate, and in 1895 Whitney & Currier built a new six-story building on Madison Avenue, known as the Whitney & Currier Building, or Currier Hall.

It appears Whitney & Currier moved to a temporary location during construction.

The Whitney & Currier Building was completed in 1896.

Looking down Madison Avenue toward Huron Street. The Whitney & Currier Building is on the far left. Next to it is the four story Doyle & Lewis Building and then the Toledo Club building. The tall building across Huron Street (left of center) is the Nasby Building. Source: Toledo Lucas County Public Library, Local History and Genealogy

The Whitney & Currier Building occupied a prominent position between Huron and Superior streets, with the Toledo Club nearby at Madison and Huron and St. Paul’s Church at Madison and Superior. A small lot temporarily separated it from the Toledo Club, while an alley ran between it and the church.

c1896. St. Paul’s Church at Madison and Superior. St. Paul’s was demolished in 1915. Apparently in its later years it was know for it’s “leaning steeple” that was a “menace to people passing by it.” The Whitney & Currier Building is directly behind it separated by a narrow alley. **Source:** Toledo Lucas County Public Library, Local History and Genealogy

1910. The intersection of Madison and Huron. The Toledo Club is on the corner. The Whitney & Currier Building has the Steinway Pianos sign on it. Next to it is St. Paul’s Church. **Source:** Toledo Lucas County Public Library, Local History and Genealogy

Inside the Whitney & Currier Building

A photo of the interior of the Whitney and Currier Company. **Source:** Toledo Lucas County Public Library, Local History and Genealogy

The piano showroom of the Whitney & Currier Company. **Source:** Toledo Lucas County Public Library, Local History and Genealogy

The interior practice rooms lining a wall at the Whitney and Currier Company. **Source:** Toledo Lucas County Public Library, Local History and Genealogy

The Whitney & Currier Building was a reflection of the company’s success and its expanding role in the music business. The surrounding block would change considerably in the years that followed. The Doyle & Lewis Building, a four-story structure, was constructed between the Toledo Club and Whitney & Currier Building, while St. Paul’s Church was eventually replaced by the Northern Bank Building in 1916. In 1924, the Toledo Club was replaced by the ten-story Home Bank Building.

Northern Bank Building. c1916. **Source:** Toledo Blade.

Whitney & Currier occupied the building until 1914, when they moved their business to the corner of Adams and Huron. The Whitney & Currier Building was purchased by E.H. Close and became known as the “Close Building.”

c1928. The former Whitney & Currier Building with the E. H. Close Realty sign on it sits behind the Toledo Trust building (former Northern Bank Building). Grace Smith’s Cafeteria is located in the four story Doyle & Lewis Building next to the Whitney & Currier Building. **Source:** Toledo Lucas County Public Library, Local History and Genealogy

The Lucas County Bank moved into the E.H. Close Building (former Whitney & Currier Building) in 1946.

Architectural Meddling

By 1961 the former Whitney & Currier Building was being called the Lucas County Bank Building. That same year the owners were making plans for a major “facelift” to the building, as well as the four-story Doyle & Lewis Building.

**Source:** Toledo Lucas County Public Library, Local History and Genealogy

Applied aluminum facing and a new stone treatment at the first floor concealed the buildings earlier architectural features. An interior remodel was done in 1971.

In 1975 Huntington Bank moved into the former Whitney & Currier Building

1985. National Register of Historic Places – Nomination Form

Almost ten years later Huntington Bank was planning to move.

In 1986 the Whitney & Currier Building was considered for historic preservation. Unfortunately bank owners objected to its inclusion in the Madison Avenue Historic District.

Where it was. **Source:** Google Street View.

The Clock