Saturday, September 14, 2019

Piano-Roll Building


Do any of you remember seeing the old "player-pianos", the kind that used rolls of paper perforated with dots and dashes?  When they were placed in those old pianos and the mechanism turned on, the piano would come alive with music.

Well, take a look at this building, The Phoenix Financial Center located on Central Avenue in mid-town Phoenix.  Dosen't it look like one of those old piano-rolls?

That's what many long-time Phoenix residents think and many of them still call it the piano-roll building.












Here's what it looks like from the other side.  I featured this building about a year ago but I was admiring it again recently and thought I'd trot it out for an encore on Phoenix Daily Photo.

If you've never seen an old piano-roll, here's a link where you can take a peek.

When I was just a little kid growing up in Illinois, my family had a player piano so I remember those rolls very well.

11 comments:

biebkriebels said...

You are right, it looks sinular!

Andy said...

Sharon you are right... it does look like a piano roll. I remember seeing one a longtime ago in a Jimmy Durante movie.

RedPat said...

That must have been fun to have one of those pianos in the house, Sharon!

The Padre said...

Really Cracked Up Over The Patiently Waiting Photos - Too Funny

Cheers

Bill said...

I remember seeing a playing piano. A friend had one in his basement. the building does resemble the piano roll. It's amazing what a building can remind people of.

William Kendall said...

There's one of those player pianos in a historic home here. The building does remind me of those.

Catalyst said...

I lived within two blocks of this building for over a decade. I always thought of it as the IBM Card building.

Amy said...

oh yes I can see why that building at the top has it's name.

PerthDailyPhoto said...

It always makes me smile when the locals make up names for architecture and unusual sculptures Sharon, happens here also. Usually it's an 'affectionate' description ✨

Steve Reed said...

It DOES look like a piano roll. When I was a kid there was an office building in our town that looked like an IB< punch card -- remember those?? We always called it the IBM Card Building.

james1619 said...

The building was built BY IBM ... its an IBM punch card