1890

"Leeds and its Neighbourhood. - Messrs. Hilton & Hilton's New Factory.
LEEDS, with its three hundred thousand inhabitants, or thereabouts, is indeed a busy place, although one cannot see it at its best on a day of incessant rain.

We have dim recollections of being told in our school books that "Leeds is the chief seat of the woollen cloth manufacture in England," and we are quite prepared to accept that statement as a true one. But the object of our journey, one day last month, was not to buy tweeds, beavers, or meltons, or to speculate in cotton warps, but to see the progress that the music trade had made in the well known West Riding town on the Aire.

In Wellington Street - to be more precise, in Saville Street, off that main thoroughfare-is situated the new factory of Messrs. Hilton & Hilton.

These worthy brothers were originally making at Ravensthorpe (near Mirfield), some few miles from Leeds; but, their business having increased considerably the last few years, they were compelled to look around for a new working home, and so they built their present fine new factory.

They could hardly have chosen a better spot, as they are close to the termini of the Midland, the London and North Western, the North Eastern, the Great Northern, and the Lancashire and Yorkshire railways.

As prevouisly mentionned, the entrance to the factory is in Saville Street, on the ground floor of wich are situated the clerks' offices  and the private sanctums of the principals. Further, on the ground floor are the store rooms for veneered parts, ironmongery, sconces, screws and the other numerous parts and fittings that go to make up the modern pianoforte.

In the centre of the building is a powerfull lift, serving both sides of the main building, worked by a strap from the adjacent engine, up which we ascend to the fourth and top story. Here are carried on back making, veneering, marking off, case making, &c., and a busy scene presents itself to the eye.

Then down the stairs to the floor beneath, where workmen are busy fitting up, action making, carving, gilding, polishing, &c., a corner of the room being shut off so that the worlman empoyed in incising and gilding may pursue their craft without interruption. Here we notice the tickness of the walls and buttresses, and ask our guides if they expect at any time to be besieged by artillery. 'No,' they laughingly reply; 'but our corporation compel us to be lavish with bricks and mortar, and we have to build as you see.'

At wich reply we audibly lament thatr it would be a good thing if London houses were similarly built, so that our neighbour's 'Hundred and One Exercises' might thus be hermetically sealed up However, we are bidden to 'coom down here, lad' - we are all 'lads' in Yorkshire - and see the room for regulating, toning, fine tuning, final examining, &c.

This floor is also the show room, and is capable of holding a couuple of hundred instruments. We are not gooed at dimensions, and have always possessed rather vague ideas as to what amount of space is expressed by an acre; however, we are informed that the main building alone has a floor space of 23,040 ft.

We are now on the ground floor again, and look in at the extensive drying rooms, provided with a fan for drawing the hot air from boiler and engine room, in which latter are two powerful engines and a large boiler.

By this means is supplied the motive power for the wood working and other machinery with which the factory is liberally supplied, comprising band, circular, and other saws, tennoning, boring, and moulding machines, and numerous other contrivances for cheapening production and producing good work. We must not omit to mention the large sheds for open air drying.

In the veneer rooms can be seen a selection of nearly every kind of fancy wood, thus enabling pianos to be made to match any kind of furniture. The firm do their own japanning, &c., and have provided rooms and arrangements for the various
processes.

There is no doubt that Messrs. Hilton's factory is now one of the largest and most complete in the provinces. The designs and arrangements have been carried out under their own personal supervision, and the principals have lately had a busy time in getting everything ready and in working order. All the rooms are heated day and night by steam supplied automatically from the boilers, steam also heating the glue and cauls, &c.

The firm make a fine class of instrument, supplying a large number of dealers in their own neighbourhood, and more particularly north of Leeds. But they expressed their determination, as we bade them "Good day," to come down south as soon as they were ready." Musical Opinion and Music Trade Review, Volume 13, 01/08/1890, p. 476

1893

Hilton & Hilton, Pianoforte Manufacturers, Saville Street, off Wellington Street, Leeds,
Progress, Commerce, 1893, p. 180

"Hilton & Hilton, Pianoforte Manufacturers, Saville Street, off Wellington Street, Leeds. Among the many claims which Leeds can make to special distinction in the industrial world must be added that of possessing the largest pianoforte manufactory in the provinces. It is over twenty years since the two enterprising brothers Hilton began, on their own account, to practise the art and mystery of pianofortemaking.

During the last few years, however, their business so rapidly increased that the resources of Mirfield were exhausted. The Messrs. Hilton, therefore, wisely determined to migrate to Leeds. The removal took place about three years ago, when they built a large factory in Saville Street, off Wellington Street.

The buildings, as they now stand, form a substantial and handsome structure, or rather series of structures, close to the terminus of the Midland, the London and North-Western, the north of Leeds, are now extending rapidly into every part of the United Kingdom.

At the Leeds International Exhibition in 1890 the gold medal was awarded to Messrs. Hilton & Hilton for the high quality of their pianofortes. The history of the firm, and the splendidly designed buildings in Saville Street, constitute a notable testimony to the industry, the energy, and the skill exhibited, during the last twenty years, by the two partners of the firm.

It is only by making themselves personally responsible for every detail in their complicated manufacturing processes that such marvellous results as they have achieved have been rendered possible." Progress, Commerce, 1893, p. 180