DESTRUCTIVE FIRE. - This afternoon, about three o'clock, the utmost consternation prevailed throughout the vicinity of Wells'-Street, Mortimer-street, Great Titchfield-street, and Margaret-Street, Cavendish-square, in consequence of a fire having broken out in the workshops of a Mr. Crouzet, a carver, gilder, and picture-frame-maker, in Great Titchfield-street, which soon extended to the houses in the four above-mentioned streets. The conflagreation was caused by an accident in the shop of Mr. Crouzet, A workman had placed on the fire a kettle, containing a compound called French polish, which, during his absence, boiled over, and set fire to some shavings of wood. Before any property could be removed, the whole building was in a blaze, and the flames communicated to the premises of Mr. Woolley, a stable-keeper ; Mr. Stoddart, a piano-forte manufacturer ; Mr. Stout, who has a mahogany and timber-yard ; Mr. Messer, a coach-maker ; Messrs. Bolton and Sparrow, upholsterers ; and to the Chapel of Ease, in Margaret-street. Several engines were soon on the spot, and information was conveyed to the police offices of Marlborough-street and Mary-le-bonne, and the magistrates and officers of those establishments were in prompt attendance. They found the crowd so much in the way of the firemen, that it was determined to apply the King-street barracks for the assistance of the military. A party of the guards soon arrived, and were placed in Wells, Mortimer, Titchfield and Margaret streets, to keep off the multitude. The magistrates, Messrs. Dyer, Conant and Rawlinson, placed the officers and patrol in different streets to aid the firemen, and to prevent plunder. The Westminster and the Royal Exchange engines were the first which arrived ; by which time the flames had reached such a height, that the whole neighbourhood appeared to be doomed to destruction. From the timber-yard of Mr. Stout, and the shops of Mr. Stoddart, the flames were carried towards Wells-street ; and the premises of Mr. Pears, perfumer ; Mr. Langley, oilman ; Mr. Arnold, grocer ; Miss Storer and Mrs. Venner, burnt with great fury. The back part of Mr. Mickland's premises was much injured. The flames continued to extend towards Mortimer-street ; and the houses of Mr. Wales, cabinet maker ; of Mr. Hunt, card-maker ; of Mr. Reid, sofa and chair-maker ; of Mr. Kensett, cabinet-maker ; and of Messrs. Hold and Scheffer, were in a short time reduced to ruins. Notwithstanding the number of engines which played upon the burning premises, yet for a a long time the torrents of water poured thereon appeared to have no visible effect in extinguishing the flames. The pipes of the engines were conveyed through several houses in Titchfield and Margaret-streets, to play on the piles of timber in the yards of Messrs. Stout and Stoddart. The livery stables belonging to Mr. Wooley, and adjoining the backs of the houses in Margaret-street, were entirely destroyed ; fortunately the horses were removed. A China and Staffordshire warehouse in the same yard was also destroyed, and about forty crates of goods. But the most serious occurrence which happened in this yeard was the destruction of some of the valuable carvings belonging to the duke of Rutland, which had been deposited in one of the warehouses, and were insured in the Westminster office to a considerable amount. In the whole, not less than 30 houses and shops were destroyed. Not fewer than 100 families were by this melancholy catastrophe deprived of a home ; and many of them who were lodgers, lost all they possessed, except the property they carried about their persons. (June 21, Annual Register 1825.)

July 10th, 1846. A fire broke out in the piano-forte manufactory of Stodart & Dunham, at the corner of Thirteenth-street and Irving place. Four buildings were entirely destroyed with their contents. There was in the buildings at the time a large amount of unfinished work, upon which the workment could not receive their pay till it was completed. This was entirely destroyed, with all the tools belonging to the workmen. Estimated loss $60,000. (The Fireman, 1858)

DREADFUL CONFLAGRATION AT CAMDEN TOWN.-�30,000 LOSS.--About three o'clock on Friday morning the extensive pianoforte manufactory of Messrs. Collard and Collard, Oval-road, Camden-town, was discovered to be on fire. Only one engine could for a short time be brought into full play, while the flames spread furiously, and by the time the engines of the brigade could be taken to the side of the canal where they were obliged to work the distance of nine lengths of hose, every one of the floors of this great establishment was one burning mass. There being no hope of saving Messrs. Collard's property, the West of England and Brigade directed their attention to the surrounding property, which they succeeded in preserving. It was ascertained from one of the firm, that the previous night everything was left apparently quite safe, and the keys taken charge of by the foreman ; that an order from abroad to the amount of $20,000 had been completed, and the vans had been engaged to convey thet goods to the wharfs this morning. Messrs. Collard are insured, but far below the sum destroyed. Though the walls of the gutted building, at least 100 feet high, were falling at times in every direction, no person sustained injury. By eight o'clock all danger had ceased ; but the engines were at work the entire day on the ruins. (Daily News, 14.12.1851)

Dec. 1st, 1852. BURNING OF CHICKERING'S PIANO-FORTE FACTORY. - The fire broke out in the back part of the building situated on Washington-street, and, owing to the combustible nature of the material, it was wrapped in flames, and in a short time the building was completely destroyed. Benjamin Foster was killed by the falling walls, and a large number of firemen injured. Loss $250,000. (The Fireman, 1858)

Chickering's Pianoforte Manufactory. The above building was lately destroyed at a fire in Boston, by which the owner has been a great loser, but Mr. Chickering's loss is not to be measured by money : the patterns, the scales, and all the drawings, which have been the result of his long experience and close calculations,--the work of many an evening hour of patient thought, have all been destroyed in a night. One instrument in particular will be a great loss. For a year past Mr. Chickering has been engaged in planning and constructing a new piano, which would possess many advantages over those now used in parlors. He had spent weeks and weeks upon its preparation, and had got it so far completed that in a day or two it would have been ready for exhibition. This instrument, with all its patterns and scales, is destroyed with all the rest. (Scientific American, 18.12.1852)

1853 - Aug. 10. London. Golden Square. Kirkman's pianoforte manufactory, with chapel and 8 houses. (The Insurance Cyclopedia, 1876)

November 5th, 1854. A fire broke out in the manufacturing department of Messrs. Knape, Gashie & Co.'s piano-forte establishment, in Eutaw-street, which destroyed that part of the establishment, together with all its contents. The adjoining buildings were somewhat damaged by the falling of the walls. The fire raged nearly all night, and at one time threatened the destruction of all the surrounding buildings. Loss $190,000. (The Fireman, 1858)

DESTRUCTION OF A LARGE PIANOFORTE MANUFACTORY. On Saturday night, between nine and ten o'clock, a fire was discovered in the premises of Messrs. Hopkinson and Co., pianoforte manufacturers, situated at the back of Quickset-row, New-road, Fitzroy square. The premises in question were about 120 feet long by 23 broad and had an elevation of four stories. Immediately adjoining are the newly erected premises of Messrs. Grey and Davison, the well known organ builders, which are 160 feet long , with an organ loft 52 feet high, filled with a large number of instruments in every stage of construction. At the opposite end of the burnt building is the large studio of Mr. Behnes, the sculptor, crowded with statues and models, and near, on another angle, is the pianoforte manufactory of Addison and Co., of Regent-street. At the east end, abutting upon Grey and Divison's premises runs a line of cottages inhabited by working men and their families, whilst the space of ground formed by the manufactories already mentioned, was covered with stacks of wood several feet high. The fire was first seen smouldering in a room called the "key shop," and on account of the peculiar nature of the contents, consisting principally of dried-wood, and a very large stock of instruments, it speedily assumed a very formidable character. The flames indeed in less than half an hour were seen in every part of the metropolis. Fire engines began to arrive from all the brigade engine stations, including Watling-street, the fire having been seen from the "look-out" on the top of the house almost as soon as the flame burst out. When Mr. Braidwood arrived he found that the burning premises were nearly 200 feet from the fire main in the streets, the effect of which was a corresponding difficulty and labour in forcing the water through such a length of hose pipe. Some twelve or thirteen engines were set to work as they arrived, and until the second floor became ignited, Mr. Braidwood had hopes that the fire could be got under. The fire had, howerver, gained too great an ascendancy. All thoughts of saving any part of the building were presently abandoned, the energies of the firemen being now directed towards preventing any communication between the flames and the other buildings. The end of the beautiful Gothic roof of Grey and Davison's organ loft had become ignited. Several engines were at once directed to the wall, the gable being only a few feet from the flames, and some firemen were placed inside with a powerful hand-engine. At this end of the loft was a magnificent organ, nearly finished, for the abbey church of Sherborne, in Dorsetshire. It was designed by the late Mr.Carpenter, and when looking at its beautiful and elaborate Gothic tracery by the glace of the burning pile outside, which gleamed fearfully through the long ecclesiastical windows of this hall, the most painful fears were felt that in a few minutes the flames might be commencing their work of destruction. In addition to this organ there were instruments for the Abbey Church of Flexley, in Gloucestershire ; St. Mary's Church, Burnley, Lancashire ; Sydney, New South Wales ; Hope street Chapel, Liverpool ; the new Music Hall, Birmingham, &c. By dint of great exertion on the part of the brigade this building sustained no further injury than a slight burning of the coping of a portion of the roof. By 12 o'clock portions of the walls of the burning premises had fallen in, and the heat was intense. In another hour and a half the floors were all down, an the upper part of the walls, the whole mass burning on the ground floor. There was scarely a breath of wind during the time of the fire ; and had even the slightest breeze sprung up either from the north, east, or west, no human power could have prevented one of the most terrible conflagrations that have occured in the metropolis for many years. All the streets leading into the New-road and the New-road itself, were crowded with thousands of people, and wholly impassable to carriages. The fire continued all night, and it was not until seven o'clock in Sunday morning that all apprehensions of further danger were removed. The premises are completely destroyed, with a large stock of instruments, and all the workmen's tools. How the fire originated is at present unknown. Gas was not used in the manufactory , but candles. The Messrs. Hopkinson leased the premises (which are newly erected) for sixty years from Mr. Davison, and they were insured in the County Fire Office for 2,000l. The workmen's tools are not insured. Messrs. Grey and Davison are fully insured in the Phoenix, and their workmen's tools are insured at the rate of twopence per week of every pound's worth. (Daily News, 14.01.1856)

FIRE IN MARYLEBONE. - In addition to the particulars of the serious conflagration at the Messrs. Hopkinson's pianoforte manufactory, detailed in our impression of yesterday, we are informed that further insurances to the extent of 2 000 l had been effected in the North of England Fire-office. (Daily News, 15.01.1856)

FIRE AT A PIANOFORTE FACTORY. - Last night, about 8 o'clock, a fire broke out on the extensive premises, 4, John-street, Tottenham-court-road, occupied byu Messrs. Harrison and Co., as a pianoforte factory. Each floor of the building was filled with instruments on various stages of manufacture. When the men left off work the premises were careful inspected, and no signs of fire could then be detected. Nevertheless, at the hour above named, police-constable 92, of the E division, discovered that the factory was on fire, and before the engines reached the scene, when they did in a brief period after being summoned the flames were rushing out of some of the windows. A good supply of water having been obtained, the fire was got under in two or three hours, but not until a serious amount of damage had been inflicted. Messrs. Harrison are partly covered from loss by an insurance in the County Fire office, but the whole of the workmen have lost their tools, and many of them were not insured. The premises of Messrs. Andrews and Spokes, tin plate workers, 2, North-street-mews, sustained damage by fire and water. The cause of the disaster is not known. (Daily News, 27.03.1856)

THE FIRE IN TOTTENHAM-COURT-ROAD. The fire which broke out on Wednesday night on the premises of Messrs. Harrison and Co., pianoforte manufacturers, situate 65, John-street, Tottenham-court-road, and No. 3, North-street-mews, briefly reported in this journal yesterday morning, was not entirely extinguished until some hours after we went to press, consequently the damage done was greater than was at first anticipated.
A very searching inquiry was made yesterday be the Brigade authorities, for the purpose of finding out is possible how the misfortune took place, but nothing that could be depended upon could be learned, beyond the fact that every fire in the building had been extinguished some time before the outbreak was discovered in the Mews. The flames at that time appeared to be raging in the top floor but one in the factory, when it rapidly extended to the upper story and penetrated the flooring of the first floor with such fury that the whole of the building except the ground floor presented a tremendous sheet of flame.
The following is a copy of Mr. Braidwood's official report of the damage done:
"Wednesday, March 26, 1856, eight and a quarter p.m.--A fire happened in the premises of Messrs. James Harrison and Co., pianoforte manufacturers, No. 3, North-street-mews, and 65, John-street, Tottenham-court-road. The cause of the fire unknown. Insured in the County and Athenaeum Fire-offices. Engines that attended : 3 of B, 3 of C, I of the parish, and that of the West of England office. The three upper floors of the manufactoiry and contents destroyed, roof burned off, and the ground-floor damaged by fire and water. The contents of front house considerably damaged by water and hasty removal. . .(Daily News, 28.03.1856)

September 27th, 1856. A fire occurred in the extensive piano forte manufactory of A. & J. Keigh, and in three hours the entire building, with its contents, was destroyed. Loss $30,000. (The Fireman, 1858)

FIRE IN THE BLACKFRIARS-ROAD.--On Monday night a fire broke out on the premises of Mr.Simpson, lead pipe and glass warehouseman, No. 94, Blackfriars-road, which occasioned considerably loss of property. Fortunately there was a plentiful supply of water, but the fire ws not extinguished until the premises in which the disaster occurred were nearly destroyed. Some damage was done to the adjoining premises of Mr. Blackman, pianoforte manufacturer.(News Of the World, 13.07.1856)

TREMENDOUS CONFLAGRATION AT MESSRS. BROADWOOD AND SONS' PIANOFORTE FACTORY, WESTMINSTER. The most extensive fire that has happened in the metropolis for some years brokke out on Tuesday evening, about half-past six o'clock, and continued to rage for hours, destroying in its progress property valued at nearly �100,000. Upon a plot of ground exceeding a couple of acres in extent, and runnning from Horseferry-road to Holywell-street, Westminster, have stood for the last thirty years the principal manufacturing workshops of Messrs. Broadwood. The premises consisted of five district ranges of buildings three stories high, running parallel with each other, and embracing shops for every department of the manufacture. At six o'clock 420 workmen left the various shops in the establishment, and, as was invariably the case, one of the foremen inspected the whole premises after their departure, for the purpose of ascertaining that everything was safe, and the stove fires properly extinguished. In little more than half an hour after the workmen had left smoke was observed issuing from the upper floor of the central range of buildings, immediately beneath the clock tower. An alarm was instantly given at the residence of Mr. Russell, one of the principal managers, who lives adjoining the premises, in Holywell-street. He immediately hastened to the building in question, and at once saw that the fire had made considerable progress, and was rapidly increasing its ravages. Such assistants as could hastily be got together were assembled, and an engine which has always been kept upon the premises was soon at work. the peculiar construction of the workshops--built to obtain the best possible light, and consisting of distinct floors several hundred feet long without a break of any kind--rendered them an easy prey to the flames, and in less than an hour the fire had obtained so terrible a mastery that very little hope existed from that time of saving any portion of the establishment. The intense heat of hte central building very soon ignited the adjoining ranges on each side, though from twenty to thirty feet of space separated the one from the other, and before eight o'clock a body of flame of almost unexampled extent rose high into the air. The fire was too swift to allow the extrications of anything more than a few thousand feet of mahogany, which were thrown down off the roofs of the workshops and dragged into the Horseferry-road. Into the interior of the shops very shortly after the outbreak it was impossible to enter, and it was lamentable to observe the working men looking on-their eyes suffused with tears--at the destructions of their valuable tools and materials without the smallest chance of rescuing them. Our of the five ranges of shops four had ignited when Mr. Staples, foreman of the Brigade, in Mr. Braidwood's absence, determined by a desperate effort to cut off the communication with the fifth range, by the employment of a large number of men with pickaxes and other implements. The wind favouring the operation, the flames were prevented extending to the northernmost shops, which, beyond injury from severe scorching and water, have not suffered. The rest of the vast manufactory is a total wreck, and the loss occasioned to Messrs. Broadwood is understood to be enormous. Nearly one thousand pianofortes, in various stages of manufacture, have been utterly lost, and the value of the woods and other materials destroyed amounts to an immense sum. Five shillings per square foot for veneers used by Messrs. Broadwood is not at all an extravagant price, and from this some notion may be formed of the loss that will be occasioned by the fire. The tools of a single first-class workman also may be estimated at �70. The specially hazardous character of the business is such that at this season of the year it is not suposed that any person has a light on the premises, and the stoves for warming glue-pots, &c., are cased in iron. The immense gasometers belonging to the Chartered Gaslight and Coke Company towered high above the factories on the opposite side of the road. At that early hour of the evening it is hardly necessary to state that each vessel was charged, to supply the neighbourhood for the night. The inhabitants, on seeing the close proximity of the gas-works, became dreadfully alarmed lest the heat should cause the iron plates to start and allow the atmospheric air to mingle with the gas ; and then nothing short of an awful explosion must have followed. Mr. Carter, the superintendent of the gas-works, requested the firemen to discharge the water from an engine upon the gasometer. At one time the greater part of Holywell-street, Page-street, and the front houses between the upper and lower factories seemed doomed to be perfectly annihilated, as well as the extensive gas-works opposite. Towards ten o'clock the firement had the gratifiaction of seeing the flames begin to succumb and palpably diminish beneath the torrents of water continually falling upon them, but they were even then far from being entirely extinguished. A great number of finished instruments, veneers, and other timbers, were saved before the fire reached the compartments in which they were deposited. These were placed in St. John's burial-ground and other places, but the loss of property by the calamity, it is feared, will amount to a very large sum. Several hundred workmen will be thrown out of employment, and a vast number have lost their tools, some boxes of which were worth �60 each, and although many are insured, a great number are not. The roofs of the Westminster Marble Works are nearly burned off. The polishing-rooms, the carving-houses, and the lower floors, all filled with most expensive marble-work, are seriously damaged by water and removal. It wass found at length, although the water furnished by the Chelsea Company was sufficient to feed not fewer than 13 land engines, that it was absolutely necessary to have the steam floating-enging from Southwark-bridge brought to the water's edge at Millbank, and by connecting several lengths of hose by means of the breaching, the three or four jets of water, furnishing some tons momentarily were kept falling upon the flames. The upper factory and timber-yard nearest Regent-street has not sustained the least injury, owing to the timely aid afforded.
It is almost certain that had the fire mains, for which Messrs. Broadwood have for years paid a large annual sum to the Chelsea Waterworks Company, been properly charged at the time of the outbreak, the fire would have been confined within comparatively narrow limits. It appears that when intelligence of the disaster was first conveyed to Mr. Russell, foreman of the works, he instantly hurried into one of the shops where two workmen were employed, and they together conveyed two or three lengths of hose and a branch to that part of the yard in which the outbreak had occurred. The flames were then just visible, flickering within a window on the third floor, and Mr. Russell having screwed on the hose to one of the fire mains--of which there are no less than a dozen on the premises--took the branch in hand himself, and directed the stream of water immediately on the spot where the flames were playing. For a few moments a full stream of water was thrown on the building ; but of a sudden the supply of water altogether ceased, and the fire immediately increased in a terrific manner, bidding defiance to all further efforts to stay its progress. The contract of the water company with Messrs. Broadwood is to have the mains full charged at six o'clock every evening, for the express puprose of being called into action in the event of fire. How far this contract was performed, may be gathered from the fact that at a quarter to seven o'clock on Tuesday evening the supply failed at the only one tested out of twelve contracted for. The public will probably consider that among the parties amenable for the loss the directors of the water company should be included. The outbreak occurred in the close vicinity of one of the stoves, in which there had been a fire during the afternoon. There can be little doubt, therefore, that, notwithstanding the precautions taken, a spark must have fallen beyond the iron framework in which the fire is encased, and that thus the disaster originated. The loss has not yet been estimated. About 200 instruments in various staged of completion were rescued during the fire, and deposited in warehouses and depo^ts in the neighbourhood, kindly placed at the disposal of Messrs. Broadwood. To this salvage was to be added a very large quantity of pine wood and ebony, which, being stacked at the northern extremity of the premises, which the fire did not reach, has escaped destruction. The sympathy expressed for Messrs. Broadwood has been very general indeed. Happily they have another large factory in Pulteney-street, Golden-square, where the business was originally established, which, with the premises still standing in the Horseferry-road, and other conveniences which have been offered to them, will enable the firm to carry on their business without interruption. The following is Mr. Superintendent Braidwood's report of the danger sustained : -- Messrs. J. Broadwood and Son, pianforte makers, Horseferry-road, Westminster. The double row of workshops, two stories, 300 feet long, destroyed ; two workshops, one on the south side and the other on the north, 170 feet long, with the contents, destroyed. Stables, saw pits, and piles of timber in the yard damaged by fire and pulled down. Insured in the Sun, Atlas, Westminster, Royal Exchange, and County Fire-offices. No 68, Grosvenor-terrace, Mr. John Murray's private residence. Contents (insured in the County) and building seriously damaged by removal and breakage. Earl-street, F. H. Harkey's marble works, contents and building insured in the Royal Exchange. Roof of workshops damaged by fire and contents by removal. No. 11, Holywell-street, W. Spevis, Grosvenor Arms Tavern. Contents insured in the Phoenix Fire-office. Front scorched and glass broken. Besides more or less damage done to the houses No's 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20 in the same street. It is questionable whether the loss will be covered for a less sum than �150,000. From the survey made it seems that that part of the property consumed was exactly three hundred and three feet long, and was termed the "new rooms" or houses. There was an avenue running round each side of these structures which was filled with heavy blocks of mahogany, rosewood, and other expensive timbers. The fire commenced in the upper "key maker's" shop on the south-west side of hte factory, and although immediately discovered, and several men were almost instantaneously on the spot, who endeavoured to extinguish the flames, it was found impossible to do so. It was reported that a man had fallen off one of the house-tops in assisting to extinguish the fire, and was killed ; but it was learned, beyond the possibility of a doubt, that no one had been killed. One man certainly fell from a pile of timber, and was taken to the Westminster hospital, but he was able to leave that institution on Wednesday.(News of the World, 17.08.1856)

Tuesday, June 9th, 10 1/2 p.m., a tremendous conflagration broke out in the goods station of Messrs. Pichford and Co., carriers, London and North-western Railway station, Camden-town, which, for its intensity, illuminating power, destruction of property, greatly surpassed any metropolitan fire of modern date. The fire broke out suddenly and spread so rapidy, that by the tume the Brigade engines arrived the entire range of warehouses and store-rooms containing 250 square eet, were one mass of flames. Numerous engines, with a powerful body of firemen and auxiliaries, were soon collected ; but the supply of water was wholly inadequate to the requirements of the occasion, barely sufficient, in fact, to save the threatened adjacent buildings, and the main body of fire burned itself out, no impression being made upon it. The extensive premises of Messrs. Collard and Co., pianoforte-makers, Messrs. Taylor's, flour-mills, and the Stanhop Tavern, were damages, and narrowly escaped destruction. (Mechanics' Magazine, 27.02.1858)

FIRE. - In New York, this day, about two o'clock in the morning, a fire broke out in the large building No. 100 Centre Street, occupied in the basement by John Rietz, as a lager-beer saloon ; on the first floor by Jacob Koehler, as a billiard-saloon ; on the second, third, and fourth floors by Henry Hansen, piano-forte manufacturer. The fire originated on the third floor, and thence extended rapidly in every direction, the flames bursting furiously forth from the front and rear windows. Great consternation prevailed among the occupants of the low houses in the neighborhood, and many removed their household effects. The streets in teh vicinity were filled with men, women, and childred, among whom were many thieves and dissipated characters. The building, owned by Mr. Wolf, was entirely destroyed. Loss. about $4000: insyured. Loss of Mr. Hansen, $12,000 : insured for $2000 in the St. Mark's and $1000 in the Rutgers Insurance Company. Mr. Koehler sustained about $500 damage : no insurance. Loss of Mr. Rietz, about $300 : no insurance. Several of the neighboring buildings were much damaged by water. Joseph Howard, of Engine No. 22 was struck in the head by a falling brick and badly injured. (18.04.1860 - Vincent's Semi-annual United States Register, 1860)

1860 - Nov. 4 London. Crown Street, Soho. The pianoforte manufactory of Messrs. Chappell burned. (The Insurance Cyclopedia, 1876)

SLIGHT FIRE. - About half-past 12 o'clock on Saturday, a fire was discovered in a pile of rubbish in the rear of Chickering's building, on Tremont Street, and put out by a watchman with a patent Extinguisher. -[Herald, May 6, 1867.] (American Fire Extinguisher Co., The New Patent Fire Extinguisher, Wright & Potter, Boston 1867)

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