“A water-main break clogged traffic Wednesday in the Rittenhouse Square area and caused flooding damage at the Curtis Institute of Music’s historic Locust Street building,” write Peter Dobrin and Robert Moran in Thursday’s (12/21) Philadelphia Inquirer (subscription required). “The break occurred late Wednesday morning on 18th Street between Spruce and Walnut Streets, city officials said.… Water flooded the basement and subbasement of the Curtis building at 1726 Locust. There appeared to be extensive damage to those two levels, where the school has organ studios; a workshop for repairing and maintaining pianos; practice rooms; and a recording studio, said Larry Bomback, senior vice president of administration. ‘Every room in the basement was impacted by this,’ he said, though ‘at this point we don’t know the full extent of the damage.’ Between 15 and 20 pianos were in the workshop at the time, and a total of three organs were in the affected area. Wednesday was the last day of school before winter break, and classes don’t resume until Jan. 16. The flooded area once housed the school’s priceless collection of stringed instruments, but they were moved to another location several years ago, a Curtis spokeswoman said.”
Posted December 22, 2017
