Paul Hahn Lane to honour firm’s founder

The City of Toronto will honour the memory of Paul Hahn, the 19th century German immigrant who built a business here which became synonymous with pianos and piano service.  In the heyday of home pianos there was hardly a home in well-off Toronto that did not do business with Paul Hahn Pianos at 1058 Yonge Street. Considering all of  this, the City will name the laneway which runs behind the original and continuing home of the business Paul Hahn Lane. It extends from Roxborough Ave to Gibson Ave. Paul Hahn came from Reutlingen, south of Stuttgart where he was born in 1875. He died at Balsam Lake in 1962. Hahn arrived in Canada in 1888 and settled in Toronto. He became a cellist and played professionally. His teachers included Rudolph Ruth in Toronto and Alwin Schroeder in Boston. Mr. Hahn worked for nearly 20 years for the Nordheimer piano manufacturers and then formed his own business, Paul Hahn Pianos  in 1913. The company sold sheet music and several makes of piano including Steinway between 1928 and 1943. Hahn became an agent for the Baldwin piano in 1963. Mr. Hahn retired in 1955 and the business continued under  his son Paul as Paul Hahn & Co. It is now run by a grand-daughter, Alexandra Hahn.