“Harp manufacturer Lyon & Healy is changing its tune about relocating within Chicago.
“The company, which dates from a sheet music shop that opened Downtown in 1864, is remaining in its longtime home at 168 N. Ogden Ave. — at least for now. It has dropped plans to move its harp production to a warehouse in Austin, which it acquired in 2021.
“He said ‘the harp world is growing’ and Lyon & Healy is ‘bursting at the seams’ on Ogden. Lyon & Healy and its corporate affiliate, Italy-based Salvi Harps, account for 90% of the market for the instrument, he said.
“Gomez said the company employs more than 100 people, many with advanced skills that have made its harps coveted by musicians worldwide.
“‘We still make harps like we did 100 years ago,’ with intricate carving and gilding and meticulous sourcing of wood, he said.
“Many workers prefer to stay on the Near West Side, Gomez said. But with five floors, the property can pose challenges for harp assembly.” (Roeder, Chicago Sun-Times, 8/25/25)
Founded in 1864, Lyon & Healy also used to operate an immense department store of music within the 10-story Lyon & Healy Building in the heart of the Loop. Located at 243 S. Wabash Avenue, on what was then considered “Music Row,” extending from Adams Street to Congress Parkway/Ida B. Wells Drive, they carried a full selection of musical instruments, records and sheet music. The Lyon & Healy store was one of the nation’s most prominent music emporiums, recognized often by their motto: “EVERYTHING KNOWN IN MUSIC” (also still visible as a ghost sign on the upper north wall of the historic structure). The building located at the northeast corner of Wabash and Jackson Boulevard, is now home to DePaul University’s College of Computing and Digital Media (CDM).