World’s Largest Chime Foot Piano

The World’s Largest Chime Foot Piano is a one-of-a-kind structure designed and built by Cincinnati’s Verdin Company, with sensors under the piano keys that electronically cause strikers at the top of the structure to ring the chimes. The chimes are historic bronze tubular chimes originally manufactured by Deagan Chime of Chicago, installed in 1946 in a church in central Pennsylvania, and later saved from demolition by Jim Verdin. Their unusual shape reflects the harmonic tuning of each chime. Verdin purchased the Deagan company in 1973. Verdin also has a long history near the park site: its first factory, built in 1842, stood a few blocks away at 123 Broadway, now the site of Great American Ballpark. The Foot Piano was fabricated in Verdin’s current factory in Cincinnati’s East End, a few miles from the park. The Verdin Company manufactures bronze bells, street clocks, tower clocks, and carillons installed at more than 50,000 sites around the world. The piano is designed to play pre-recorded music and to sound on the hour, and most of the time it can be played with the feet.

Cincinnati, Ohio · United States