Grinnell opened a large piano manufacturing plant in Holly in Oakland County. The piano business was a hit and before long, the company had outgrown their shop and moved into the Kahn-designed building up the road in 1908. Over the years, Grinnell’s went from selling parlor organs to grand pianos to spinets. The brothers added the line of Ann Arbor and Etsey organs to their stock of sewing machines. Along with brothers Clayton and Herbert, Ira Grinnell opened a store in Ypsilanti before setting up shop in 1881 in an old wooden house on the east side of Woodward below Cadillac Square, 219 Woodward. Grinnell, who started off by selling sewing machines in 1872 before adding musical instruments. The business was founded in Ann Arbor in 1879 by Ira L. Grinnell Brothers was a giant music store that carried everything from guitar picks to organs topping $15,000. He used the same effect on the Woodward Building, built in 1915 on the southwest corner of Woodward and Clifford, and the Kales Building, built as the S.S. It was covered in a white-glazed terra cotta. The Grinnell Building was built in 1908 on Woodward Avenue and designed by Albert Kahn. This nondescript commercial building was once a beautiful music store designed by Detroit’s maestro of architecture.
