Dossenbach-Klingenberg School of Music at 47 Prince Street

Musicians Alf Klingenberg and Hermann Dossenbach established the Dossenbach-Klingenberg School of Music in the fall of 1913 and it was provisionally chartered by the Regents of the University of the State of New York on September 25, 1913.  Klingenberg and Dossenbach chose a building at 47 Prince Street for their school, which they purchased from William Gleason of the Gleason Works.  Facilities for the new school were enhanced through the construction of a building at the rear of the property to provide for a recital hall and auditorium.

Klingenberg' s choice of location was as astute as his choice of partner, since the new school was situated adjacent to the campus of the University of Rochester and diagonally across the street from Sibley Hall, which housed the Sibley Music Library. This collection, given to the University in 1904 by Hiram W. Sibley, was an invaluable resource, and its nearby location was of obvious advantage to the new school.

The school was reorganized in 1914 with Oscar Gareissen and renamed the D.K.G. Institute of Musical Art.  In 1916 the institute was consolidated with the the Rochester Conservatory of Music to form the D.K.G. Institute of Musical Art and Rochester Conservatory of Music, although the second name soon faded from view.  On July 19, 1918, George Eastman purchased the school for $28,000, including its property and corporate rights and for the next 315 days Eastman was the sole owner of the school.  On June 12, 1919, the University acquired the Institute and its property from George Eastman for a price of $1.00.  Ground was broken for the new building at the beginning of 1920 and the Eastman School opened in September 1921.

The auditorium at the rear of the former DKG Institute of Music was turned into a geological laboratory in 1921, and the Institute building was used as a women's dormitory starting in 1922 and later a men's dormitory before being demolished in 1939 to facilitate construction of Munro Hall.

References
1919 Deed from George Eastman to the University of Rochester, June 12, 1919, $1.00, book 1062, page 332.

1921 "School of Music Auditorium Made into Laboratory," Democrat and Chronicle, September 15, 1921, Page 28.
To meet the greatly increased demand for geology at the University of Rochester this year the auditorium in the rare of the School of Music in Prince street has been turned into an additional geological laboratory.

© 2021 Morris A. Pierce