I noted the absence of Cliff House interior views, just one in the period prior to the 1907 fire. There is mention on your website of the 1905 addition of a Welte orchestrion to the Cliff House (see below), from the San Francisco Call newspaper. The price given, $10,000, is likely accurate, or close to the real expense. A Style 10 Welte Concert Orchestrion had a list price of $10,000 in the early 1910s.

This morning, I was reminded by the expert in all matters relevant to Welte orchestrions, Durward R. Center, that there's a view of the Welte instrument in the Cliff House Dining Room.

That set me on a search and I discovered a second view in an M. Welte & Sons, Inc. catalogue sent out in 1919. The firm's address on the catalogue was listed first in 1918, likely making it no earlier than 1917. Despite that date, the volume contains many vintage views of Welte installations dating back much earlier. Thus, I would offer that the attached view could be the 1905 Sutro Welte; and especially so if there's no mention of another Welte in the replacement structure. There are peculiarities in both the instrument case and the room decorative detailing that align the two images together. I have no reason to doubt the Welte identification as Sutro's, so this second image must also be the same installation.

As Durward told me, this is a very large Welte, perhaps from the largest class of such devices, Concert Orchestrions Nos. 8 to 10, playing the broadest of their rolls, the 120-hole. None in this category are known to exist today, the largest being a single No. 7 Concert Orchestrion in Romania. The largest in the USA are No. 6s and a No. 5; these all play the 75-hole rolls. The music from all of them is magnificent. The only instrument playing the largest Welte rolls, from a No. 10, is a pipe organ in England. Here is a link to see and hear it playing the 120-hole No. 10 Concert Orchestrion rolls http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAcvwKhixEg; and then the larger 150-hole organ rolls.

There's an excellent video of Durward and that features his philosophy and his magnificent Style No. 5. I think you will enjoy it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZphjMcGeQQ Durward restored the Welte Concert Orchestrion for the Henry Clay Frick Mansion in Pittsburgh, PA and recently the smaller Welte Cottage Orchestrion for the Zaharakos Ice Cream Parlor in Richmond, IN. He has done many others for private collectors.

Fred Dahlinger

Possible placement in Cliff House
 

• The chairs match those in the original Roosevelt Banquet photo.
• The period looks right.
• It appears to generally fit into the blueprints, courtesy of John Hall's 3D model.
• And possibly most important, the direct mention of the Orchestrion in the 1905 newspaper clipping.

The big 1905 Welte apparently escaped the flames of September 7, 1907 per these stories...
 

Santa Cruz Weekly Sentinel - 13 July 1907
 

Unfortunately this last story suggests the orchestrion was destroyed in 1908...

Oakland Tribune - Jul 5, 1908