The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

The Capitol Records building in Scranton, PA, was to be auctioned off today (March 27). I was up there three weeks ago and there was a big sign advertising the sale; they misspelled Capitol as "capital" on the web address posted on the sign: http://www.capitalrecordsbuilding.com. Opening bid was advertised at $100,000. Don't everybody jump in at once!

On the site, the building's address is 300 Brook St., but it's closer to the corner of Washington and Cherry St., if you go looking for it in Scranton. That's a nice set of pictures there on the site! (The spelling doesn't improve, though.) You can just barely make out "Capitol Records Inc." in faded paint on the side of the building in the third picture in the Photo Gallery. And be sure to click on the Virtual Tour button on the left side of the page for more photos, and note that nice big blue-and-white Capitol Records sign in image 12!

That place is so cool!
I have to admit I'm a little puzzled by your "dont everybody jump in at once" comment though Henry.
Is $100,000 for a building like that considered expensive over there, or is it out in the sticks or in a bad area or something??
I couldn't even get a small vacant block of land where I live for under $200,000.
I'd be lucky to buy something like that, for that price in central Australia in the middle of the desert lol.

Well, Scranton isn't exactly in the middle of the action, to put it mildly. It's had an up-and-down history since the anthracite mines closed, back in the '50s. At one time, there were several coal breakers (collieries) and mine shafts within the city limits, as coal deposits underlie the entire city up there in the Northern Anthracite field of n.e. Pennsylvania. Plus, this isn't exactly a vibrant time in the economy right now. There is much excess industrial and commercial space available, and no takers at any price, it seems. Just the cost of heating such an enormous space makes the asking price only *seem* like a bargain, even if it is less than a dollar a square foot, as here. It will be interesting to see who finally buys the property, and how long it will have been on the market.

Later addition: of course, $100K is just the opening price; no telling what it will actually sell for, or what the buyer will be using the building for.

Capitol Records Building?

You mean the Scranton Button Works Building. This is where the Emerson Records and most Lincoln, Regal Records, Cameo Records, Banner, Brunswick, Melotone, Perfect, Banner, Domino, Conqueror, Vocalion and many other independent discs were pressed back in the 1920's

See the link in my previous post. It doesn't appear that the building attracted any bids; the agent has not updated the site. (Maybe it's because they misspelled it "Capital" instead of "Capitol"?)

Thanks for the history. The building is actually at least two, maybe three, buildings right close together; conjoined, in fact. It's in a rather gritty part of a rather gritty city, at Washington and Cherry Streets in South Scranton. The west-facing wall has "Capitol Records Inc." in faded paint. There's not much to see from the street. But if anyone is interested in such things, visit Steamtown, a NPS site, and the nearby Trolley Museum, which is funded largely by Lackawanna County; they have the longest trolley ride of any such museum in the country AFAIK---about five miles. If you want a longer ride, go to Philadelphia and take any of the six streetcar lines, and while you're there you can drive over the Ben Franklin Bridge to Camden and look at what remains of the Victor plant complex (just trying to stay on topic!).