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The Marston House Receives a Period-Perfect Baby Grand
By Robin Lakin
July/August 2025
 The Marston House living room c. mid-1970s. Just beyond is the adjoining music room, where the family’s baby grand piano sits beneath a portrait of Anna Marston. Courtesy San Diego History Center |
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 The 1921 mahogany Kimball baby grand piano donated by the Falkowski family. Photos by David Lakin |
 Donors Katy and Dennis Falkowski, along with Katy’s mother, Jo Ann Chrisman (seated), pictured with their family piano in its new home, the Marston House music room. Courtesy SOHO |
For the past year, museum curators have searched for a piano like the one that once filled the Marston House with music when the family owned the home. From family oral histories and 1970s-era photographs taken when the 1905 home was first entrusted to the City of San Diego, we knew the Marstons had a baby grand, which a granddaughter later inherited after the death of Mary Marston, the eldest daughter.
Our wonderful docents have been sharing this bit of history on their tours, letting guests know that SOHO was on the lookout for a period-appropriate replacement. And as often happens in the museum world, word spread, until an alert guest connected the dots, note for note, so to speak, and reached out to a local friend.
Soon after, Katy Falkowski and her family contacted SOHO with a wonderful, serendipitous offer: They wanted to donate their cherished heirloom: a 1921 Kimball mahogany baby grand. To our amazement, it matched the Marston’s piano exactly in both design and the early 20th-century era!
For some historical perspective: In 1921, this very piano model could be purchased at Thearle Music Store in downtown San Diego for $750—the same price as two brand-new Ford Model Ts.
The Falkowskis also generously arranged to have their “baby” professionally moved; it arrived at the Marston House in April 2025. The moment this imposing instrument’s lid was propped open in the music room, the space seemed to hum with renewed elegance and purpose.
The piano’s journey to the Marston House began in Glendora, California, when Katy’s parents, Jo Ann and Robert Chrisman, bought the instrument for their children. It even boasts an impressive pedigree, having once been used by the Los Angeles Philharmonic for recitals.
Jo Ann’s own childhood memories add another layer of San Diego family life and culture. She often visited her Aunt Marie and Uncle Robert Norris at their home on Orange Avenue in Coronado and treasured their outings—dressed in her Sunday best—to the grand Marston Company department store downtown. Her Uncle Robert owned the Click & Norris filling station at Park Boulevard and University Avenue in Hillcrest and was also the proprietor of the Coronado Ice Company.
Katy told us, “We are overjoyed and honored to donate our family heirloom to the beautiful Marston House. It truly looks as if it always belonged in the music room, and we will enjoy visiting it for many years to come!”
It is through generous and heartfelt gifts like this one from Katy, her family, and so many other donors that SOHO and the Marston House continue to thrive. We are deeply grateful for this exceptional and meaningful addition to the home’s legacy.
As SOHO continues to thoughtfully reinterpret the Marston House to reflect more closely the way the family lived, we welcome inquiries from potential donors who may have appropriate early 20th-century furnishings or artifacts, especially items with San Diego ties. It is through such invaluable gifts that the home’s original spirit endures and enriches us.
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