The traditional German interest in music is demonstrated by this building, the former Strassberger Music Conservatory. Clemens Strassberger established this school in 1904 on the edge of Compton Heights to offer lessons in music, deportment, and dancing to a large and growing middle-and upper-income German-American population.

O. J. Wilhelmi was the architect, and it was constructed by A. H. Haeseler. The structure is mainly of brick with a cast-iron cornice.

The building has a number of terra-cotta busts of famous composers. On the Shenandoah Street side the representations appear to be (from left to right): Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner. The busts are repeated on the Grand Boulevard side.