John Coltrane’s Strawberry Mansion has long needed a savior — and it’s finally found one

STRAWBERRY MANSION — Coming up around the bend of North 33rd St and into the gateway of Strawberry Mansion, the ghost of John Coltrane will be there to greet you. The rowhome where the legendary jazz saxophonist lived from 1952 to 1958 still stands, but is in serious need of stabilization and repairs.

Enter: the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund (AACHAF).

In March, the AACHAF, which is apart of the National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP), pledged the Coltrane House to be the first beneficiary of the Descendant & Family Stewardship Initiative, a program that “provides for partnership development, stewardship planning, local and national convenings, and modeling new approaches for descendant-led and family-led preservation projects.” Part of the $5.2 million grant attached to the initiative will go directly towards necessary improvements to the house.

“We’ll be entering into a stewardship planning process with the owners and descendants of John Coltrane,” said Melissa Jest, a Senior Manager of Preservation Projects for NTHP. “This process will allow us to really take a look at the resources, and let the building and its current status tell us what it needs in terms of preservation and repair. The planning process is a pretty valuable process—though I know that oftentimes we just want to see hammers swinging and hear drills going. But having a plan is really the most respectful way to approach a property like this.”

During his time living in the house, Coltrane produced Blue Train, composed the seminal album Giant Steps, and kicked a heroin habit by going cold turkey in the house, leading him to find spiritual enlightenment that would drive him to create A Love Supreme years later.

Coltrane performed at Temple University less than a year before his death. When he died in 1967, the house was left for his cousin, Mary Alexander, who lived there for decades until 2004. In the following years, the red brick rowhome fell into disrepair.

“Cousin Mary [Alexander] had the house, but taking care of it got to be too much when she got older. Then the house changed ownership. But given all of the transitions, the house is in stable condition,” Strawberry Mansion CDC President Tonnetta Graham said. “It just went through another transition—the ownership is now back to the Coltrane family [from the Gadsen family]. We’re just excited about the possibilities.”

Since reacquiring the house this year, the Coltrane family has expressed a desire to make the house on N. 33rd St. publicly accessible.

“The intention is to open it to the public—it will be a preservation site for sure,” said Kathleen Hennessey, Vice President of Friends of the Coltrane Home, who oversees Coltrane’s other home in Dix Hills, NY.

“It’s very important to us that we’re going to serve the local community, the city of Philadelphia, and the national and international audience for Coltrane’s legacy,” she continued. “We’re trying to bring people to the legacy because once you come to it, it’s so inspiring. That’s the main thing we want to do with these projects—to inspire people.”

To begin the process of formally stabilizing the house after decades of neglect, NTHP recently contracted Dominique Hawkins, architect and founder of Preservation Design Partnership, to complete a historic structure report that will determine the exact history, structural integrity, and possible future uses of the house.

“We are 90% done with a draft about the history, so we know how the building developed and some of the key moments of occupancy and who those people are,” Hawkins said. “We’re entering the most difficult phase right now, which is making choices. But all those choices will be made by the time our report is issued in the spring. And then with that plan, hopefully it acts as a good fundraising tool for them to move forward to the next step.”

As far as next steps go, a new outdoor concert and activity space called The Yard opened in November. Occupying the sun soaked backyards of the rowhomes attached to Coltrane’s, the space is a positive addition to the block and to the neighborhood as a whole. The Yard features a stage, a learning area filled with books, and artwork and murals across its walls and fences.

To utilize the space, Graham and the Strawberry Mansion CDC plan to build out a full performance schedule for The Yard when the weather gets warm again.

Along with jazz music being played once again on N. 33rd St., more details will be announced on what the coming years hold for the John Coltrane house this coming spring. The Yard, the historic structure report, and family involvement are signs of a bright future.

“We have every intention of this project not only being successful, but following through on it with as much forward moving, consistent way as possible,” Hennessey stated. “In other words, the family is fully committed to this and we see the project as part of a larger scale of things that are happening on the block.”