STRAWBERRY MANSION — The John Coltrane House on North 33rd St. in Strawberry Mansion has finally found financial backing after years of uncertainty.
In March, the African American Cultural Action Fund (AACHAF), apart of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, 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.
Melissa Jest, the Senior Manager of Preservation Projects for the National Trust, spoke on the future of the John Coltrane House on 33rd St.
What is the status of the John Coltrane House right now?
In terms of the current status of Coltrane’s house in Philadelphia, there are a lot more questions that come up than get answered at the moment. But in regards to the property, it’s secure. It’s a National Historic Landmark and that designation is secure. The good news is that the Coltrane family are looking forward to planning how to best approach this landmark. We’ll be entering into a stewardship planning process with the owners and descendants of John Coltrane, and that’s how this effort falls under our Descendent & Family Stewardship Initiative in cooperation with the Mellon Foundation. This stewardship planning 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.
What are the future plans?
So the first step, which we’ve already started, is to hire a preservation architect based in Philadelphia to do a historic structures report, which will document the current status of the building: what’s going on with the roof, foundation, and walls, what’s going on with the front and back facades, and what is happening physically and structurally with the house. The history will also be investigated. They’ll be looking at proposed repairs and how to approach those repairs, given that it’s a row property. The first site visit was October 16. It’s estimated to be complete in January, so we will have a report for us to share with the family and for us to take a look at as we plan our next phase of planning by February.
When will renovations on the house start?
It’s based on what the family would like to see and what they think is respectful and proper for John Coltrane’s international legacy that he’s left. For generations, his music has really inspired everyone, along with the neighborhood. So it depends on what is decided would do best for that role, because there are other properties too. 1509 [N. 33rd St.] is currently under rehab, so we want to consider that as well. There is a lot to think about, lots to talk about. But in terms of hammers flying? I would be optimistic to say possibly the beginning of 2026.
Why do you think that more people don’t know about the Coltrane House and other Black historical landmarks?
Well, the question of why more people don’t know about the Coltrane House, the [Henry] Tanner house, the Marian Anderson house, the Paul Robeson house—I would have to throw that back to the larger public and say maybe that’s something that we need to talk about together, as a neighborhood, as a city, have the community members tell us how best to balance both telling the story and also stewarding these places as parts of neighborhoods and communities. The last thing we want is for the telling of history and the preservation of history to decrease the quality of life for the neighbors that live next door or around the corner. And that’s another part of the stewardship planning that we plan to discuss, which is how do we promote the inspirational story about a man who was uniquely talented and has blessed all of us with the art and music that he created? How do we do it in a way that continues to inspire people and also respects the residential neighborhood that he moved into in 1952? How do we balance the international level of his legacy with the smaller scale residential quality of life that nurtured him when he moved here? And that’s a big part of the preservation question as well. We need to make sure that the neighborhood is respected and that we strike a balance between what we envision as far as visitation and what we want to preserve and protect in terms of quality of life.
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