STRAWBERRY MANSION — John Coltrane’s house doesn’t necessarily stick out amongst the other rowhomes spanning the sunsoaked eastern side of 33rd Street in Strawberry Mansion. The red brick rowhome, where the legendary jazz saxophonist lived from 1952 to 1958, has been slowly decaying for the better part of two decades.
After ownership disputes and the passing of time, John Coltrane’s house at 1511 N 33rd Street has seen better days. But change is already here and there’s more to come. A plan to rejuvenate Coltrane’s house and the neighboring properties hopes to bring new life to a space that so desperately deserves it.
Tonnetta Graham, President of the Strawberry Mansion CDC, speaks on the impact that the jazz legend’s house has had on the neighborhood, as well as the future of the property.
What does the John Coltrane house mean to the Strawberry Mansion community?
The neighborhood has such fond memories of John Coltrane when he actually lived in the house. Folks that lived in the area remember walking past his house and hearing music playing, hear him practicing. After his death, when Cousin Mary [Coltrane’s cousin] remained living in the house, she historically held tours at the house and there was a group called the John Coltrane Society that kept his legacy alive. The house has definitely been a wonderful cultural asset in the neighborhood. It’s right at the gateway of the neighborhood—one of the things that you see along 33rd Street is the Coltrane historical marker, so folks visit it all the time. People have a connection to their house because they remember some of his music he made there and other musicians that were influenced by him. So it has a very special place in the neighborhood.
Walking by the house now, it’s clear that the maintenance has not kept up with the passing of time. How and why did it go from a beautiful community space to its disrepaired, near-forgotten state?
A lot of that is just time and the transition of ownership to different people. Cousin Mary 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. It just went through another transition—the ownership is now back to the Coltrane family [from the Gadsen family]. So we’re working with them to develop what they want their interpretation of the house to be. We’re just excited about the possibilities.
What do you believe the best use is for the house? What scenario would benefit Strawberry Mansion the most?
Our interpretation of the house was to be a house-museum, with some additional properties adjacent to the building being built out as a cultural arts center with an outdoor concert space and gathering space in the rear yards. So I still think that’s a great interpretation of the space, because people travel all around the world to visit the site, right? And they want to be in there, they want to see, they want to be in a room where he created this music, and they want to walk through the halls and just experience some of the wonderfulness here. But again, as the house transitions to the back to the Coltrane family, it’s their ultimate decision. But we definitely want to work with the family to harness this public love for him and to build out this cultural asset for the neighborhood and for the city.
Are the neighboring houses on the block currently occupied?
They are not.
Do you think that renewed interest and investment in the Coltrane house could spark a similar thing for the rest of the neighborhood?
Well, it’s already happening. We’re undergoing revitalization at a rapid pace. There are a lot more developments coming at market rate, there are some affordable housing developments that are online—so this is just building upon the momentum that has already been happening in the community. And we are just thankful for the homeownership rate that we have, which is hovering around 44% for African Americans, which is helping those residents ease the fear of being gentrified out because they own their homes. The concern is that they’re getting older and that they need help to stabilize their homes and make repairs. So I think the Coltrane house kind of aligns with what’s happening in the neighborhood.
Is there anything else that Philadelphians should know about the status of the house?
I do want to mention that we just recently opened up a space called The Yard, which is an outdoor concert space and the first phase of this whole project. Our hope is that next year, when the weather gets good again, we build out a full calendar for the space. So that was Phase 1, and we’re excited about that and getting more funding so we can build out the cultural arts center.
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