Coltrane house repairs need funds
Town officials at the John Coltrane home in Dix Hills. (June 2011) Credit: Steve Pfost
Good news: The John Coltrane house in Dix Hills is one of the 11 most endangered historic places in the nation this year. That sounds dire, but it's really helpful.
This designation by the National Trust for Historic Preservation is just the latest distinction for the house where the jazz genius lived in 1964 when he composed his masterpiece, "A Love Supreme," one of the most influential American compositions in any musical genre.
The Town of Huntington did the right thing by declaring it a landmark and saving it from the bulldozer by buying the property for $975,000 in 2005. The house is also on the National Register of Historic Places.
The new designation underlines its importance and the ongoing danger. The bulldozer no longer looms, but the ravages of nature continue. A nonprofit group, Friends of the Coltrane Home, wants to make it a museum and educational center. But of the $100,000 supporters raised, most had to be spent on simply stopping the mold.
Now they have to come up with $38,000 to get a matching grant from the state's Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. That will pay for a master plan for the home's future.
Government has done its part. Now Friends needs the help of private citizens, to do for the Island as others did for Queens in preserving the home of Louis Armstrong.
With that help, the house can become a lasting center for the study of our great American art form.
