News and Press Releases

For Immediate Release: October 30, 2018

Contact: Ryan Max, publicaffairs@culture.nyc.gov, 212-513-9323 (Cultural Affairs)

Barbara Adler, bj.adler@qc.cuny.edu, 347-512-3918 (Louis Armstrong)

CITY AWARDS LOUIS ARMSTRONG HOUSE MUSEUM $1.9 MILLION IN CAPITAL FUNDS FOR THE RENOVATION OF “SELMA’S HOUSE”

The project is now fully funded by City capital support totaling $3.53 million

 

The City has awarded an additional $100,000 for a baby grand piano for LAHM’s jazz club space currently under construction

 

New York – The NYC Department of Cultural Affairs and Louis Armstrong House Museum (LAHM) today announced that the City has allocated $1.9 million in new capital funding for LAHM to support the renovation of Selma’s House, an integral part of the expanding Louis Armstrong cultural center campus in Corona. This brings total City investment in the renovation of Selma’s House to $3.53 million. Now fully funded, the project will enable the restoration and renovation of the historic house of Selma Heraldo, long-time neighbor and close friend of Louis and Lucille Armstrong. Selma’s House, as it is commonly called, is located next to the Louis Armstrong House, a National and NYC Landmark.

“Louis Armstrong was one of the greatest artists in any medium of his era, and one of the greatest musicians of all time. During the many years he made his home in Corona, Queens, Louis and his wife Lucille Armstrong’s open and inviting community spirit was known throughout the neighborhood,” said Cultural Affairs Commissioner Tom Finkelpearl. “With this funding for the renovation of ‘Selma’s House,’ the City is helping to build a new cultural campus in the heart of Queens. On behalf of the de Blasio Administration, I look forward to supporting this terrific organization as it grows and keeps Armstrong’s legacy of creativity and community alive and well.”

“Louis Armstrong is a New York City icon and the Louis Armstrong House Museum is a fun and educational window into the vibrant, rich, and diverse history Queens has to offer,” said Speaker Johnson. “The Council has long supported its expansion and we are thrilled that the renovation of Selma’s House is now fully funded. I know I speak for many of my colleagues and New Yorkers alike when I say I can’t wait to see what the future holds for this cultural gem of Corona.”

“The Louis Armstrong House Museum is an incredible institution in Queens and I am thrilled that the restoration of Selma’s House is now fully funded. The continued expansion of this cultural landmark in Corona will provide visitors from around the globe with even more unique educational experiences, jazz concerts, and historical exhibits,” said Chair of the Committee on Cultural Affairs Jimmy Van Bramer.

“Queens is home to many musical icons, but few were larger than the great Louis Armstrong. Decades after his death, the jazz hero is still influencing thousands of people each year as they walk through the doors of his Corona home,” Queens Borough President Melinda Katz said. “The renovation of Selma’s House next door, combined with the construction of the Louis Armstrong House Museum Education Center across 107th Street, will help transport visitors back to the 1940’s, when Satchmo would serenade Corona every day with the sound of his famous trumpet.”

“Louis Armstrong once said, ‘we’ll be around when the others will be forgotten’ and thanks to New York City, Pop’s beloved neighborhood in Corona will be a vibrant community center that will continue to attract visitors from all over the world to be delighted and inspired by his musical genius and humanitarian legacy,” said B.J. Adler, Interim Director of the Louis Armstrong House Museum. “The expanding Armstrong campus in Corona that inspired What a Wonderful World will remain the warm and welcoming community center it has been since the historic house museum opened in the Fall of 2003, as well as one of the brightest stars in the constellation of African American Heritage sites in the world.”

Ms. Heraldo left the home, where she was born and lived in for her entire life, to the Queens College Special Projects Fund for use as a part of the expanding complex focused on the musical and humanitarian contributions of the legendary Louis Armstrong. The funding was allocated by Mayor Bill de Blasio and City Council member Francisco Moya.

The renovation of Selma’s House will maintain the historic character of the property and will add office and storage space to the campus, include a professional catering kitchen for events and earned revenue, and add space to the existing Louis Armstrong garden, a summer concert venue. The renovated home will also add to the interpretive story of the Armstrong legacy by providing a historically accurate vision of what the Armstrong home might have looked like when it was purchased in 1943 by Lucille Armstrong, before extensive renovations Mrs. Armstrong undertook in later years to the historic Armstrong home, now a historic house museum.

The Louis Armstrong House Museum Education Center, also supported by City and State Capital Funding, is currently under construction across the street from the Museum and Selma’s House. The LEED certified Gold Building Education Center, a major component of the LAHM campus expansion, will include:

• a new state-of-the-art home for the Louis Armstrong Research Collections (currently housed on the campus of Queens College);
• a 68-seat Jazz Room (featuring the City-funded baby grand piano) for live music performances, lectures and film screenings, community education programs and meetings;
• an exhibition space for permanent and rotating exhibitions curated from the Research Collections;
• the Museum Welcome Center;
• the Louis Armstrong Gift Shop; and
• storage space in the lower level.

Together, these new facilities provide an opportunity to unite the historic houses with the research collections in a dynamic educational and cultural campus. Expanded house tours to introduce more visitors and schoolchildren to Armstrong’s inspiring life, jazz concerts in the garden, lectures and programs in the Education Center, expanded education programs for school children, archives stored in state-of-the-art conditions and available digitally, and year-round concert schedule will be part of the expanded programming made possible by the expansion of the Armstrong Corona campus.

About Louis Armstrong House Museum
The Louis Armstrong House Museum sustains and promotes the cultural, historical and humanitarian legacy of Louis Armstrong by preserving and interpreting Armstrong’s home, collecting and sharing archival materials that document Armstrong’s life and legacy, and presenting public programs, which educate and inspire community members, musicians, devoted fans, curious visitors, and future generations. What was once Louis and Lucille’s private home is now a National Historic and New York City Landmark. With the construction of a new Education Center and the renovation of Armstrong lifelong friend Selma Heraldo’s home, the Corona Armstrong campus is becoming an international African-American heritage destination offering year-round exhibits, concerts, lectures, an array of education programs, and film screenings. LAHM also administers the world’s largest publicly held archives devoted to a jazz musician. The Museum is a cultural center of the Kupferberg Center for the Arts at Queens College. For more information visit www.louisarmstronghouse.org.

 

About NYC Department of Cultural Affairs
The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) is dedicated to supporting and strengthening New York City’s vibrant cultural life. DCLA works to promote and advocate for quality arts programming and to articulate the contribution made by the cultural community to the City’s vitality. The Department represents and serves nonprofit cultural organizations involved in the visual, literary, and performing arts; public-oriented science and humanities institutions including zoos, botanical gardens, and historic and preservation societies; and creative artists at all skill levels who live and work within the City’s five boroughs. DCLA also provides donated materials for arts programs offered by the public schools and cultural and social service groups, and commissions permanent works of public art at City-funded construction projects throughout the five boroughs. For more information visit www.nyc.gov/culture.