The New York City home of world-famous jazzman Louis Armstrong opened as a museum in 2003 after a $1.6 million restoration. Located in the Corona neighborhood of Queens, the modest brick house is a time capsule of midcentury design, as it was where Satchmo and his wife Lucille lived from 1943 until his death in 1971 (and her death in 1983).
Bought for $8,000, the home is now a National Historic Landmark boasting interiors that were virtually left untouched or restored to look exactly as it was when Armstrong was alive.
The rooms include Armstrong’s wood-paneled den, where a portrait by singer Tony Bennett hangs; an exquisite kitchen with original bright blue cabinets and custom-made Crown stove, the elegant living room aka “international room,” where the Armstrongs’ collections from their world travels are on display; and a gleaming mirrored bathroom.
The private-home-turned-museum, now owned by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, also holds 700 reels of tape that the master trumpeter recorded himself. Operated by the City University of New York’s Queens College, the Louis Armstrong House Museum is open to the public with guided tours available Tuesday through Sunday. If you can’t get out to Queens, watch the video above.
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