For the first time in more than two decades, the landmarked Queens, New York, house where the late Grammy winner and civil rights activist Lena Horne lived from 1946 until 1962 has come to market, Mansion Global reports. Priced at $1.225 million, the Tudor-style dwelling has only changed ownership twice since Horne resided there. During that era, she counted Ella Fitzgerald, James Brown, and Jackie Robinson among her fellow residents in the Addisleigh Park neighborhood, which came to be known as the “African American Gold Coast.”
Behind its white exterior with black trim, the 1935-built pad features six bedrooms and three bathrooms. It offers 2,287 square feet of interior living space across three levels, plus a finished basement. “When I bought the house, it had an old bar in the basement,” the home’s current seller, Camille Chin-Kee-Fatt, told the New York Post. I had to get rid of it, because it was falling apart, but I always think, ‘My goodness, if this bar could talk.’” Chin-Kee-Fatt bought the residence in 2004 for $460,000. Though she updated some areas of the home, she told Mansion Global that she believes it still has its original layout. The original hardwood floors are intact, and a wooden sideboard once owned by Horne still sits in the living room. “I would like it to stay with the house as a piece of history,” Chin-Kee-Fatt said.
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Horne, who was born in Brooklyn, later lived on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. She died in 2010 at age 92, though her legacy is still felt in the historic Addisleigh Park area, where residents tend to stay put for generations. “My neighbor, maybe three houses down, talks about how he came here as a little kid for Christmas because Lena Horne would serve them hot chocolate,” Chin-Kee-Fatt told the Post. “So it’s that kind of history that’s here.”