A New York home Lena Horne once owned is on the market for $1.22 million.
The iconic jazz singer, actress and activist sold the Queens house nearly 50 years before her death in 2010, but its importance to a whole neighborhood of stars is a permanent, if invisible, mark on the property.
“Lena was the ‘it-girl,’ so everyone wanted to be in her circle,” said Matthew Wynter, the agent with Brown Harris Stevens who is handling the listing.
Built in 1935, the house at 112-45 178th St. sits in the neighborhood of Addisleigh Park, itself in the larger neighborhood of St. Albans. When Horne bought the home in 1946, the neighborhood had earned another name: "Black Hollywood East."
“It was also called the African American Gold Coast,” Wynter said. Addisleigh earned a reputation as a refuge for Black stars and celebrities.
Horne’s house was very much a part of that reputation. “You started getting a lot of the hot jazz artists of the time, including Lena,” Wynter said.
Horne starred in 12 movies between 1943 and 1946, including “Stormy Weather” and “Cabin in the Sky,” two musicals with majority African American casts.
Ella Fitzgerald was down the street
Just who could have been hanging out in that circle? An incomplete list of Horne’s neighbors includes Jackie Robinson, James Brown, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Joe Louis, Roy Campanella and on and on, according to research by New York’s Historic District Council.
Wynter said the current owner knows that Horne’s house was a hub of activity. In Horne’s time with the six-bedroom home, there was a bar downstairs. (A subsequent owner removed it.)
Wynter said the current owner has found pictures of Horne with other celebrities of the era. “She would see those photos and say, ‘Wait, that’s the bar in my house,’” Wynter said. “There are a lot of memories that were made in the house. It was the go-to house at the time.”
Horne wasn’t only a household name for her singing and acting. Even before the Civil Rights Movement had a name in the U.S., Horne had become known for taking stands against segregation and racism.
She was one of the first performers of color to travel with an all-white orchestra. She performed in Café Society, one of New York’s first integrated venues. And she shared the stage with white stars such as Tony Bennett and Peggy Lee.
One notable incident occurred when Horne performed for troops during World War II. According to a biography on her from the Kennedy Center, Horne refused to perform in front of segregated audiences. She would not perform when German POWs were given better seating than Black American soldiers.
Home 'retains the character'
Horne would go on to receive a Kennedy Center Honor in 1984 from President Ronald Reagan. She would, in fact, be honored with multiple awards and recognitions, including four Grammy Awards and a New York Drama Desk Award for outstanding actress in a musical.
She has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for singing and one for acting, and another on the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame in Atlanta.
Horne sold the home in 1962. She continued living in the city, eventually buying five units in a building at 74th Street and Madison Avenue. Her daughter put the last unit on the market in 2022 for $2.19 million.
The house still has much of the feel of that time, Wynter said. It has the original wood flooring and the wooden kitchen cabinets feel like a midcentury time capsule.
“As far as retaining the character, it’s all there,” Wynter said.
However, the current owner, who purchased it in 2004 for an undisclosed amount, has since updated the electrical systems and plumbing, according to Wynter. The 60-by-100-foot lot has been manicured and cared for, which he says is also the case for the neighbors.
“Pretty much everyone in that neighborhood, they’re very proud of the legacy,” he said. “No one wants to be the house that’s rundown.”