PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Renovations have been completed to the historic home of opera singer Marian Anderson, who made history and broke racial barriers with her music as the first African American to perform on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
Following a devastating flood in 2020, the Marian Anderson Museum and Historical Society, at 762 S. Martin St., is now open to the public and restored to its original glory.
“This house was built in 1857. Marian purchased it in 1924 for $4,000 in cash,” said CEO Jillian Patricia Pirtle.
Rushing floodwaters led to an estimated $988,000 in damages. Pirtle credited the community’s support for being able to reopen its doors.
The reopening features a brand new exhibit, called “Marian: The Philadelphia Story,” which Pirtle said is told from a very specific point of view. “[It] gives a bright eye of Marian Anderson’s life, her struggles, her triumphs through the lens of our great city of Philadelphia.”
According to Pirtle, all of the pride and personality of the renowned performer is on display at the museum.
“The alabaster white of the walls, the beautiful inset trim and mahogany,” she described, “the beautiful hardwood floors in which she inlaid all of the woodwork that was carved and etched in for Marian and her mother.”
Although restoring the house has been a long, hard fight, Pirtle believes it was what Anderson herself would have done.
“If one person walks into the Marian Anderson Museum and they say, ‘I feel Marian Anderson’s spirit in this place,’ we will have done our job.”