Preserving the Henry Ossawa Tanner House (NTHP, 4/8/24)

Preserving the Henry Ossawa Tanner House

In February 2022, a group of Black preservation advocates in the Philadelphia area launched a fundraising campaign to save the Henry Ossawa Tanner House in the city’s Strawberry Mansion neighborhood. Despite its status as a National Historic Landmark, the 1872 rowhouse that bears the name of the preeminent Black painter who once called it home had been declared unsafe by the city. It was in danger of immediate collapse and at risk of being demolished.

The grassroots efforts by this group, called the Friends of the Tanner House, to save the historic home were buoyed by the property’s inclusion in the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s 2023 list of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places. Along with the city’s Chinatown, the Tanner House was one of two Philadelphia sites included in the list, and it was one of two Black artist homes that were featured, alongside the L.V. Hull Home and Studio in Kosciusko, Mississippi.