Architects selected for Satchmo’s Visitors Center

By I Nov. 2, 2007

Elected and college officials gathered Wed., Oct. 31, at the Louis Armstrong House Museum to introduce the architects selected to design the museum’s Visitors Center. The House Museum is located in Corona, Queens, N.Y.

City University of New York chose Caples Jefferson Architects to design the Visitors Center after a national search. Caples Jefferson has designed visitor centers for Historic Weeksville and Queens Theatre in the Park.

The Visitors Center is expected to open in three years. The addition will allow the center to offer an expanded schedule of concerts, lectures, community events and other programs.

Armstrong and his wife Lucille purchased the home in Corona in 1943 and stayed there for the rest of their lives. In 1986, the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation gave the house to the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and arranged for Queens College to administer the house. Today the Louis Armstrong House Museum is a National Historic Landmark and a New York City landmark.