John Coltrane’s sons file suit to claim ownership of Philly’s Coltrane House

Community activists, historic preservationists, and jazz enthusiasts have for years pondered what the future could hold for the historic, but deteriorating, John Coltrane House in Philadelphia’s Strawberry Mansion neighborhood.

Coltrane, one of the world’s most acclaimed jazz saxophonists, purchased the house at 1511 N. 33rd St., across from Fairmount Park, in 1952.

He bought the house, now a National Historic Landmark, as a home for himself, his mother, aunt, and cousin, and he lived there between 1952 and about 1958.

For almost 20 years now, advocates seeking to preserve the house, perhaps as a museum or arts center, have described how Norman Gadson, a jazz lover who worked in real estate, bought the house from Coltrane’s cousin, Mary L. Alexander in 2004.

Coltrane’s cousin, formerly known as Mary Lyerly King — before she began using her married name Mary L. Alexander — was the cousin whom Coltrane referred to in his “Cousin Mary” composition on the Giant Steps album.

Gadson died in 2007, three years after acquiring the house and before he could fulfill his dream of turning it into a jazz venue, Gadson’s widow, Lenora Early, told The Inquirer in 2013.

In a recent lawsuit, John Coltrane’s two sons, Ravi and Oran, are contending that they are the rightful owners, rather than Gadson’s family members.

Their lawsuit contends that Gadson “allegedly paid a third party for a sham deed to the Coltrane House.” They alleged Mary Alexander (Cousin Mary) did not have the right to sell the property because she only held a “lifetime estate” interest in the house, meaning she had a legal right to live in the house until her death, but not to sell it, the complaint said.

“At worst, Norman Gadson was complicit in a fraudulent property sale that interfered with plaintiffs’ property rights,” the lawsuit claimed. “At best, Norman Gadson was indefensibly oblivious … and as a result [Mary Alexander] duped him into paying $100,000 to purchase her life estate.”

The document also points out that the 2004 deed that Norman Gadson filed contains misspellings of the Coltrane name.

“Lending to the conclusion that it was fraudulent, the 2004 conveyance refers to Alice Gertrude Coltrane, John William Coltrane Jr., Ravi Coltrane and Oran Coltrane as ‘Alice Gertrude Cultrate,’ ‘John William Cultrate Jr.,’ ‘Ravi Cultrate,’ and ‘Oran Cultrate,’ respectively,” the complaint said.

Oderah C. Nwaeze, an attorney with legal giant Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, represents the two Coltrane brothers.

Nwaeze said in an email that his clients preferred he decline to comment.

Drinker Biddle, which dates to 1849 in Philadelphia, has been named a “Powerhouse” firm by Law360.

In 2020, Drinker Biddle merged with the Indianapolis-based Faegre Baker Daniels firm. The combined firm has more than 1,300 attorneys and is ranked among the nation’s top 50 largest and most profitable law firms.

Edward A. Fox, the attorney representing Gadson’s daughters, has a sole practitioner law office in Erdenheim.

Through a spokesperson, Fox issued a statement: “The Early-Gadson family was enormously surprised and saddened to learn of the litigation filed by John Coltrane’s sons given the family’s 18-year history of ownership, preservation, and deep commitment to this National Historic Landmark, with the full knowledge of the Coltrane family.”

“The family opened the John Coltrane house to the entire Philadelphia community and beyond — welcoming music fans from all over the world — so everyone could enjoy this significant landmark in the history of jazz.”

Court documents reveal a Coltrane House drama as complex as a Shakespearean tragedy.

The battle features two feuding families, where the story was set in motion by characters, as in Hamlet, who linger as central to the plot, long after their deaths.

The suit was filed against Aminta [Gadson] Weldon and Hathor Gadson, Norman Gadson’s two daughters. Their father’s wife, Lenora Early, died in 2015. In a response to the lawsuit, the Gadson sisters asked the court to declare they are the legal owners, under a law called “adverse possession.” Adverse possession is a legal way a person can claim rights to a property they have possessed for a certain amount of time.

The Gadsons’ counterclaims also asked that if the Coltranes were awarded the title to the house, the Coltrane sons should then repay the Gadson sisters the $100,000 purchase price along with other expenses. The sisters said their family has maintained the house, made repairs, and paid taxes.

The Coltranes filed a response to the Gadsons’ filing to contend that the Gadson daughters have not held the property for the 21 years required to keep the house under “adverse possession.”

While the law was revised in 2019 to provide for an adverse possession claim after holding a property for only 10 years in certain circumstances, the Coltranes said the Gadsons don’t meet that requirement either. The family said the Coltranes did not gain rights to the house until after Mary Alexander died in 2019. That meant their rights were only established three years ago.

The Coltranes also said they have no duty to repay the $100,000 purchase price of the house in a fraudulent case.

Their attorney’s filing said that the Gadsons were seeking to “revictimize” the Coltranes by having them pay to obtain title to a house that should belong to them. Even if there were a legal basis, it would be Mary Alexander, or her estate, who would be liable, the suit said.

In addition, the Coltranes cited news reports of the Coltrane House’s “at-risk” condition to dispute whether the Early-Gadson family did, in fact, spend a lot of money to maintain the house.

The house is a National Historic Landmark because of its connection to Coltrane, who has been called a genius. His album, A Love Supreme, is considered a masterpiece.

He wrote his Giant Steps album, had a spiritual awakening, and beat a heroin addiction while living at the Philadelphia house, jazz experts say.

But Coltrane’s house has fallen into such disrepair that in 2020, a state preservation organization listed it as “at risk”.

The Strawberry Mansion Community Development Corp. sought renovation grants and announced plans to create a John Coltrane Museum and Cultural Center at the site.

In May 2021, the Strawberry Mansion CDC said it wanted to “restore the house as a museum, preserve the row’s architectural character, create a gateway to Strawberry Mansion, and develop a world class venue where jazz can be heard, studied and appreciated.”

Coltrane’s sons filed the lawsuit earlier this year, on April 27, but it came to light after Faye Anderson, a public historian and preservationist, announced the filing on social media last Sunday.

Anderson nominated the house for Preservation Pennsylvania’s “At Risk” listing of endangered historic properties.

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“As a longtime advocate for preservation of the John Coltrane House, the lawsuit is a welcome development regardless of the outcome,” Anderson told The Inquirer.

“While I believe Ravi Coltrane and Oran Coltrane have a rightful claim to the property, the case will finally untie the ‘tangled title.’ Without clear title, access to government and foundation grants to rehabilitate the National Historic Landmark is limited.

“The transparent workaround using the Strawberry Mansion Community Development Corp. helps at the margins. But it does not fundamentally alter the reality that funders are unlikely to invest in a property whose ownership has been under a cloud for 15 years,” she said.

Anderson said Mary Alexander sounded the alarm about the house’s condition decades ago. She published a letter Alexander wrote on Feb. 25, 1987, telling the Philadelphia Historical Commission that the building “seems to be crumbling inside.”

Tonnetta Graham, president and executive director of the Strawberry Mansion Community Development Corp. , did not return calls seeking comment.

According to court documents, Coltrane and his first wife, Juanita “Naima” Coltrane, gave the house to Coltrane’s mother, Alice Gertrude Coltrane, in 1958.

When Alice Gertrude Coltrane died on Sept. 4, 1977, her will gave Mary Lyerly King (later Mary L. Alexander) “the right and privilege to live on the premises 1511 N. 33rd St., ... during her lifetime,” the lawsuit claims.

That meant that Alexander was only a “lifetime tenant” at the property, the Coltranes said. Mary Alexander died on Aug. 31, 2019, at age 92.

Upon Alexander’s death, the will states the house would belong to Alice Gertrude Coltrane’s three grandsons, John William Coltrane Jr., Ravi J. Coltrane, and Oran Coltrane.

Coltrane’s oldest son, John Coltrane Jr., died in a car accident in 1982.

A further complication in this story is that there were two Alice Coltranes in John Coltrane’s life.

The first Alice was his mother. Then, in 1965, Coltrane married his second wife, Alice McLeod Coltrane, the noted pianist and harpist.

Norman Gadson’s deed to the property named him as trustee of the house, held in trust for his daughter Hathor Gadson, who has Down Syndrome.

After Gadson’s wife, Lenora Early, died, daughter Aminta Weldon was named guardian for her sister Hathor and her estate.

In their response to the suit, the Gadsons said the Coltrane brothers had full knowledge that Alexander sold the house in 2004 but never challenged the sale.

“Plaintiffs took no action in 2004 even though they believed at the time that the property was meant to remain in the Coltrane name,” the Gadsons said. “They failed to check with the Registers of Wills where their grandmother’s will had been on file since April 27, 1978.”

» READ MORE: The clock is ticking to save John Coltrane’s Strawberry Mansion home

The document said Aminta Weldon and Ravi Coltrane talked about Weldon’s efforts to turn the house into a museum during a telephone call on March 18, 2021, and that Ravi Coltrane encouraged her to continue working on the museum project:

“Since March 18, 2021, through the efforts of Weldon and others, the project has obtained grants from the Blight Remediation Project, the Andrew Mellon Foundation and the Philadelphia Fund Black Community Leaders totaled $855,00.00 with five other grant applications pending.”