The restoration of The Home has proven to be a lengthy process. From interior to exterior, The Home had a plethora of serious issues that put the structure in danger of decaying beyond repair. Restoration workers frequently battle with unfavorable weather conditions and seasonal changes that altered the anticipated timeline for the completed restoration. Rain, snow, and intense cold are just some factors that need to be closely monitored to keep construction progress going. To save The Home and get it to a stabilized point, restoration efforts needed to be made carefully, one decision at a time.
As the house sat vacant, its progressive deterioration was evident. When The House was obtained in 2004, the landscaping of the property was severely overgrown, and the roof was in need of a complete repair. With no proper upkeep, portions of the roof were worn away, resulting in the development of troublesome holes. These holes allowed moisture, insects, and other pests to infiltrate the interior of the Home. The moisture issue proved to be one of the most urgent matters to be resolved. The inside of the Home had been turned into a breeding ground for mold, making the space incredibly dangerous to work in. One of the very first decisions that was to be made was to patch the holes on the roof to prevent any more moisture from entering the space. From there, work on eradicating the mold could commence.
Thanks to the combined generosity of volunteers, donors, and grant funded awards, the roof was temporarily patched in anticipation of a future project that would completely restore the roof and the buildings’ soffit. As the roof holes were being patched, the mold was successfully removed from the home, and precautionary measures regarding any reoccurrence were also put in place.
With one of the most critical issues addressed and taken care of, work on both the interior and exterior of the home slowly began to make further progress. By 2012, landscaping efforts were underway, producing impressive before and after results. Proper clearing of the vegetation surrounding the house gave the restoration team a better idea of where their efforts needed to be focused. The vegetation removal revealed that both the front and back porch of the Home would need to be reconstructed.
In the year following the landscape transformation, the roof and soffit repair project was started with the help of donation goals being met and receiving new grant funding. This endeavor provided a permanent, stable solution for the patches to the holes in the roof that were done in the years prior. By September 2013 the roof of the home had been completely restored, and the soffit along the entire roof was repaired, which would help to keep any future pests out of The Homes interior. It is hard to believe that the house once sat in such a deteriorated condition in 2004 after seeing the progress made in the 2013 exterior restorations.
The next major project on the exterior was to address the bricks on the facade of the house, which would take place throughout 2024 into 2025. Much of the restorations thus far were done on the original foundation of the Home in an attempt to preserve as much of its history as possible. In that same line of thinking, it was decided that the rebricking project would reuse all the original bricks from the facade rather than using new materials. This endeavor was funded thanks to the JumpSMART grant that the Home received in 2024. The plan was for the bricks to be taken, restored, and reassembled. Replica windows that mimicked the style originally found at the home were commissioned to be made, which complimented the brickwork and preserved character of the Home. The project was quite extensive and was not fully completed until around December 2025. The results were truly extraordinary and proved that taking the time to reuse the old bricks was indeed the right decision.
The front and back patio were getting some much-needed attention as the rebricking process was happening. The intense cold winter of 2026 has made progress difficult, and construction frequently needed to be halted until weather conditions improved. The progress on the patio construction is a prime example of the restoration efforts needing to work around seasonal changes.
As of September 2026, most of the major exterior projects are already completed. The garden bed in the front of The Home will soon be adorned with foliage and shrubs similar to the ones that were originally at The Home. With restoration efforts shifting towards getting the interior spaces ready to present to visitors, The John and Alice Coltrane Home is one step closer to welcoming the public to the property.
