Saving the House That Gave Voice to Nina Simone

"From her birth in 1933, to 1937, Eunice Kathleen Waymon, the musician and civil rights activist known to the world as Nina Simone, lived in a three-room, 650-square-foot house in Tryon, North Carolina, nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was here that her prodigious talent as a pianist first emerged, a gift that would later carry her far beyond the town of 1,700, where a downtown mural and a bronze statue now immortalize her local ties."

"Yet few outside Tryon have known that the white clapboard structure, which had fallen into disrepair, was once her family home. Today, after years of planning, fundraising, and careful restoration, the house is entering its next chapter as a site of inspiration for artists, thinkers, and stewards of Black cultural memory, with plans to open to visitors in the future."

"It was late 2016 when painter Adam Pendleton first heard that Simone's childhood home was on the market. The call to action was even more surprising: Would he consider buying it? Pendleton's friend, the curator Laura Hoptman, who owns a home in the area, reached out to him hoping she could find a steward of sorts. At risk of demolition, the property was up for sale, and its future hung in the balance. Pendleton mulled over whether, and how, to get involved."

Eunice Kathleen Waymon, later known as Nina Simone, lived from 1933 to 1937 in a three-room, 650-square-foot house in Tryon, North Carolina, where her talent as a pianist first emerged. The white clapboard structure fell into disrepair and was at risk of demolition before being purchased and stewarded by artists including Adam Pendleton, Rashid Johnson, Julie Mehretu, and Ellen Gallagher, with involvement from curator Laura Hoptman. After years of planning, fundraising, and careful restoration in partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the house is being repurposed as a site of inspiration and Black cultural memory with plans to open to visitors.

Read at Architectural Digest