Campaign launched to raise money to preserve North Philly’s historic Tanner House

It was cold, windy, and snowing lightly when members of the Friends of the Tanner House gathered outside world-renowned artist Henry Ossawa Tanner’s former home last week.

The group met to film a video to launch a crowdfunding campaign to raise money to repair the house, at 2908 W. Diamond St. in North Philadelphia.

Last summer, the city’s Department of Licenses and Inspections declared the building, which is listed as a National Historic Landmark, unsafe.

The roof needs replacing, the walls have buckled and the floors are damaged.

The crowdfunding site, “Save the Henry O. Tanner House,” was launched on Feb. 25.

Organizers wantto raise about $307,000 by June 21, Tanner’s 163rd birthday.

» READ MORE: Once ‘the center of the Black intellectual community in Philadelphia,’ the Henry O. Tanner House could be demolished

Tanner, who studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and the Académie Julian in Paris, is known for his religious paintings, such as The Annunciation (1898) and Portrait of the Artist’s Mother (1897), both at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

He is also known for two iconic paintings that depict the dignity of ordinary Black life in The Banjo Lesson (1893) and The Thankful Poor (1894).

Christopher R. Rogers, a volunteer with Friends of the Tanner House, is program director of the Paul Robeson House and Museum in West Philadelphia. He talked about the possibilities for restored cultural sites.

“I want to see communal spaces that are dedicated to the arts and young people,” he said. “Whether it’s the Church of the Advocate, the Paul Robeson House, or Hakim’s Book Store, these places recover history and memories from the past.

“But there’s so much we can do in the present to shape the future and sustain the life and culture of Black neighborhoods.”

Rogers has joined forces with North Philadelphia real estate professional Judith Robinson, Deborah Gary, co-founder of the Society to Preserve Philadelphia African American Assets (SPPAAA), and history tour guide Jacqueline Wiggins to bring attention to the Tanner House’s condition.

After The Inquirer published a story about the house,members of the Friends group got in touch with Michael Thornton, the son of the home’s deceased owner, Robert Thornton.

Michael Thornton is a college professor in Florida and had been trying to keep up the house but was running out of resources, Gary said.

“He’s given us permission to start [the fund-raiser] and he’s allowed us access so we can work with licensed contractors to do what’s needed,” Rogers said. “We’re in constant conversation and he’s included in all our emails.”

Maya Thomas, co-founder of the Dox Thrash House Project, said her organization, has agreed to endorse the Tanner House campaign.

Dox Thrash was another renowned artist who once lived at 2340 Cecil B. Moore Ave., a little more than half-a-mile away from the Tanner House.

Thomas said it would be great to have the Tanner House, the Dox Thrash House, and the John Coltrane House all restored.

“There is a rich cultural history in North Philadelphia, and it’s important to bring that back, especially for children. They can go to an arts program down the street from their house or take music lessons at the Coltrane House.”

The artist was born in Pittsburgh in 1859, and came to Philadelphia at about age 9 when his father, the Rev. Benjamin Tucker Tanner, was elected editor of the Christian Recorder, a newspaper that was the publishing arm of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

The family first lived near 3rd and Pine Streets, not far from Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church. But in 1872, the Rev. Tanner (who would later be named a bishop in the A.M.E. Church, bought the house at 2908 W. Diamond St., in the Strawberry Mansion neighborhood as his family grew.