John Coltrane Home — 1511 North 33rd Street, Philadelphia

John Coltrane lived at 1511 North 33rd Street in North Philadelphia from 1952 to 1958, during the years in which he developed from a working journeyman musician into one of the most important figures in jazz history. It was in this house that he practised obsessively — sometimes eight or more hours a day — and began to develop the sheets-of-sound approach that would define his mature style. He was a member of Miles Davis's first great quintet during this period and simultaneously developing the harmonic ideas that would become 'Coltrane changes,' one of the most influential theoretical innovations in jazz.

Coltrane was born in Hamlet, North Carolina, in 1926 and moved to Philadelphia in 1943. The city's jazz scene — less glamorous than New York's but deeply musical — was where he matured. After leaving the North 33rd Street house he moved to New York, recorded the landmark Giant Steps (1960), joined Davis's classic sextet for Kind of Blue, and went on to form his own quartet whose recordings — A Love Supreme chief among them — remain among the most spiritually significant documents in American music.

The North 33rd Street house has been preserved as the John Coltrane Home, a National Historic Landmark and museum. It offers tours and hosts musical events. The neighbourhood of North Philadelphia has faced significant economic hardship, but the Coltrane Home is a genuine pilgrimage site for jazz devotees worldwide.