Louis Armstrong House Museum gets bigger home

Airica Daley, visiting from Chicago, looks at a Selmer trumpet at the Louis Armstrong House Museum at 34-56 107th street in North Corona, Queens, Tuesday, April 21, 2015. Photo Credit: Vendy Plaza

The construction of a 14,700-square-foot building for the museum is underway and is projected to open in 2017, according to Jennifer Walden, director of marketing at the museum.

It is dubbed The Louis Armstrong House Museum Education Center and will be located on nearby formerly-vacant lot at 34-49 107th St.

Among its features, the new building will house museum’s artifacts from the legendary jazz trumpeter – consisting of more than 5,000 photos, 85 scrapbooks, 650 home recordings and five gold-plated trumpets – which are currently held in the Queens College library. It is the largest archive in the world dedicated to a single jazz musician, Walden said.

The center will also feature a 72-seat theater and a multimedia exhibition gallery where film screenings and exhibits will be showcased.

The expansion cost $20 million, $860,570 of which was funded by local Councilwoman Julissa Ferrera.

“The Louis Armstrong House Museum is one of my favorite places and a hidden gem in Corona,” Ferrera said in a statement. “I am incredibly excited for their expansion.”