Coral Street Arts House

Coral Street Arts House is a product of NKCDC's commitment to arts in our community. Coral Street is a $7.5 million project that is the first of its kind to combine low-income housing and artist live/work space. It is located at the corner of Coral and Hagert Streets in the East Kensington section of Philadelphia.

Coral Street is one of the many old textile mills in our area dating back to the mid 19th century. Beatty's Mill, as it was known, produced cotton and wool yarns. The building had gone through a series of owners and had no industrial use by the 1990's. It had fallen into disrepair and became a dangerous eyesore.

Coral Street is part of a $12 million investment in East Kensington. NKCDC acquired the mill building in 1999, when plans for rehabbing the building first began. The project was done according to historic guidelines to retain the character of the building, and has since become a national model for historic preservation. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004, and received the prestigious Grand Jury Award from the Preservation Alliance in 2006. In addition, the National Park Service of the U.S. Department of Interior uses it as a case study for its Windows Preservation Tech Notes.

There are 27 units which still have the original hardwood floors, as well as many other features of the building. There is a community room on the first floor and exhibition space on the first floor hall. Adjoining Coral Street is the Kensington Culinary Arts High School.

The artists that currently live in Coral Street include painters, actors, writers, photographers, graphic designers and more. Activities at Coral Street include exhibitions a couple times a year, workshops on issues that face artists in their professional careers and fun events for the community. Coral Street hosted the tile workshops for the Mural Arts Program and helped complete a mural in our neighborhood. Coral Street artists have also participated in other community arts projects such as temporary murals and benches for Frankford Ave.

For more information about Coral Street Arts House, please contact Laura Semmelroth at 215-739-0310 (lsemmelroth@nkcdc.org).

download Application for Admission

directions to Coral Street Arts House