The colorful former Niagara Falls home of a self-taught artist who considered himself a prophet has been added to a nationwide network designed to conserve the legacy of the visual arts.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation announced this week that the Prophet Isaiah Robertson’s Second Coming House, located at 1308 Ontario Ave., has been added to the organization’s Historic Artists’ Homes and Studios (HAHS) membership program. The network is designed to allow members to share knowledge and resources in areas such as historic preservation, visitor and community programs and communications. The Second Coming House is among a group of 18 sites added as program affiliates under what the National Trust for Historic Preservation described as one of the largest membership expansions in its history.
In its announcement about the expansion, the trust described The Second Coming House as a “striking art environment” created by Robertson who transformed his home into an immersive religious artwork, featuring a dramatic 25-foot painted cross and intricate religious imagery crafted from wood, paint, and beadwork both inside and outside the property.
“As the only artist-built environment of its kind in Western New York, the site showcases Robertson’s divinely-inspired creativity through painstakingly preserved and recreated elements, including his signature “perfectly imperfect” painting style and symbolic religious artworks,” the National Trust for Historic Preservation said in its press release. “Opened earlier this year, visitors can experience this unique cultural landmark through guided tours that explore themes of immigration, religious expression, and artistic vision, while learning about Robertson’s remarkable journey from Jamaican carpenter to visionary artist.”
Robertson, who was born in Jamaica and moved to the Falls after living in Canada, built a 25-foot wooden cross at the head of his home’s driveway after he said he received a vision from God that directed him to offer a source of healing in the world. He later started covering the property with brightly painted wooden cut-outs of moons, stars and other items. The building has been a source of curiosity for visitors, art students and journalists for years.
After Robertson’s death in 2020, several individuals and groups came together to preserve the building, including professional photographer Fred Scruton and the Kohler Foundation, a Wisconsin-based philanthropic organization. In 2021, under the foundation’s direction, the art preservation company B.R. Howard and Associates began a full-scale conservation effort at the site that involved documenting and evaluating each piece of art before it was all dismantled and reassembled. The Niagara Falls National Heritage Area accepted the site as a gift in 2023 and now oversees the management of the property.
The site was the subject of a story published in the Art Newspaper last April. As a media partner of the newspaper, CNN promoted the story on its website, describing the home in its headline as “A riot of colors and religious iconography.”
With the new additions, the number of HAHS member sites grows to 80, across 31 states in the nation.
“This extremely diverse group represents the richness and breadth of place-based art legacy in this country,” said HAHS Director Valerie Balint. “It has been a pleasure to witness some of these sites evolve from nascent preservation initiatives to spaces of meaningful public engagement and to welcome them into membership alongside other more established sites that are at important moments of new expansion, innovation, and storytelling. All these new affiliate sites have much to offer the public audiences they serve, but also their peers within the existing HAHS coalition. As with each site within HAHS, these inspirational new affiliates are all worth a pilgrimage to experience.”