The residential co-op that now stands at 131 Prince Street has a long history of shared living arrangements. In 1970, it was a loft belonging to the avant-guard jazz saxophonist and influential composer, Ornette Coleman, one of many artists who pioneered the arts community in Manhattan, entering an abandoned industrial loft to live and work collaboratively. Coleman's loft was called simply, Artists House, and was intended to serve as a combination home, studio, and performance space for experimental artists of all kinds, though musicians in particular were drawn to Coleman. The space was popular because it guaranteed performance opportunities and willing audiences for musicians playing in unconventional styles. Famous residents included the composer Anthony Braxton, violinist Leroy Jenkins, and Coleman's sister, Truvenza, who had moved to New York to further her singing career. The space offered opportunity for close collaboration and also guaranteed performance opportunties and willing audiences for musicians playing in unconventional styles. Coleman himself had faced resistance early in his career when his style of playing between the scales drew him a reputation for playing off key. His style is now widely recognized as a studied and influential attempt to test the limits of jazz.