Sneak a Peek Inside Aretha Franklin's Empty Mansion, Detroit

Aretha Franklin passed away on August 16, 2018.

She was born in an old shack in Memphis Tennessee, but ended up owning a handful of beautiful homes, some in eastern Michigan. This particular home is located at 18261 Hamilton Road in Detroit. Some people say it's abandoned, or deserted, or just plain empty. Either way, it does not yet have a resident, but it is privately owned, so keep that in mind in case you desire to seek it out. Following Aretha's death, the mansion was first purchased for a mere $300,000 in October 2018.

Built in 1927-1929, at one time the home was a three-floor grand mansion, 6000 square feet, with a three-car garage and with 9-foot ceilings......now the grounds appear to be similar to the ones on the mansion grounds of Miss Haversham from the Charles Dickens novel "Great Expectations" (not familiar with the book or film? You should be. Watch the film and you'll see what I mean) but current restoration is changing all that.

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Aretha bought the house in 1993. You can't get to it, since the road is blocked off by a gate...but you can see the house from the gate. It's located on the very private road north of the Detroit Golf Club and is near the 7th hole of the golf course.

According to Abandoned Central, the house was listed in 2022 for $1.2 million and lowered to just under $1 million. It was sold in the summer of 2023. Out of all the beautiful furnishings that Aretha left behind, including her famous rose-red bathtub, nothing remains.

Before the mansion was sold, some footage was shot so you could see what it looked like before too much restoration was done. Take a look in the photo gallery below...