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Aretha Franklin’s former Detroit home is (once again) for sale

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This time, for $600,000

Exterior of a brown brick Tudor with some light frost on the yard out front.
Exterior of the “Rose Estate” near the Detroit Golf Club.
Photos by Michelle & Chris Gerard

Aretha Franklin’s mansion near the Detroit Golf Club has been on the market quite a bit lately. It was last bought by developer Andrew O. Kellum in October 2018 for $300,000. Then it went up for sale in April this year, for $750,000, before the listing was removed in June.

And now it’s back on the market again. This time, the Queen of Soul’s “Rose Estate” is listed with Daniel Treder of O’Connor Realty for $600,000.

When we last checked in with the home, it was in rough shape. The Tudor Revival mansion needed new heating and electrical systems, and repairs to the slate roof. Kellum said he was planning extensive renovations to the kitchen and master bathroom, though it’s unclear how much work has been done.

The listing today says the home still requires “major renovation.”

A white carpet in the living room has a red rose stitched in it. The room has three rows of leaded-glass windows and a fireplace.
The rose carpet.

According to Land Grid, the home was delinquent on taxes in June and facing foreclosure, but the city’s parcel records still cite Kellum as the owner.

The 5,623-square-foot mansion built in the 1920s gets its name from the rose imagery throughout the house and because Franklin’s album A Rose Is Still a Rose was recorded when she lived there. The rose themes—like the wallpaper, red chandelier, and iconic rose carpet in the foyer—remained earlier this year. It also still had the pink master bed, striking red claw-foot bathtub, and multi-colored tile bathroom.

The mansion sits on a private road off Pontchartrain Boulevard. The backyard, with its two-story bay windows and impressive solarium, spills out into the 7th hole of the Detroit Golf Club.

A narrow hallway that has yellow wallpaper filled with roses.
Rose-lined hallway.
A stoned-floored room with arches leading to a room enclosed by windows.
The solarium.
A fall yard with some landscaping at the back of the house, which has a solarium and bay windows on a stone section of the facade.
The rear of the mansion.