Inside Look at Aretha Franklin's Historic Detroit Mansion

[Music] this is artha Franklin's mansion let's go check out the inside this is all the paperwork from it contractors from 1927 look at that from when they built it can't believe this is still in here ARA Franklin's mansion is a three-story house that was built in 1927 and is approximately 6,000 sare ft the home backs right up to the seventh hole on the city's prestigious and private Detroit Golf Club the the Mansion features Immaculate handcarved Woodwork and details throughout the house was listed in 2022 for 1.2 million but was just recently lowered to just under a million dollar car here kind of looked like a cop car but then I realized it's been here for a minute and it's got no plates on it but yeah this is uh or was artha Franklin's house this was one of her pride and joys right here of course we're in the city it's a beautiful beautiful home tennis courts back here three stories brick slate roof looks like some copper up there look at the old mail shoot [Music] here shut this looks like the uh alarm's off which is good of course so this is the entryway here big old ladder in here cuz they um they trying to sell it so they're probably coming in here and fixing it up making some changes trying to clean it up a bit to sell it on the market and these are all mirrors on each side look at that it's mirrored all the way down look I read the Franklin up in here see what it says that talks all about artha that's cool that they have that hanging up in here but it should be like right here in the entryway instead of like up high where nobody can see it but what did I tell you this is definitely aa's house and she actually lived here some of these other YouTubers be getting a little carried away with their stories talking about mobster homes and Narco mansions and stuff like that turns out none of that's really even true but this is actually true I'm not about to lie to y'all they got ARA Franklin's uh leaflet scones I don't know what they think that's what those are they're all gudy and gold look like giant glass leaves and then I'm not sure what's up with this but these look like um hooks to hang your jacket or your backpacks or purses this one's got curves on it probably for all rea's purses this doorway here all woodwork too all beautiful woodwork it's like an old iron fixture there have a cabinet tree up in here both sides definitely original probably not original floor here this looks like it was put down few years ago maybe but then it goes into the original now this is original there's the front door right there as we take a look at the uh living room look at how Grand this living room is look at all those wood beams and all the woodwork is just Immaculate from there we entada into the I believe this was a library this fireplace is amazing though here it's like this is marble and more amazing woodwork floral pattern in the wood there wow look at faces looks like Christopher Columbus pine cones and stuff wow that's cool two fireplaces kind of side by side right there that's a cool shot and I almost missed this room over here there's a little room right here here by the main entrance to the right nothing to it but I actually think this was the library so this makes more sense because this would have been where the shelving would have been as you can see here that's where the shelving would have been and then over here there would have been more shelving and then I'll look out to the front so this was the library not that other room and it's got a little fireplace in it too how cute another one of those cool doors stone fireplace that's pretty cool this is loaded with um blueprints look at this these are all blueprints in the house it's crazy that they're all just shoved in these in these um cabinets and then up here there's [Applause] more wow now that is something you don't see every day when you're exploring these places you can literally see all the history and how this house was built and designed and actually how much everything was back in 1927 that's cool known as the queen of soul due to her pure and perfect Fusion of Grace and Grit ARA Franklin was the definition of early Soul music throughout America the daughter of renowned and beloved Detroit preacher CL Franklin artha could testify with all the liberating Joy stemming from her gospel Roots as a member of her father's church choir she could ache with the sadness of any singer who could truly feel the ways of both Grassroots blues and jazz music after nearly a decade of honing what would become her singular and instantly recognizable voice artha Franklin who was born in Memphis Tennessee in 19 1942 but raised in Detroit Michigan brought a blast of proud grooves and empowerment to the pop charts at the peak of the Civil Rights era though she rarely strayed from her gospel roots in the decades that followed artha Franklin made the brassy 1967 Anthem respect which would soon become her signature calling card she glided from assertive Funk jams to hushed quiet storm ballads all the way to synth cated pop hits these notable hits also included you make me feel like a natural woman who zoom and who and I knew you were waiting unfortunately it wasn't always sunshine and rainbows for artha Franklin she had long been plagued by alcoholism and weight struggles leading to both hypertension and diabetes at one point in time she was nearly 300 lb but in the years before her untimely passing she would lose nearly 100 lb from both diet and exercise she would eventually pass away in her Detroit home in 2018 after an 8-year battle with pancreatic cancer ARA Franklin will forever be known as the queen of soul her powerful voice and many iconic hit records will continue to be loved by generations of detroiters as well as people from all over the world so here's the front door you can see some uh molding going around nice candle fixture in the um main entry here with another mirror she loved her mirrors and a radiator down there old school and then there's to the living room and then this leads down to the basement of course basement is just a Michigan basement there's nothing there except space my radiator nice choice of curtains here artha I read that these curtains chandeliers and even the bathtub are all arethas nobody has lived in this house since artha Franklin did she moved out at some point in the 2000s in the early 2000s I think she moved in and around 1994 as you can see from these old photos from ARA Franklin's own personal collection her Mansion was her absolute pride and joy since she lived in this home during a recording of her critically acclaimed Rose album the large majority of her home decor was Rose themed such as the huge living room rug with an ornamental Rose as the eye-catching centerpiece or an oil painting of a blooming rose bush above the fireplace and in addition to all of that her entire home was filled with rare imported tapestries Priceless paintings and glorious Furniture even the AR salarium room was lined with bouquet of floral arrangements and genuine Oriental Rugs needless to say we sure wish that all of her Furnishings would have still been there but even without it you can still feel and see through these old photos that her beautiful an ornate Mansion was her absolute dream home another one of those locks on the front door too and then look at this little peep pole oh it's oh there we go who's there that's cool love these doors though especially they look like church doors especially with the pointed top like that and every door has it look at the um sound system inside the house total 80s that's cool I don't see that anymore cool Old Stone wooden fireplace here definitely original 1927 what's really cool in this woodwork is there's actually faces throughout you can see one of them here handcarved face there's actually one in the fireplace too look at that it's like a knight that's pretty cool then there's one on the other side too the house was listed last year for 1.2 million million dollars but obviously it didn't sell so they dropped the price this year just recently to just under a million dollars so this could be yours for just under a million dollars and you could be living with the [Music] soul of the queen of soul look at these old radiator covers God that's cool that is original for sure here's the kitchen over here through these French doors here or double doors nice brass fixtures on them definitely original to the building too look at they're all curved and slanted instead have pointed they come to a point each one of them see shut them for it is pretty boring modernized nice Windows there overlooking the golf course you can see this floor is new one of the door doors most of this Cabinetry in here is new too that's probably where the sink would have been and then here's the serving area breakfast area is what they called it still got ARA's table in here definitely looks like an artha table more mirrors going around of course she loved her mirrors and then this just would have looked over the driveway old school air conditioner there another um patio glass door there and then this looks like some vinage and little garden action going on outside the window here and you could open these windows I don't know if you can anymore looks like they're nailed shut or something but definitely at one time these would have opened up and there's the tennis courts through there here's a view out the sliding glass door here you can see the golf course you can see the um sun room over there it's got a built-in fridge it looks like oh no this is like a rule do not open refrigerators while Urban exploring all right this one ain't bad here's another stairway down and then this back to the main entrance or not main entrance I'm sorry side entrance entrance we came in another one over here radiator cover look at the woodwork on the side too here's more of a aretha's choice of curtains and I guess only really one of the curtains is still here this uh red felt curtain here tall bedrooms are upstairs down here would be the obviously the library living room uh the solarium sun room look look at here's more those cool doors I just love these look at there that's so cool you come through here two doors there storm doors on them even and this leads to the solarium or sun room look at these Stone archways and it backs up to the prestigious Detroit Golf Club here the golf club right here turn this off so they don't see me in case somebody's out there playing nine holes this is hole S I think right here pretty cool backs right up to Hole s on the golf course and it's a private golf course so you know that helps boost up the price and worth of this place here we get another look at the stone arches you see skylights almost feels like I'm at a big boy or a Wendy's no okay more of ARA's terrible choice and curtains I give it to her she probably chose this back in the 90s so look at track lighting all the way up this may have been an addition for all I know oh look golfers see him driving by in the carts see right on good thing it's so dirty they can't see me look at jeez a little window washing up in here pretty cool though take a look at the grand staircase going up to the bedrooms and the bathrooms up there look at those beams beautiful you get a real feel for how tall these ceilings are from this angle as we look at the staircase let's go look at the other rooms down here before we go up let look at that stone detail look at the brick pattern hair and bone it's got some the Donell Brothers Cleveland Ohio so next to the stairway right off the living room we have a little bathroom here old radiator what is this pabic tile I mean it could be pabic but I'm not so sure about that little cut right there that's kind of cool little window here not even going to show you that toilet my God God neighbors are close too okay now we go [Applause] up look at the stone work there but look at this view that is incredible nice curved railing there the stairway here from up here this obviously is a great vantage point for the living room look at that amazing as we go over here we got more of her famous light fixtures here going down the hallway they modernized a lot of this up here there's that back stairway nothing much here it's all painted too but I wanted to show you guys everything it goes back here too I don't even know what this is it's like a little hidden room crazy it's got storage and stuff in [Music] here artha all [Music] day nothing much so over here check this out little fireplace up in here and then here's the outlook on the Dormer window now that's sweet that's a hell of a view from up here there's the uh sound system again internal sound system speakers you could talk to somebody downstairs or whatnot that old alarm system too this was a bathroom the master bath this looks like Granite maybe or no that may be fake but it's like a bench going all the way around the windows overlooking the golf course again and then one of the coolest things is this is actually artha Franklin's tub no joke the claw foot I've read online that she recorded her a rose is still a rose album in 1997 in this house she recorded and wrote it while living in this house and the article stated that she came up with some of the lyrics while bathing in this exact tub you can see this is exactly where it was they just built a um thing around it to protect it I guess a CL foot there the piping is still in the floor that's amazing so you see they got like a cover and a wooden case going around it I guess to protect it it's probably worth money on eBay I could sell that thing artha Franklin the queen of souls jacuzzi tub God look at the bathroom even keeps going over here this would have been where the toilet would have been shower here good Lord maybe the I don't even know what would go here the bada no then another cut back here it's huge it's monster Jesus this bathroom is massive God it's like terazo and then this would have been the obviously the bathing area wish that wooden thing wasn't there cuz then I could take photos of it and I can't really shoot photos of the tub because it's covered by a wooden container case pretty cool when you find a spot like that with history like this and then this not sure what's going on here with this room it's got some nice artha Decor a she done forgot her cane now there's a bird nest right there with eggs in it look the bird just looked at me and said what are you doing he's down there talking smack you can hear him it's Robin state bird oh he's come to talk more smack at the window now and then this is another bathroom that ARA designed see the floral [Music] paint all the way up and get a load of that shower and toilet love the pink look at that now that toilet's pretty darn cool so fancy for 1990 same with this tub heard the shower here it's got a CD player in it a JBC look at that CD player inside the shower and then look at that it's power still on in it look at the speakers right there amazing it's like a oh it's a Jacuzzi more speakers on this side too God looks like you can contact aliens with this thing this a time machine like what what's going on in here got all sorts of buttons and fixtures and stuff stuff should I push one of these oh I'm about to get wet yeah I better not do that I'm going to get wet and ruin my camera now we're on the other side from the uh master bath and master bedroom looks like just a carpeted room bedroom in here nothing much to it does have a bathroom though more of that same tile that weird tile I'm not sure it's poic so I don't want to say it is but it very well could be here's the shower yellow tile look it's got towel holders on each side yeah it's like a mosaic pattern interesting then it leads over to the other bedroom old closets shelving here's the entry to the bedroom shelving there it's missing nothing much to it smaller bedrooms over here on this side overlooks the golf course again and there's the uh sun room down there [Music] below and then this leads back out to the Overlook let's go take a look around back here's the uh three-car garage and the house goes above the garage see one car two car three car huge garage packed with crap though now and then this is the side entry where we went in at then upstairs the third level is unfinished too I went up there and it was just basically one room empty inside the kitchen there [Music] go back through here see this was all I'm sure landscaped and manicured at one time when especially when artha was here but this house hasn't been lived in since the early 2000s I think so you can see it's just neglected it is owned privately right now and uh the guy's trying to sell it he's done some work as you saw in the video and he maintains it for the most part but it's a little bit overgrown back here this is the tennis courts there's the tennis courts and we pan over and we see the side of the house looking into the breakfast serving area in the kitchen and here's that uh Garden then out here I don't care if anybody sees me at this point stinks back here but this was all landscaped I'm sure and beautiful but over the years you can see it's gotten neglected and the brick is starting to break and all that there's the master bathroom up there by the chimney look at that copper flashing up there the stone work and look at Pathways back here then there's like Old Stone fountains shell there there's another piece of stonework there that's the master uh bathroom where the bathtub was where her red cloth foot bathtub was at that window and here's the living room looks like a little Center piece here you can go out to the golf course so this the living room that big picture window that you see from the inside stairway and then there's the cium sun room here you can see some of it's been broken shattered right there [Applause] go back inside here's what it looks like from the backside from the golf course can actually see doers right out there with this Mansion having that history and still having some of a wreath of Franklin furniture and decor on top of Detroit's comeback story surely this historic Mansion will sell soon thankfully I was able to document it before it happened that's going to be the conclusion of AA Franklin's abandoned mansion video for more photos from this abandoned mansion and our other locations check out our website at abandon central.com and also subscribe to abandoned Central on YouTube so that you don't miss any of our latest content and one more important thing if you want to help us support us in creating these videos please donate by clicking the super thanks link next to the download icon thank you all for the support

Channel: Abandoned Central

Views: 1,396,438

Keywords: abandoned mansion, abandoned house, detroit, aretha franklin, luxury real estate, aretha franklin detroit mansion, aretha franklin mansion, abandoned exploring, urban exploring, abandoned, urbex, abandoned detroit, urbex detroit, exploring an abandoned mansion, abandoned mansion usa, abandoned mansion with everything left, house tour, real estate, abandoned places, house tour 2023, aretha franklin house tour

Id: apDcADWnnKY

Length: 37min 7sec (2227 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 10 2023