When Aretha Franklin sought a second metro Detroit home as a creative sanctuary and hub for her famously lavish parties, she found the ideal spot.
In March 1994, she purchased the Rose Estate, a gorgeous Palmer Woods property situated along the ninth hole of the Detroit Golf Club. Once owned by artist and activist Patricia Hill Burnett, the 5,623-square-foot Detroit house became a regal complement to the Queen of Soul’s primary residence in Bloomfield Hills.
But over time — and amid the singer’s worsening health — Franklin abandoned the property, eventually boarding up the windows as the 1927 home fell into increasing decay. When her estate unloaded the house for $300,000 following Franklin’s 2018 death, selling it to a Michigan developer, it was in desperate need of major work.
Enter Detroiter Trevor Thomas and his partner, Brandon Lynum, who proved to be more than up for the demanding project tucked away on a quiet, leafy stretch of Hamilton Road.
A view of the Tudor style Great Hall built in 1927 has 28-foot ceilings in The Rose Estate in Detroit that was once owned by Aretha Franklin as a home where she entertained. (Ryan Garza/USA TODAY)
This summer, the couple unveiled a year’s worth of intensive work on the Rose Estate, the first in a three-stage, multimillion-dollar restoration that promises to return the property to its former glory.
And it has become more than just a home for Thomas and Lynum: While they’ve been careful to maintain the integrity of the original house — down to the smallest fireplace details — they’ve also transformed it into something of an Aretha museum, lining the walls with photos and memorabilia from the singer’s storied life in music and civil rights.
And now the Rose Estate is already quietly emerging as a go-to Detroit destination for non-profit benefit events, school tour groups and other functions, while welcoming Franklin fans to a place that once housed her beloved red piano and pink bedroom set.
“People get emotional here,” Thomas said last week during a tour of the Tudor house, which has been festively outfitted in Christmas decor for the holidays. “If they want to have a moment alone, we let them do that.”
Franklin would have appreciated the holiday trimmings: The Thanksgiving-Christmas period was her favorite time of the year.
One of the folks stirred by a return visit to the restored house is Linda Solomon, a photographer and journalist who was a close friend of both Franklin and Burnett. She’s among a litany of recent guests who have included Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and Queen of Soul family members such as son Edward Franklin and niece Sabrina Owens.
Solomon applauded Thomas and Lynum for their care and respect while preserving the legacy of two historic Detroit women, who shared a zest for life and a passion for social entertaining — including splashy annual parties celebrating their own birthdays.
“Anybody who was ever in that house with Patricia or Aretha will be touched going in there,” Solomon said. “It’s emotional to be back and revisit that beauty.”
Getting to that point was a colossal challenge. By the time Thomas and Lynum closed on their purchase in June 2023, the house had suffered years of extensive water damage. Neighborhood raccoons had done their part too, tearing through walls, among other messes.
A spa built in the traditional primary bedroom of The Rose Estate in Detroit that was once owned by Aretha Franklin. (Ryan Garza/USA TODAY)
Thomas, a Domino’s executive, and Lynum, a General Motors designer, had rehabbed two previous homes. But the potential grandeur of the Rose Estate, boosted by its historic and cultural significance, made for a special kind of mission.
A neighbor offered a friendly heads-up as they took over the property:
“You better get ready,” he told them. “There’s a lot of people who pull into your driveway.”
And the Queen of Soul’s presence still loomed large. When Thomas phoned DTE Energy to reactive electric service, a rep told him there was a note on the account: The caller at this address must be referred to as “Ms. Franklin.” Clearly some long-ago company agent had made the mistake of casually addressing the decorum-minded singer as “Aretha.”
To date, the two have invested more than $2 million to rehabilitate the magnificent mansion, with Thomas overseeing the nearly 50 contractors, craftsmen and other workers involved so far.
“You really have to fight for the house,” said Thomas. “You have to be passionate and ridiculously focused to make it work.”
The results are already striking. The home’s rich details and warm character feel refreshed, from the limestone-encased windows, the handsome hardwood floors, the roses tastefully etched into plaster in the foyer and beyond.
Roses are tastefully etched into plaster in the foyer and beyond.
For Thomas and Lynum, the serendipitous journey to the Rose Estate started nearly five years ago.
Living in nearby Sherwood Forest, the couple could spot the grand old home through the trees. But it wasn’t until the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, while passing time by driving around Detroit, that the couple got a first close-up look.
While intrigued, they knew nothing about the mansion or its history before hitting Google for more info — which is when they also learned the property was up for sale.
After a series of negotiations, Thomas and Lynum finally landed the house last year. They embarked on painstaking research to decode the property’s history, digging up old news clippings, combing through Franklin’s archives at the University of Michigan and discovering 600 original Burnett documents in a secret cubbyhole in the Rose Estate’s library.
Patricia Hill Burnett was a onetime Miss Michigan and Miss America runner-up who went on to a prominent career as a portrait artist, creating many of her works in a backyard art studio, now a patio. Her subjects included Rosa Parks, Margaret Thatcher, Betty Ford and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, many of them official portraits still hanging in institutions around the world.
The dining room with a hand-colored Belle Isle Detroit mural by The Detroit Wallpaper Company in The Rose Estate in Detroit that was once owned by Aretha Franklin. (Ryan Garza/USA TODAY)
Burnett also made a name as a pioneering feminist advocate and in 1995 — a year after selling the Rose Estate to Franklin — documented her life and career in the autobiography “True Colors.”
“Aretha could have had any home in Detroit,” said Solomon, who, at the time, worked as Franklin’s personal photographer. “But this was special to her because it was Patricia Hill Burnett’s home. And that’s why she selected it.”
Thomas and Lynum learned that Franklin had taken care to preserve most of the house’s original features while adding a few of her own touches — gold sconces by the drawing room fireplace, a purple-tinted chandelier in the great hall.
Upstairs, the singer had converted the main bedroom into a spa, complete with a vivid red acrylic tub. The guest bedroom became her sleeping quarters when at the house, and Franklin’s walking cane was still at the bedside when Thomas and Lynum took over.
Two other bedrooms are adjoined by a bathroom lined with dazzling, Detroit-made Pewabic tiles — “like walking into a piece of art,” as Thomas said.
This first phase of work has launched what Thomas expects to be a five-year project that will ultimately include restoration of the home’s slate roof, third floor and basement level, which, for now, has been gutted following major water damage.
Thomas and Lynum have been welcoming to guests, including unexpected visitors who pop by hoping to capture some magic from a house associated with one of the 20th century’s musical greats.
They’ve included one Stage 4 cancer patient who was using Franklin’s music as emotional therapy while at Henry Ford Hospital before asking a nurse to drive him to the Rose Estate.
“In moments like that, you’re reminded of how significant it is,” said Thomas. “It’s really not just some physical structure. They come because it’s a reminder of her commitment to civil rights, or all she did for women, as opposed to just being a celebrity.”
On the Rose Estate’s main floor and stairway landing, the couple have installed museum-style placards detailing the house’s story while placing images and memorabilia saluting Burnett and Franklin: There’s a photo of Franklin with Martin Luther King Jr., a signed Andy Warhol print from his artwork for the 1986 album “Aretha,” two outfits from the 2021 biopic “Respect.”
And there’s a gold-record plaque marking Franklin’s “A Rose is Still a Rose,” the fittingly titled 1998 album recorded while she owned the Hamilton Road house.
For the Franklin family, the Rose Estate’s revival has been especially gratifying.
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