Eminem's Childhood Home In Detroit Burns After Woman Tried To Purchase It

The Detroit home where Eminem spent
part of his childhood burned in a blaze
Thursday, just days after a woman
reportedly offered to purchase it and
turn it into a museum dedicated to the
rapper.
Firefighters responded to battle the fire at
the small, two-story bungalow just south
of 8 Mile Road at 6:20 p.m., the Detroit
Free Press reports. The boarded-up home
was on a street with numerous other
vacant homes and overgrown yards.
According to the Associated Press, an
immediate cause wasn't known for the
fire that damaged the top floor of the
house. A Detroit Free Press video shows
some of the aftermath:



Here's 19946 Dresden St. in September:



The house will look familiar to fans of
the Detroit MC. It appears on the cover of
Eminem's 2000 release "The Marshall
Mathers LP," and makes a comeback on
the cover of "The Marshall Mathers LP
2," released this week.
The vacant house has been up for auction
through the Michigan Land Bank for
months with an apparent minimum bid
of $1. But just Monday, MLive reported a
Tennessee woman was in the process of
bidding on the home, though her offer
had not yet been accepted by the
Michigan Land Bank. The news site
describes 28-year-old Shelly Hazlett as
an "avid Eminem fan" who wanted to
turn it into a museum dedicated to the
rapper.
Before falling into disrepair, the home
belonged to Eminem's mother for several
years, according to records obtained by
the Detroit Free Press. In her book My
Son Marshall, My Son Eminem , Deborah
Mathers spoke fondly of the house at
19946 Dresden St.
"Marshall loved it so much that he had a
model of it made to take on tour with
him," she wrote. "Even though we'd
moved a lot, he always said the house on
Dresden was his childhood home."
You can see Eminem walking on a dark
street past the boarded-up house at the
end of his video for "Survival," starting
at minute 4:06. It's hard to read the
stone-faced rapper's expression, but some
might say he almost looks wistful.