Eminem’s childhood home is no more. Michigan news outlet MLive reports that the Detroit rapper’s former abode was demolished on Wednesday, November 20, after sustaining damage in a recent fire. For years, the two-story bungalow has figured prominently in Eminem’s mythos, appearing on the covers of his 2000 masterpiece, The Marshall Mathers LP, and its newly released sequel, The Marshall Mathers LP 2.
Officials with the Michigan Land Bank, the government agency that owned the property, deemed it “structurally unsafe” after a blaze broke out on the building’s top floor on November 7. “The condition of the property post-fire presents a safety hazard that the Land Bank is responsible for removing,” Land Bank director Kim Homan said in a statement. “The goal is to demolish and clean up the site, so neighborhood safety and order can be restored.”
Crews are expected to be finished removing debris from the site by the end of the month. Several weeks before the fire, the boarded-up and abandoned house was put up for auction, with minimum bids starting at $1. MLive notes that the Michigan Land Bank — which manages vacant properties across the state, including 11,000 in Detroit — received more than 120 bids on the location. One fan reportedly hoped to turn the single-family home into a museum.
Officials reached out to Eminem to see if he was interested in purchasing the space at 19946 Dresden Street, just south of 8 Mile Road, but to no avail. Em’s publicist told MLive that there likely “won’t be a comment” from the “Rap God” regarding the home’s destruction.
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According to public records, Marshall Mathers’ mother, Deborah Nelson, bought the house in 1987 for $19,900. The property then changed hands roughly 10 times before finally being foreclosed upon in 2001. The state of Michigan apparently plans to sell the land once the site is cleaned.
Scroll down to watch video footage of Eminem’s childhood home being demolished (via MLive), and be sure to read SPIN’s outstanding review of MMLP2.
