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Prince’s Plans To Turn Paisley Park Estate Into A Museum Could Become A Reality

By Gail Delaney
Published on: 16:16 PST, Apr 25, 2016

Prince Rogers Nelson owned Paisley Park, but now that he has passed away, it may be turned into a lasting memorial for the late singer. Bakersfield Now reports that before Prince died, he was making plans to turn Paisley Park into a museum so everyone can enjoy his legacy.

Sheila E. told Entertainment Tonight the following.

“We’re hoping to make Paisley what (he wanted) it to be. (He) was working on it being a museum. He’s been gathering memorabilia and stuff from all the tours, like my drums and his motorcycle. There’s a hallway of his awards and things, which he really didn’t care about too much, but he displayed it for the fans because he knows that they would want to see it. There’s pictures of him all down the halls, some you’ve seen before and some never (seen) There’s a mural on the wall with his hands out and on one side is all the people he was influenced by and the other side is all of us who have played with him… It’s beautiful.”

Paisley Park is located on 9-acres of land and the complex was designed by Bret Theony of Los Angeles. The building took three years before it was finally completed in 1987 for about $10 million. Not only was Paisley Park the place where Prince recorded over 30 of his albums, practiced with his band and shot his movies, it was where Prince stayed when he didn’t want to leave the studios. Paisley Park has 65,000 square-feet with the bottom portion of the building dedicated to the production facilities including a sound stage. Strangely enough, there are no windows on the first floor because Prince wanted a feeling of timelessness while he was working, recording or writing.

Prince often resided on the second floor when he was in town, and it included the executive offices along with a vault that held his unreleased songs and documentary. One of the cool features he had incorporated into the structure is a large glass pyramid which sits atop of one of the buildings, and it would glow purple when he was there.

According to Time, Prince’s private office was hard to describe. There were stained glass doors and inside, he had three beds, a king-sized bed, a round bed, and a day bed. The room had one large mirror that hung on the wall over the king-sized bed. The room had sofas, chairs, and a desk, which according to Time, were all built large-scale.

When Prince first opened Paisley Park, it operated at a loss for two years, but after that, it took off and started running at a profit. The sound stage and recording studios are state-of-the-art, and they were “used for everything from rock videos to Hormel chili commercials.”

Time wrote the following.

“The proprietor’s favorite black-and-white ’67 T-bird can often be seen in the parking lot. But he likes to keep out of the way, partly from personal inclination and partly from business savvy. He doesn’t want anybody, according to one aide, ‘to feel like they’ve walked into Graceland’ when dropping by Paisley Park. He keeps his various awards, including those for his four gold and eight platinum albums, locked in a basement room. But next to it, almost like tablets in a tabernacle, are tapes of an estimated 100 unreleased songs, plus two complete albums — enough to keep Prince in royalties for years, even if he never writes another note…”

While plans are being made to turn Paisley Park into a museum, Prince owned two other properties in Chanhassen as well as other properties located in the United States. One property in Chanhassen has 149-acres with lakefront land and the other is a small 1.83 acres. No reports on what may happen to them, but real estate agent Eric Stafford of Coldwell Banker Burnet in Chanhassen, Wisconsin, said that the lakefront property could be “donated to the government or a university for park land.

Real estate agent Barry Berg with the Berg Larsen Group of Coldwell Banker Burnet has a different idea on what to do with Paisley Park. To him, it does not fit in with the other upscale properties in that section of the suburbs and he thinks others will feel the same way.

“Someone might buy this, knock it down and build houses.”

Realtor said that Paisley Park “looks more like a research lab or corporate headquarters than a music studio, occasional concert venue, and sometimes residence.”

According to Business Insider, Prince’s brother-in-law, Maurice Phillips said that Paisley Park being made into a museum “would be for the fans. He (Prince) was all about the fans — this would remember his music, which is his legacy. Prince was always private but would have wanted his music remembered.”

Prince Rogers Nelson was not flashy with his things or continually bragging about his accomplishments. He was a very private person who managed to keep the paparazzi at bay. Do you think the idea of turning Paisley Park into a museum is a good one or not, especially after Prince died in the elevator there? If they do change it, would you be willing to go?

[Photo by Chris Carlson/AP Images]

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