Prince Concepts

King House & Farm

The King House: the conversion of a run-down 1910 Detroit home into a live/work studio, residence and farm. Completed April, 2019.

King House in proximity to the rest of Core City (Chris Miele, 2023).

Prince Concepts purchased this property from Mr. John King, a Liberian immigrant who had lived in this house for 15+ years. The project’s name comes from his.

The house sits directly adjacent to True North. After the construction of True North, Mr. King approached Philip Kafka and told him he had a brick house he wanted to renovate and live in by the Motor City Casino. Mr. King asked if Kafka would be interested in purchasing his house - a sale would give him the necessary funds to renovate his Brick home. The two agreed, and a deal was done for a 15,000 SF site, and 2,000 SF home with over two decades of deferred maintenance.

The King House at acquisition (2018)

King House as True North Rises (Chris Miele, 2016)

The King House & Farm (Chris Miele, 2019)

The concept for the renovation was simple - Prince wanted to preserve the shape, scale, and intent of the former house and also minimize the number of materials used in the project.

All original window openings remained, a few added.

The Exterior - 100% corrugated metal.

The Interior - 100% Douglas Fir plywood.

The inspiration for the living spaces came from thinking about how a monk would live - simply - valuing that which is free: light, space, and emphasizing (hence celebrating) the holy nature of water.

The form of a Detroit home from the past, dressed for the future (Chris Miele, 2019)

Double height living room (Chris Miele, 2019)

Master bath view out to True North (Chris Miele, 2019)

Bedroom view out to True North (Chris Miele, 2019)

So delicious (Chris Miele, 2019)

The home offers special moments: double height spaces with skylights, a 100% polycarbonate shower that protrudes off the back of the house, celebrated wash basins out in the open, and spectacular views of True North and the Flower Farm. The result is a 2 bedroom, 2.5 bath home that is both simple and spectacular.

You enter into a generous wood cabin, double height (Chris Miele, 2019)

Looking from the upstairs bedroom into the living room (Chris Miele 2019)

Ethereal natural light from above (Chris Miele, 2019)

Special moments (Chris Miele, 2019)

Shower here (Chris Miele, 2019)

Water makes any room holy (Chris Miele 2019)

Looking out from upstairs (Chris Miele, 2021)

Shortly after purchasing the property, Kafka met Julia Griffin of Willa Rose Floral and began renovating the house to serve as her home and studio, with 12,000+ SF of the property serving as her flower farm.

Julia beautifully lived in the home, worked form the studio in the house, and used the land to produce her own flowers.

To this day, the energy and attitude that Julia endowed the property with, lives on, the the house and farm continue to work together and serve the neighborhood.