Houses of Prince
Where did Prince live in Minneapolis? How did Minnesota shape Prince?
Trace Prince's journey from his North Minneapolis birthplace to Paisley Park through the houses that shaped his life.
Houses of Prince is an ongoing collaborative project of creative and historic research into all the places Prince lived in Minnesota. Curator Emma Balázs and historian Kristen Zschomler document every residence Prince called home in Minnesota - from his childhood at 915 Logan Avenue North to the Bernadette Anderson house where he found refuge as a teenager, to Paisley Park.
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Kristen's historical research and preservation advocacy has been instrumental in bringing critical attention to Prince's Minnesota sites and their cultural significance. The People's Museum is interested in helping to share ongoing research into Prince with a wide audience and presents public exhibitions of Prince's life through his houses.
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For The People's Museum exhibitions (2018, 2026), historian Kristen Zschomler researches and writes the historical texts that accompany Emma Balázs's photographs and visual presentations. These exhibition texts provide detailed historical context, timelines, and documentation of Prince's journey from North Minneapolis to Paisley Park.
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Balázs & Zschomler's research will be published in the upcoming book, Daphne A. Brooks ed. "Blackstar Rising and the Purple Reign", Duke University Press, 2026.
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Coming June 2026:
A special, expanded exhibition presentation of Houses of Prince focusing on North Minneapolis will be featured at The People's Museum for Prince at Roberts Gallery, 2400 Plymouth Avenue North (on Bernadette Anderson Way). Join us in Minneapolis. See our preview map below!​​​
Houses of Prince- The Pilgrimage
Presented at the People's Museum for Prince 2018
I took these images and many more on my multiple pilgrimages to Minneapolis after Prince left us. My grieving for Prince took form as a quest to walk through his life, to visit the places he inhabited. During my visits from New York City, I would research every possible site related to Prince and make my way there, usually by bus and a lot of walking. It was hot, sweaty August, golden October, freezing, numb January and bleak April. I still can’t really connect these spaces with Prince, I still can’t imagine him here. He may have been my secret soul friend since I was 12, but I missed his whole life on earth.-- Emma Balázs, curator
​​Kristen Zschomler is a professional historian, archeologist and preservationist who researches, writes and presents on places associated with Prince, and is working to get several recognized as historic properties.
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For the past 8 years, she has been researching, fact-checking and clarifying Prince’s journey from Minneapolis’ Northside to Paisley Park, and has written up the results of her effort in an in-depth historical context with an accompanying list of properties associated with the artist. It has been a fascinating and revealing excavation that often challenges long-held narratives and perceptions about Prince. As a lifelong fan, this work has offered her a way to process her grief over Prince's death. She has also found healing through the love she has received from the hundreds of people she has lead on tours to these important locations.
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To date, Kristen 's dliligent research has been instrumental in achieving historic recognition for 3 Prince properties in Minnesota: Prince's childhood home at 2620 8th Ave North: Sound 80 Recording Studio: and First Avenue Nightclub.​​​​
Kristen Zschomler
Research &
Preservation
Advocacy
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​​​​​Historical Research & Preservation:​
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Kristen Zschomler's preservation advocacy secured landmark designation for the Nelson House at 2620 8th Avenue North in November 2025.
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Kristen's research: National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Documentation Form for Prince-related properties ​National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Documentation Form (February 2020)
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Andrea Swensson, Gotta Be Something Here: The Rise of the Minneapolis Sound (University of Minnesota Press, 2017) — essential research on Grand Central, the Bernadette Anderson house as birthplace of the Minneapolis Sound, and Prince's early years
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Media Coverage:
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Rebecca Bengal & Alec Soth, "Where Prince lived in Minneapolis," Vogue, April 21, 2018
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Jay Gabler, "Prince's childhood homes: MnDOT research helps create a timeline," The Current, September 2016
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Nick Halter, "Prince's childhood North Minneapolis home could get historic designation," Axios, October 2024
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Prince's Childhood home: 2620 8th Avenue North
Nelson House​
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'Today, the Nelson House in the Willard-Hay neighborhood is officially a local landmark"
City of Minneapolis, November 2025
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Bernadette Anderson Way
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In September 2024, the City of Minneapolis renamed a portion of Russell Avenue North as Bernadette Anderson Way. Bernadette Anderson was a community leader and took Prince into her home when he was a teen. Read more about "Queen Bernie" and Prince in this post Way Back Home : Prince & the People's Museum in North Minneapolis
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Learn more:
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Links & Articles
Historic
Preservation
Museum News
​​Way Back Home. The museum opens June 7, 2026 on Bernadette Anderson Way — the street named for the woman who guided Prince during some of his most formative years. Read our blog post about Prince's North Minneapolis journey, how we found the gallery on her street, and the community that shaped Prince Rogers Nelson. Read the story →
Learn more about Bernadette Anderson and the street naming at bernadetteandersonway.com
​If you have a Prince story, memory or art to share- please visit the museum's call for participation !