Dolly Parton Spent the Roughly $10 Million from Whitney Houston’s Cover of Her Song on a Nashville Office Complex in a Black Neighborhood, and Called It “The House That Whitney Built.”

by · Thought Catalog
Paul Natkin / WireImage via Getty Images

Gossip

By Nicole Stawiarski

Updated 3 minutes ago, August 27, 2026

She wrote “I Will Always Love You” in 1973. When Whitney Houston’s cover made it a global hit two decades later, Parton took the royalties and built something with them. She called the place “the house that Whitney built.”

Houston’s 1992 version of “I Will Always Love You,” recorded for The Bodyguard, became a worldwide phenomenon and earned Parton around $10 million in songwriter royalties. She used that money on a Nashville office complex, choosing a site in what was then a historically Black neighborhood off 16th Avenue.

Whitney Houston raises her hand to the crowd during a 1988 concert at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy, where she performed alongside another artist on stage. Photo by Bertrand Guay / AFP via Getty Images.

“I’m just gonna be down here with her people, who are my people as well,” Parton said. “So I just love the fact that I spent that money on a complex and I think, ‘This is the house that Whitney built.'”

Thank you for reading Thought Catalog. Keep up with us on Facebook, or dive into more on our website.