Elvis Presley House facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Elvis Presley House
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| Location | 1034 Audubon Dr. Memphis TN |
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| Built | ca. 1954 |
| Architect | Howard Handwerker |
| Architectural style | Ranch |
| NRHP reference No. | 05001217 |
| Added to NRHP | 2006 |
The Elvis Presley House is a cool, one-story house in a quiet neighborhood in Memphis, Tennessee. This is where the famous singer Elvis Presley lived with his parents from March 1956 to March 1957. After that, he moved to his much more famous home, Graceland.
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What Was Elvis Presley's House Like?
This house is a one-story ranch-style home. It has a strong concrete foundation and a garage for two cars. The house is in a peaceful neighborhood. Inside, it has four bedrooms and two bathrooms.
Elvis's family added a brick and metal fence around the property. In the backyard, there was even a garage for his motorcycle! In 1956, Elvis put in a swimming pool. People said it was the biggest home pool in Memphis at that time. The pool was later removed in 2006.
The house's color changed over the years. It was first painted green, then white, and then green again.
The History of Elvis's Home
Elvis bought this house on March 12, 1956. He paid $29,500 for it, giving a $500 down payment. Elvis was only 21 years old when he bought this home. It was not far from where he lived before, at 1414 Getwell Road.
Soon after Elvis moved in, his song Heartbreak Hotel became super popular. Fans started to gather outside his new house. The house quickly became a place where fans, reporters, and even other celebrities would visit. Pictures of the house were printed in big magazines like Look, Seventeen, and Parade. The police often had to come because of the large crowds of fans.
There were so many fans and photographers that it became too much for Elvis. After living there for 13 months, he decided to move to Graceland. When Elvis bought Graceland, he traded his Audubon Drive house as part of the deal. Ruth Moore, who owned Graceland, moved into the Audubon house. Since then, the house has been sold about eight times.
In March 2006, the house was added to the National Register of Historic Places. This happened just before it was put up for sale online.
Who Owns the House Now?
The house was put up for sale on eBay in May 2006. At first, some reports said that Uri Geller won the auction with a bid of $905,100. But actually, the house was sold to a record company executive named Mike Curb. The reported price was $1 million. Mike Curb then gave the care of the property to the Mike Curb Institute at Rhodes College.
The new owners repainted the house green, like it was when Elvis lived there. They also fixed the fence and removed the old pool. The house is not open to the public right now. However, it sometimes hosts small special events and private music concerts. In April 2017, the house was damaged by a fire during renovations. Luckily, most of the things inside the house were safe because they had been moved elsewhere.
The Special Plaque
There is a special plaque on the brick fence of the house. It tells some important facts about the home:
- On March 20, 1956, Elvis Presley and his parents, Vernon and Gladys, moved into 1034 Audubon Drive.
- Elvis bought the house with money from his first million-selling record, "Heartbreak Hotel."
- That year was very important for his music career.
- The house is now owned by the Mike Curb Family Foundation. This foundation helps support music education and saves historic music places.
- In 2006, the foundation created the Mike Curb Institute for Music at Rhodes College. This institute helps with music preservation and research.
