Inside Graceland: Elvis, Priscilla & Lisa Marie Presley's Home History

Table Of Content

• Top End teenager reels in history by catching Northern Territory’s million dollar fish
• What Happened After Elvis?
• Explore the Mansion
• Connect with ABC News
• Lisa Marie Presley’s final resting place will be at Graceland by her late son’s side
• Jennifer Aniston Shares Rare Glimpse Into Her Private World
• All about Elvis Presley's legendary Memphis home, and its staggering worth today

And if you're curious about Elvis's other former homes, like his possibly haunted Hollywood apartment or his iconic Palm Springs honeymoon house, we have you covered there too. The mansion remains not only a tourist attraction, but a staple in pop culture. In June 2022, actors Austin Butler and Tom Hanks visited the mansion and were interviewed virtually for “Good Morning America” to talk about their biographical film “Elvis.” The film featured a recreation of the iconic estate. Sofia Coppola’s film “Priscilla” documenting the life of Priscilla Presley, will also feature scenes at a recreation of Graceland, showcasing her life at the mansion with Elvis.

Top End teenager reels in history by catching Northern Territory’s million dollar fish

She was the only daughter of the late music legend Elvis Presley and Priscilla Presley. In 2006, Graceland was declared a National Historic Landmark and now attracts 650,000 visitors annually. The mansion is so famous that’s even inspired a wedding chapel in Las Vegas.

What Happened After Elvis?

Lisa Marie took complete ownership of the home when she turned 25 in February 1993. Graceland will also serve as the location for Lisa Marie's final resting place, a rep for Riley confirmed to E! She will be buried alongside her father and her son, Benjamin Keough, who died by suicide in 2020 at age 27. Elvis Presley was just 22 years old when he bought his Graceland home in Memphis, Tenn., on March, 25, 1957. The singer paid $102,500 for the property, which already had its famous moniker.

Explore the Mansion

This included Graceland, as well as its eponymous 13.8-acre estate. Ms. Presley was back at Graceland just four days before her death — she visited the estate on Sunday to celebrate what would have been her father’s 88th birthday. On Thursday, following what her family has described as a “medical emergency,” she was rushed from her home in Calabasas, Calif., to a Los Angeles hospital, and shortly after was pronounced dead. The resort’s premiere restaurant, Delta’s Kitchen, serves breakfast and dinner daily. The 172-seat restaurant features contemporary décor and serves southern cuisine celebrating the culinary history of the Tennessee and Mississippi River Delta. E.P.’s Bar & Grill is a casual restaurant and bar serving “soul of the south” pub cuisine with a contemporary twist.

Connect with ABC News

Elvis Presley died aged 42 on August 16, 1977, with his will naming his father Vernon Presley as the executor and trustee. In June 2022, actors Austin Butler and Tom Hanks visited the mansion and were interviewed virtually by the Good Morning America news program from the Jungle Room to talk about their biographical film Elvis. According to Elvis Presley's Enterprises, staff at Graceland informally kept a list of celebrities who had visited in the first years following Elvis's death.

After Elvis Presley's death in 1977, Vernon Presley served as executor of his estate. Upon his death in 1979, he chose Priscilla to serve as the estate executor for Elvis's only child, Lisa Marie, who was only 11. Graceland itself cost $500,000 a year in upkeep, and expenses had dwindled Elvis's and Priscilla's daughter Lisa Marie's inheritance to only $1 million. Taxes were due on the property; those and other expenses due came to over $500,000. Faced with having to sell Graceland, Priscilla examined other famous houses/museums, and hired a CEO, Jack Soden, to turn Graceland into a moneymaker. Priscilla's gamble paid off; after only a month of opening Graceland's doors the estate made back all the money it had invested.

Priscilla Presley became the chairwoman and president of Elvis Presley Enterprises, or EPE, stating at that time she would do so until Lisa Marie reached 21 years of age. The enterprise's fortunes soared and eventually the trust grew to be worth over $100 million. The mania for all things Elvis Presley clearly did not die with him, as evidenced by multiple recent biopics and the enduring obsession with his final resting place, Graceland. At the time of his death, the estate and the family shares of Elvis Presley Enterprises were worth $5 million; Vanity Fair reports that today that number is closer to $500 million. The abode at 3764 Elvis Presley Boulevard in Memphis is a pilgrimage site, drawing in over 4,000 visitors a day during the height of its tourist season, per Graceland’s accounting.

All about Elvis Presley's legendary Memphis home, and its staggering worth today

Graceland was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on November 7, 1991, becoming the first site recognized for significance related to rock music. It was declared a National Historic Landmark on March 27, 2006, also a first for such a site. In exchange for Priscilla's resignation as a trustee, Keough will pay Priscilla a lump sum and reimbursement of legal fees up to $400,000.

Graceland: 40 facts to mark the 41th anniversary of the public opening of Elvis' home

Despite the passing of four decades, remarkably, there’s been no ebb in the steady flow of inquisitive tourists. People still go crazy for the King of Rock and Roll, and he’s especially having a cultural resurgence at the moment thanks to the Baz Luhrmann–directed biopic, called simply Elvis, which is set to hit theaters on June 24. For the film, which features Austin Butler in the titular role, Olivia DeJonge as Priscilla Presley, and Tom Hanks as Elvis’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker, Graceland was completely recreated on a set in Queensland, Australia. A fixture of music history, Graceland reports hosting 500,000 visitors a year across its 13-acre grounds and 17,552 square feet. So, Elvis fans, before you plan a trip to the iconic Tennessee property, here are all of the answers to your most pressing questions—including why you should visit, how much it costs, and where you should stay. Plus, dive into the history of the estate, from how much Elvis purchased it for to who owns it today.

He reportedly told onlookers the gesture was "so Elvis can play in heaven." The gravesite is the focus of the annual Candlelight Vigil that draws thousands of fans to Graceland every year, to promenade to the Meditation Garden on the anniversary of Elvis' death. The vigil originally was a fan-generated event, but it soon was embraced by Elvis Presley Enterprises and made the centerpiece of Graceland's annual "Elvis Week" August activities. The first vigil was held in 1978, when fans from the Austin, Texas-based Elvis Country Fan Club traveled to Graceland to pay their respects to the King by lighting candles outside the gates. Of course, if you'd like to eat, play, and sleep at Graceland, you can! The Guest House at Graceland is located just a few steps from the gates of Graceland Mansion.

Graceland was the personal home of the king of rock ’n’ roll from 1957 until his death at the age of 42. For Ms. Presley, rock ’n’ roll royalty who died on Thursday in Los Angeles, Graceland was the castle where she spent holidays with her father, and notoriously had full daytime reign of its grand, chandelier-lit rooms while her night owl father slept. The familiar pink Alabama fieldstone wall that fronts the property was erected in 1957, to protect Presley's privacy and discourage trespassing fans. Grace's niece, Ruth Moore, referred to in newspaper reports as a "socialite" and "musical prodigy," and her husband, Thomas Moore, a doctor, built the Colonial Revival (sometimes called "Classical Revival") mansion in 1939. Before Elvis expanded it, the house contained 10,266 square feet.

Ahead of her burial, the grounds of the superstar's Memphis home will be opened for a public memorial service honoring the singer-songwriter and mom of four, a representative for her eldest daughter Riley Keough confirmed to E! News, noting that she, 14-year-old sisters Harper and Finley Lockwood and Lisa Marie's mom Priscilla Presley "are grateful for the support, well-wishes and outpouring of love honoring their beloved Lisa Marie." Riley Keough, the daughter of Lisa Marie Presley, will be the sole trustee for her late mother's estate, according to court documents obtained by USA TODAY. In a court ruling from Friday, August 4, a Los Angeles judge named Keough the sole trustee of her mother Lisa Marie Presley's estate, which includes the iconic Memphis property.

Elvis Presley Enterprises expanded the Elvis Presley experience at Graceland in 2017 by opening the 200,000 square foot entertainment and exhibition complex, Elvis Presley’s Memphis and one hotel called The Guest House of Graceland. Through it all, Graceland — now a national historic landmark — stayed in Presley’s hands. If it gets sold off after her death, Elvis Presley Enterprises, run by managing partner Joel Weinshanker, would be a good bet for the buyer, said Los Angeles-based lawyer Tre Lovell of the Lovell Firm. “There’s always complications anytime a single asset owner deceases and their assets are now going to go to multiple people because they may have different needs, different desires,” said Scott Rahn, founding partner at RMO LLP. With all the focus now on everything Elvis, things could get messy, according to legal experts who specialize in estates of high-net-worth individuals. Her father’s legacy is back in the mainstream (if it ever left) after a hit biopic directed by Baz Luhrmann and starring Austin Butler was released by Warner Bros. this summer.

Although the rock star was a cash cow while alive, his lavish spending habits and shortsighted deal-making left the family in dire straits once he was gone. But with the founding of Elvis Presley Enterprises, Priscilla helped turn the mansion into a tourist attraction. The ambitious centerpiece of an attempt to expand the Elvis experience beyond the mansion, Elvis Presley’s Memphis opened on March 2, 2017. In addition to rock-and-rollers, Graceland attracted many animals.

Graceland's New Sole Owner, Riley Keough, Details Childhood on Elvis's Iconic Estate - Architectural Digest

Graceland's New Sole Owner, Riley Keough, Details Childhood on Elvis's Iconic Estate.

Posted: Wed, 09 Aug 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

On Nov. 24, 1976, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis' contemporary and onetime rock-and-roll rival, was arrested at about 3 a.m. Outside Graceland, after he drove up to the gates in his Lincoln Continental Mark IV and demanded to see Elvis, while "screaming and yelling and waving a Derringer in the air" (according to the testimony of a guard at the gates, as quoted in The Commercial  Appeal). Police confirmed that the Killer's "two-shot .38 caliber Derringer" was loaded (as, apparently, was Lewis).