Other people’s houses (2) Elvis, Graceland, Memphis, Tennessee
In the words of Paul Simon, “I go to Graceland, Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee” and now I have been but, in my case, with a travel companion of several decades, more than nine years and an unconditional fan of the “King of Rock and Roll”.
Since Elvis Presley’s death in 1977, Graceland, the house Elvis bought in 1957 and on whose grounds he is buried, has become a shrine to Elvis’ memory and a pilgrimage center for thousands of fans who visit each year. .
Graceland was built on a hilly and wooded thirteen and three-quarter acre lot on the two-lane Highway 51 connecting Memphis to Jackson, Mississippi, for a residence of Dr. and Mrs. Thomas D. Moore. Over time, the name “Graceland” came to refer specifically to the house, but was originally applied to the entire area which was established as a Hereford cattle farm in 1861, by SE Toof, the publisher of the Memphis Commercial Appeal. It is named after his daughter, Grace Toof. Ruth Moore, who built the Graceland house, was Grace’s niece who planned the house for her daughter, Ruth Marie, who played the harp and piano. The music sought through its own foundations. The rooms were designed with future musical evenings in mind and space was essential. A commercial appeal headline on Sunday, October 27, 1940, advertised the “colonial courtesy of the Georgian style exemplified in stately Graceland.” The house she has reached symbolizes Elvis.
The house was opened to the public in 1982. I understand that about 650,000 people pass through the front door a year. Graceland has become one of the top five most visited home museums in the United States and in 1991 earned the honor of being listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Joining one of the many shuttle tours that operate out of downtown Memphis, I personally was prepared to be disappointed. Would it all be over the top and tasteless, but hey, always curious about other people’s tastes and quirks, was it a must see? Surrounded by fellow travelers, devoted Elvis fans, who have come to see not just where Elvis lived but how he lived, the tour began.
Tishomingo’s white stone neoclassical façade with contrasting green louvered windows presents a truly calm, elegant and stylish home. Entering through the Corinthian columns in the front portico, the ‘formal’ dining room and sitting room are lavishly decorated in a blue, white and gold color scheme and the mirrors that are a predominant feature of both rooms give them a distinctive feel. wide. The centerpiece of the Dining Room is a spectacular Italian cut crystal chandelier purchased by Elvis on an after-hours shopping spree at Belvedere Lighting in Memphis in August 1974. Separate the living room from the music room. The same company that did the stained glass work around the front door and the stained glass billiards lamp in the billiards room.
Moving into the music room, efficiently decorated in gold and white, a black Story and Clark grand piano takes pride of place. The most famous person to play it besides Elvis was James Brown, who remembers singing gospel songs with Elvis. The wall mirror in the Music Room illustrates the fact that much was put away; things weren’t thrown away and vandalized over the years. This mirror dates back to the Presleys’ previous home on Audubon Drive, where they lived before moving to Graceland. The staircase in the vestibule leads to the upper floor of the house, which is unfortunately not open to visitors. I would have loved to have a nose at the bedrooms and all four bathrooms. The chandelier above the stairs is the largest of the three in the house and the same design as the one in the Dining Room, in the Maria Theresa design. The third chandelier is Strauss crystal and hangs just inside the front door of the foyer.
The TV room, decorated in black and gold with mirrored walls, was decorated in its current style by Bill Eubanks, who also decorated the billiards room across the hall. All the chrome, glass, chrome arc lamps and black sectional furniture is very 70’s style, including a yellow leather topped bar and bar stools! The most spectacular thing about the Billiard Room is the fabric used to cover the sofas, the walls and the ceiling. We are told that it took between 350 and 400 yards of fabric and three workers around ten days to hang it. The room, with its turn-of-the-century French, Oriental, and European influences, exemplifies the 1970s American trend toward eclectic décor, mixing styles from various eras and countries. A similar “retro” trend arose again in the 1990s. None of the furniture is old. Most chosen to complement the overall decor, including reproduction Louis XV red leather chairs.
All images are prints, some signed by artists or, like the Toulouse Lautrecs, just regular commercial reproductions. The light gold, green, and peacock blue hue above the pool table is again the work of Laukhuff Stained Glass in Memphis and done in the revamped Tiffany style. Although possibly the most spectacular and unique room of the visit is the Jungle Room. Added to the home in the mid-1960s, it functioned as a screened-in porch, then was completely enclosed and converted into a family room or sitting room. Legend has it that Vernon, Elvis’s father, had been away from home and had seen some hideous furniture in a Memphis store. Apparently, unknown to Vernon, Elvis had seen the same furniture and liked it because it reminded him of Hawaii. He bought a whole room. The big “monkey chair” is so huge that one of the windows had to be removed to move it into the room. Much of the room’s decor appears to be tactile, such as the faux leather on the bar stools and heavily carved wood, the exotic feathered mirror frame, and ornate animals.
The indoor waterfall completes the theme, although we’re told it didn’t come on very often because it tended to wet the carpet.
Finally the office. Located in a building that was already there when Elvis bought Graceland. Vernon ran the office and had a team of secretaries to handle fan mail and all personal and household bills. Elvis gave a press conference sitting at his father’s desk in this office in 1960, the day after he returned from his military service in Germany. In the photographs you can see that it is the same desk, same blotter, lamp, filing cabinets and cards on top of the filing cabinet.
It is recorded that when Elvis was a boy, he made a promise to his parents: “One day, I will buy you the nicest house in Memphis and pay you back for everything you have sacrificed for me.” Graceland represented that to him. Both the house and the garden provided a fascinating visit. One that he would not hesitate to recommend to others and would happily repeat if he ever returned to Memphis, Tennessee.