Celebrity Style

Graceland Mansion: See Photos of Elvis Presley’s Beloved Home Over the Years

Peek behind the velvet curtain at the King of Rock and Roll’s palace, where unbridled maximalism never goes out of style
Elvis at home at Graceland in 1965.
Elvis at home at Graceland in 1965.Courtesy of Graceland

Elvis Presley may have permanently left the building 46 years ago, but the singer—and his flamboyant Graceland mansion—have an uncanny habit of stepping back into the spotlight. Elvis and Graceland had the leading role in Baz Luhrmann’s high-camp 2022 biopic Elvis and an appearance in the whimsical 2023 movie Priscilla, written and directed by Sofia Coppola. And let’s not forget the recent legal drama around Graceland, which has more dramatic twists and turns than Elvis’s jumpsuited Las Vegas performances.

It’s not surprising that Elvis’s Graceland mansion still holds such intrigue; there is no place on earth quite like it. The superstar had a 20-year residency there from 1957 to 1977, treating the decor of his cherished Memphis, Tennessee, home as an outlet for his boundless creativity. Assisted by a cast of Memphis-based interior designers, shortly after moving his family and their fleet of gleaming Cadillacs into Graceland, Elvis set about transforming it into a revolving carousel of increasingly theatrical room sets, often mirroring the unadulterated drama of his stage performances. Design trends spanning the eras—from ultrathematic rooms to the burgeoning use of tech within the home—can all be found beyond the fabled music gates of Graceland, often in their purest and most authentic forms.

Below, take a peek inside Graceland.

  • Before Graceland was home to the King of Rock and Roll it belonged to the Memphis socialite Ruth Brown Moore. Built in...
    Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
    1/19

    Before Graceland was home to the King of Rock and Roll, it belonged to the Memphis socialite Ruth Brown Moore. Built in 1939 and designed by local architectural firm Furbringer and Erhmanis, the Classical Revival–style mansion was based on a scaled-down version of a grandiose Southern plantation and featured Corinthian columns inspired by the Tower of Winds in Athens.

  • Courtesy of Graceland
    2/19

    Aged just 22 and fresh from starring in his first movie, Love Me Tender, Elvis purchased Graceland for $102,500. He had initially expressed concerns about maintaining the estate, a 10,000-square-foot house set on almost 14 acres of rolling pastures, but fellow showman Liberace provided the verbal encouragement Elvis needed to sign the contract, which he did in March 1957.

  • Photo: Robert Alexander/Getty Images
    3/19

    With Elvis’s fame meaning that his homes were increasingly mobbed by enthusiastic fans, one of the first changes made to Graceland, in 1957, was the installation of a boundary wall, made from pink Alabama fieldstone and costing $65,000. Pens poised, as today the wall remains a site for visitors to leave handwritten reflections on Graceland and Elvis’s legacy.

  • Photo: ullstein bild Dtl./Getty Images
    4/19

    Shortly after buying Graceland, Elvis invited journalists to tour the property and discuss his vision for the decor, which included a black bedroom suite and the night sky painted onto the ceiling of the entrance hall—although his cosmic master plan was eventually vetoed by his mother in favor of a lighter color palette.

  • Photo: Bettmann / Getty Images
    5/19

    Within six months of purchasing the property, the swivel-hipped star had already spent a staggering half a million dollars (the equivalent to over $5 million today) on renovations. With the leading man mostly away filming in Hollywood, interior designer and Memphis furniture store owner George Golden was drafted in to oversee the upgrades, including installing a kidney-shaped swimming pool and the symbol of midcentury modernity: a full-scale soda fountain.

  • Photo: Mario Tama / Getty Images
    6/19

    Though visitors touring Graceland today may feel that they’re looking at its interiors exactly as Elvis left them, before opening to the public in 1982 the living room had been restored to its late ’50s glory, save for a few more recent additions such as the stained-glass peacock panels. This vision of midcentury plush, using a neutral cream color palette with flashes of gold trim, replaced a more theatrical 1974 decorating spree orchestrated by interior designer Bill Eubanks, where red shag pile and satin had been splashed throughout the ground floor rooms.

  • Courtesy of Graceland
    7/19

    Elvis was savvy to the power of personal branding long before this became a mainstream concept. In 1957 he employed Abe Saucer to design a set of bespoke entrance gates, featuring larger-than-life wrought-iron versions of himself surrounded by musical notes, acting as a Presley suit of arms to all those who passed by.

  • Courtesy of Graceland
    8/19

    Beneath a twinkling chandelier and flanked by an entourage of friends and family, Elvis would sit at the head of this formal dining table to eat his evening meal, usually at the night-owl hour of 10 p.m. The table here is set with Elvis and Priscilla’s wedding china by Noritake, exported from Japan, with the silverware from Towle in the classic Chippendale style.

  • Courtesy of Graceland
    9/19

    In 1965, fans were treated to a rare peek inside the King’s Palace, when he posed for Mid-South Magazine on his 15-foot custom built stretch sofa. It wasn’t just the furniture that was supersized, as the living room itself was so spacious that the Mississippi shack where Elvis was born could have fitted snugly inside this room—something that the star himself would marvel at.

  • Courtesy of Graceland
    10/19

    This photo, also taken in 1965, shows Elvis standing proudly with his storied white baby grand piano, which is, incredibly, the very same instrument that he’d heard his favorite gospel and blues performers playing on as a boy. Having bought the instrument directly from Memphis’s Ellis Auditorium, where the ivories had been tinkled by legends including Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Cab Calloway, Elvis had it lovingly restored to take pride of place in his music room.

  • Photo: Zak Hussein/Getty Images
    11/19

    From a dazzling lamé suit and an all-gold grand piano to a bling Cadillac limousine, there were few items in the Elvis-verse that escaped his Midas touch. This gilded telephone sat in Elvis’s bedside table in the mid-1960s, later replaced by a model with press buttons.

  • Photo: Ron Galella/Getty Images
    12/19

    In the 1960s Elvis developed an interest in spirituality, making frequent visits to the Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine in California, a site of lush gardens, waterfalls, and lakes where a portion of Mahatma Gandhi’s ashes are held. Wanting to create a similar space at Graceland for quiet contemplation, Elvis commissioned Memphis builder Bernard Grenadier to design the Meditation Garden, incorporating the existing semicircular pergola of Ionic columns.

  • Photo: David LEFRANC/Getty Images
    13/19

    The sheer flamboyance of Elvis’s Las Vegas stage shows soon became reflected in his home decor during the era. In 1974 Elvis teamed up with interior designer Bill Eubanks to create this Deco meets disco basement hideaway, complete with a mirrored ceiling. Elvis’s personal logo of “taking care of business, in a flash” was hand-painted across a wall, while three television sets flickered continuously—an idea that Elvis borrowed from President Lyndon Johnson.

    At the heart of the TV room is a crouching white china monkey statue. During his Hollywood years Elvis had kept a pet chimpanzee named Scatter, who was dressed up in miniature outfits and carried around like a baby. After Scatter died of natural causes, Elvis installed a number of porcelain monkey statues at Graceland in remembrance.

    Although Elvis could easily have afforded the finest antiques that money could buy, he mainly chose to decorate Graceland using new ornaments bought from department stores. Elvis would explain that his aversion to antiques was rooted in the poverty of his childhood; he had been around enough dusty old stuff to last a lifetime.

  • Courtesy of Graceland
    14/19

    Inspired by a photo of an 18th-century billiard room, Elvis again worked with designer Bill Eubanks in 1974 to create his own take in Graceland’s basement. In the room, 400 yards of kaleidoscopic print cotton fabric, purchased from a local department store, were lavished across the ceiling, walls, and couches, taking a crew 10 days to complete the meticulous pleating, its raw edges cleverly concealed in a patterned ceiling medallion tucked above the pool table.

  • Photo: David LEFRANC/Getty Images
    15/19

    Elvis’s flair for showmanship reached a crescendo in the Jungle Room—the ultimate man cave. In 1974 Elvis spent a cool 30 minutes on a shopping spree buying up an entire tiki-tinged window display, supposedly as a prank after his father complained about the awful furniture that he had just seen in a downtown store. Ceramic figurines of pouncing tigers, in homage to Elvis’s karate nickname, Mr. Tiger, are also dotted throughout.

  • Photo: Paul Natkin/Getty Images
    16/19

    The Polynesian-inspired furniture in the Jungle Room, including carved wood thrones, faux-fur upholstery, and a neon-lit indoor waterfall trickling down the wall, reminded Elvis of Hawaii, a beloved destination for the performer. An unexpected benefit of the green shag carpeting flowing across the floor and ceiling was that it offered phenomenal acoustics, leading Elvis to record an album here in 1976.

  • Photo: David LEFRANC/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
    17/19

    This furry white clam-shaped bed was used by Elvis in Graceland’s upstairs bedroom in the 1970s. Tucked into the hood is a sound system so he could listen to music and a prism of mirrors, allowing him to gaze up at his reflection as he drifted off to sleep.

  • Courtesy of Graceland
    18/19

    The kitchen interiors were last changed in the mid-1970s, tapping into the trend for rustic harvest tones and farmhouse-inspired mahogany paneled cabinets. Graceland’s kitchen had all the mod cons of the time, including a rare early model of a microwave, for which Elvis paid around $1,000, and a KitchenAid dishwasher in avocado green.

  • Photo: Mick Hutson / Getty Images
    19/19

    Elvis’s treasured outré mansion still averages 600,000 curious visitors a year, making it the second-most visited private home in the US, beaten only by the White House. The attraction has expanded to include a sprawling exhibition complex, a car museum, and access to Elvis’s private jets.

    In 1975 Elvis bought himself a former Delta Airlines passenger plane and named it the Lisa Marie after his daughter. He promptly spent $300,000 (the equivalent to $1.75 million today) on its refurbishment, orchestrated by the design team responsible for the interior of the presidential Air Force One jet.

Exploreadcelebrity
Read More
Architecture + Design
Tour a Petite Parisian-Inspired Townhouse Transformation in Brooklyn
Detail-driven design by The Brownstone Boys elevates the historical elements of this renewed Carroll Gardens space
Magazine
Step Inside a Revitalized Palm Beach Manse
To craft the perfect getaway for her family, Victoria Hagan breathes new life into an old home
Magazine
A Japanese-Inspired House Gets a New Lease on Life
A garden-shrouded abode in Northern California transforms under AD100 designer Lauren Geremia
Architecture + Design
Step Inside an Oasis in Todos Santos, Mexico, Where Bold Colors and a Playful Spirit Rule the Day
Working alongside a team of local artisans and experts, interior designer Faith Blakeney turned a former surf shack into a welcoming seaside trove of eclectic treasures