In the words of Paul Simon: "I'm going to Graceland, Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee" and now I have, but in my case, with a partner for decades, more than nine years and a devoted fan of "King of Rock and Roll".
Since the death of Elvis Presley in 1977, Graceland, the home of Elvis in 1957 and is buried in the ground which he bought at a shrine in memory of Elvis and a center of pilgrimage for thousands of fans each visitYear.
Graceland has been linked to a hilly, wooded acres and three quarters tredici on two-lane Highway 51 Memphis built with Jackson, Mississippi, Dr. and Mrs. Thomas D. Moore. Over time the name of "Graceland" came to be specific for the house, but originally applied to the entire area, which was a Hereford cattle farm in 1861 to determine by SE Toof, publisher of the Memphis Commercial Appeal. It 'was after his daughter, Grace Toof name. Ruth Moorewho built the house where Graceland was the niece of Grace, the home of his daughter, Ruth Marie, who played the harp and piano provided. Music is flowing through the foundation. The rooms are designed with an eye to the future, musical evenings and the space required. A title for the Commercial Appeal Sunday, October 27, 1940, "courtesy of the colonial style as stately Georgian Graceland" rang. The house that became the symbol is that of Elvis.
The house was opened to the publicin 1982. I understand about 650,000 people each year pass through the front door. Graceland has become one of the five most visited home museums in the United States since 1991 and put the honor on the National Register of Historic Places.
Registration in one of the many bus trips, which operates from the city of Memphis, I was ready to personally disillusioned. It would be all hype and no taste, but hey, always curious about other peoples tastes and extravagance was a"He must go '. Surrounded by fellow travelers, dedicated Elvis fan, who came to see not only where Elvis lived, how he lived, he began the tour.
The neoclassical facade of white stone windows with green shutters in Tishomingo contrast to present a very quiet, elegant and stylish home. The input from the front porch columns are Corinthian Hall "formal" dining and living room complex designed in the colors blue, white and gold with aSense of space by the mirrors, which are a dominant feature of the two chambers. The heart of the dining room is a spectacular Italian cut glass chandelier by Elvis in an after-hours shopping at the Belvedere lighting purchased in Memphis in August 1974. In Living Room breathtaking glass window stained glass peacock Laukhuff designed by Memphis, separate living room from the music room. The same company that operates the stained glass around the house and the doorStained Glass Billiard Light in the Pool Room.
Go to the music room, decorated mainly in gold and white, a black history and Clark Baby Grand takes pride of place. The most famous person to play for a number of Elvis, James Brown, who sing gospel songs, remember Elvis. The mirror on the wall in the Hall of Music, the fact that many things were kept, things are not thrown away and devastated over the years. This mirror is the former home of Presley onAudubon Drive, where they lived before moving to Graceland. The staircase leads upstairs in the hallway of the house, which is disappointing not to be visited. I would have liked, have a nose in the bedrooms and four bathrooms. The chandelier above the stairs is the largest of three at home and the same design as the one in the dining room, where Maria Theresa design. The third Strauss-crystal chandelier is suspended and only the front door inFoyer.
The TV room was in black and gold, with mirrored walls in its present style of Bill Eubanks, who also decorated the pool hall across the room decorated. All black chrome, glass, chrome arc lamps and furniture are cut very style of the 70s with a yellow leather topped bar and stools! The most spectacular feature of the Swimming Pool is the fabric used to cover walls, ceilings and sofas. We have been told, it took about 350-400 metersMaterial and three workers for ten days to hang. The lounge with its French, Eastern Europe and the turn of the century, European influences is an example of the seventies, the American tendency to decorating versatility, mixing styles, eras and different countries. A similar tendency "retro" has emerged once again in the nineties. None of antique furniture. Most of decided, the general characteristics, including reproduction Louis XV red leather chairs complement.
All images are printed andlike Toulouse-Lautrec, an ordinary commercial reproductions - some artists or signed. The gold, green and peacock blue shade of light above the pool table again, the work of painting on glass Laukhuff played in Memphis and Tiffany-style shooting. Perhaps the most spectacular and unique rooms of the visit, however, is the Jungle Room. Added to the house in the mid-sixties, he worked as a screened in porch, then was shut down completely and in a family or den. Legendsays that his father Vernon, Elvis' on the road and had seen some horrible furniture in a shop in Memphis. Apparently unnoticed by Vernon, Elvis had seen the same furniture and I liked it because it reminded him of Hawaii. He bought a whole room full of them. The big "chair monkey" is so powerful that one of the windows had to be removed to move into the room. Most of the rooms is furnished appears to be tactile, carved with the fake fur on a wooden stool and strong,mirror frames, exotic feathers and animal ornaments.
The indoor waterfall rounds out the issue, even though we were told that it is not very often, because the past wet the carpet.
Finally office. Housed in a building that was already there when Elvis bought Graceland. Vernon led the agency to process and had a staff of secretaries of fan and the whole family and personal bills. Elvis gave a press conference, sitting at the desk of his father, in this officeIn 1960, the day after his return from his tour of army service in Germany. In the pictures you can see which is the same desk, same paper towels, lamps, cabinets and paper on top of the record.
It is said that when Elvis had a child that a promise to his parents who made "One day, I'll buy the most beautiful house in Memphis, and I will repay you for all that you have sacrificed for me." Graceland has argued that for him. Both house and garden was a fascinating visit.One thing I would recommend without hesitation, and more I'd like to repeat, if ever I returned to Memphis, Tennessee.
