New owners restore Siegfried and Roy’s former home
The family who bought Siegfried Fischbacher and Roy Horn’s original Las Vegas home to preserve it as a shrine are putting in as much as $1 million in renovations and furnishings and will meet with neighborhood residents to determine its future use.
George Carden and his son, Brett, of the Carden Circus International based in Missouri paid $3 million for the home. Family representative Wally Eastwood, a longtime performer on the Strip, said that there are no plans to turn the 2-acre estate into an overnight rental but instead the family is focusing on renting it out for weddings, corporate gatherings, celebrations and other events. They would like to open the home for tours if possible, he said.
“Right now, we’re still renovating the property because there’s a lot wrong with it because it’s an old property,” Eastwood said. “We’re putting a bunch into it to get it up and running and good again and bringing it back to what it once was in its glory days. Once we do that, we’re going to invite the neighborhood to a party and see if we have a lot of good support from the neighborhood and then go before the Las Vegas City Council and see what we are allowed to do and take it from there.”
Eastwood said the last thing the family wants to do is cause havoc in the neighborhood but wants to let them know they are on their side. The party at the home will give them a read from neighbors on what they can do, he said.
“If they’re not on our side, we don’t want to push it,” Eastwood said. “We hope to do functions such as corporate events, weddings and celebrations. All private events. We’re not sure what we are allowed to do or not do if we want to make it a museum/venue. That’s up in the air. Right now we’re trying to get the property working correctly. That’s taking so much of my time.”
Eastwood said it feels like the family has a lot of community support for its preservation of the property and potential uses.
Known as the “Jungle Palace,” the Valley Drive home served as Siegfried and Roy’s residence when they performed at The Mirage from 1990 to 2003 and kept many animals on-site. Their nearly 100-acre estate in North Las Vegas known as “Little Bavaria” later served as their primary home until their deaths in 2020 and 2021, while the Valley Drive home was used for their management office.
George Carden, a friend of the performers, said he bought the home as a way to preserve it. Little Bavaria was sold in 2021 and is being turned into apartments.
The Jungle Palace main home was built in 1954 and measures 8,750 square feet. It has two bedrooms, two full baths, two partial baths and an indoor Jacuzzi.
The site also has three guest houses ranging from 1,600 square feet to 1,900 square feet and three pools. The property has water features throughout, skylights, a bird sanctuary and animal enclosures.
“Three out of the three pools were an absolute disaster,” Eastwood said. “Right there we’re putting close to $100,000 into each one of the pools because it was so bad. We almost needed to do a complete rebuild on it.”
Eastwood said there’s a lot to happen, and they don’t know what they are getting into yet with this project and its plans, except they want to make it “as close to how it was when they were living in it. It’s going well. Everybody is excited, and we’re going to go from there.”