Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
‘Jungle Palace’ expected to close for $3M
Historical home highlights recent luxury sales
‘ This facility will no doubt bring many people to enjoy their legacy, what they created and what they are all about. We will never have any wild animals here, but we will have replicas of wild animals, such as tigers and elephants. People can see where they lived and kept their beautiful animals for many years.
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George Camden
The family behind the Carden Circus International are under contract to pay $3 million for the home of the late Strip performers Siegfried Fischbacher and Roy Horn and plan to preserve the home as a shrine to the duo and possibly turn it into an overnight rental and tourist attraction.
George Carden and his son, Brett, who moved to buy the home without stepping in it first, arrived in Las Vegas last week to tour the 2-acre estate known as the “Jungle Palace,” where Fischbacher and Horn lived while performing at The Mirage from 1990 to 2003 and were showcased in national television appearances. The duo later moved to their 100-acre estate in North Las Vegas known as “Little Bavaria,” which served as their primary home.
As for the “Jungle Palace,” the two-story main home on Valley Drive was listed by Aaron Taylor of exp Realty for $3 million and is set to close next week at that price.
George Carden said he wanted to preserve the famed Las Vegas entertainers’ legacy and make it available to the public to enjoy it. How to do that remains to be decided, and if they are unable to do so, they will live in it, Carden said.
“I’m so proud to represent them in the future with this beautiful facility,” George Carden said. “This facility will no doubt bring many people to enjoy their legacy, what they created and what they are all about. We will never have any wild animals here, but we will have replicas of wild animals, such as tigers and elephants. People can see where they lived and kept their beautiful animals for
many years.”
It 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 guesthouses 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.
“We don’t really know what we’re going to do yet because we haven’t dug into it enough yet,” Brett Carden said. “What we would like to do is preserve it for people to make it a shrine for them basically — a piece of history of Las Vegas that’s not torn down. It’s part of Las Vegas.”
Brett Carden said they’re going to research whether they can use the home for weddings, short-term rentals
and tours. They plan to buy tigers that are animatronic and display them on the grounds.
The family knew Fischbacher and Horn, who attended their shows at Orleans Arena. Carden Circus International is billed as the last large traditional traveling circus with exotic animals. George Carden, who said he met the duo about 12 to 14 years ago, attended their show at The Mirage when they were still performing.
“I bought it without seeing it because they were two personal friends of mine,” George Carden said. “They were both guests at my show, and I was with them in Mexico City (for a birthday party of a friend).”
The home had been under the