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Elvis Presley: The Unique Piece of Furniture Used By the King Upstairs That Fans Can See at Graceland

Although Graceland’s upstairs area remains a mystery, one particular item has been brought down for Elvis’ fans to see. 

In 1957, when The King moved into his Memphis palace, he made it a rule that Graceland’s upstairs area would be his private space. He was so keen on his privacy that he installed a privacy wall on the landing with a couple of one-way mirrors. 

When Graceland opened its doors to the public decades later in 1982, some five years after his death, his daughter, Lisa Marie, made sure to honor her father’s privacy and keep the upstairs closed off to visitors.

That portion of the home included several rooms, including Elvis’ bedroom and office. Now, a piece of his workspace has been moved to the downstairs for fans to witness. Today, you can visit Graceland to see Elvis’ office desk. Graceland archivist Angie Marchese recently shared some facts about the unique piece during a virtual live tour. 

Inside the trophy room where the desk is displayed, the Elvis expert said: “Unfortunately, we weren’t able to take you guys upstairs, but we have brought a little bit of the upstairs down. This is Elvis’ desk from his office upstairs.”

In 1961, RCA gifted Elvis with the desk for selling a million copies of his film soundtrack Blue Hawaii. On top of the desk is a small dog statue, which sits next to a larger one on the floor.

The back of the desk is home to a tiny TV. Additionally, it also features a radio system and an 8-track tape deck.”You do see part of Elvis’ book collection…Elvis had lots of books,” Marchese continued. “He was well-read on religions and philosophy, but he also loved biographies and sporting books [covering] karate, football, horses.” 

She added: “There’s about 6-700 books in our collection. A lot of them are well-read.”

Elvis Presley & His Love for Books

A fan later asked if any of The Kings’ books are still in his bedroom. To which she replied, “There are some in his bedroom. We have a lot of them in the archives. But everything that was upstairs when he passed is still upstairs on the bookshelves in his office and in his bedroom. Everything that is upstairs is still cataloged where it was found and it’s still there. So the records, the books – all of that is still upstairs.”

Elvis loved to read so much that he even had a reading chair in his bedroom. Among Elvis’ book collection were classic novels such as Gone with the Wind.

For nonfiction, he also had a copy of the Warren Report, which investigated the assassination of the former president, JFK. Moreso, at the time of his death, Elvis was reading A Scientific Search for the Face of Jesus by Frank O Adams.