EXCLUSIVEStunning home of Las Vegas legends Siegfried & Roy now crumbling and overrun with homeless squatters
The iconic 'Little Bavaria' estate in Las Vegas once owned by magicians Siegfried & Roy is now a shadow of its former self after homeless squatters moved in and claimed it for themselves.
At the height of the entertainer's fame, the sprawling mansion had big cats roaming the estate, which was once decorated with gaudy décor and extravagant amenities.
The home had priceless Persian rugs, crystal candle holders, baroque carved furnishings, a clock owned by Napoleon, gold candelabras and a jewel-encrusted sword believed to have belonged to Genghis Khan.
However, new photographs show the once full-of-life mansion is now overrun with homeless squatters taking refuge among the decay.
Photos show the grounds filled with garbage, disused clothing, rough sleeping arrangements and tattered furnishings.
The once beautiful spaces have been stripped almost completely, replaced with near apocalyptic scenes of despair..
Prescription drugs, shopping carts, beer bottles and food remnants are among the rubbish scattered across the abandoned floors.
The legendary magicians moved into the sprawling property in 1982, about 30 years after it was built in the 1950s.
Once home to legendary magicians, Siegfried and Roy, and their iconic big cats who roamed the estate, the 'Jungle Palace' mansion contained a collection of gaudy décor and extravagant amenities
The property on Valley Drive was an eight-acre mansion known as the Jungle Palace
Siegfried & Roy with one of their tigers on the incredible property
Roy famously slept alongside the big cats in his bed and swam with them in the Olympic sized pool, which is now a garbage-filled hole.
Within the walls of the compound, the magicians created a lush, surreal fantasy land that mimicked their spectacular showmanship — although one visitor described it as 'opulent to the point of vulgarity'.
The lavish estate was not only the magicians' home, but for their beloved lions and tigers who had free reign over the property.
While generally tame and friendly, one of the most horrific moments in Vegas history happened during the pair's show at the Mirage casino. A tiger called Mantacore attacked Roy and dragged him off stage, leaving him barely alive.
He was told he would never walk, talk or perform magic again, but defied all odds to make a remarkable recovery, despite having to have part of his brain cut away, suffering a crushed windpipe and being partially paralyzed.
The attack did nothing to change Horns love for the tiger, and he bid him a fond farewell when he died at 17.
The estate was sold for $1.87 million in 2022 after the death of Siegfried Fischbacher from pancreatic cancer. Roy Horn had died in 2020 at 75 after suffering complications from Covid.
In 2023, the estate changed hands again and was sold for $3million to Carden International Circus owners, Brett Carden and his father George, who wanted to open it up to tourists and short-term vacation rentals who wanted the chance to live Siegfried and Roy's lavish lifestyle.
DailyMail.com has contacted the Cardens for comment about the status of the mansion.
The 8,750-square-foot abode featured a number of animal enclosures, as well as a bird sanctuary.
The main house has two beds and four baths, as well as its own jacuzzi and a pool.
There are also three guest houses, two detached studios, three swimming pools and a jacuzzi.
One of the guest homes is 1,588 square-feet with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and one of the three pools.
The pair each had their own cottages on each side of the estate, which have since been boarded up to barely resemble the once magnificent homes
Trash and scattered belongings fill the space of the boarded up, abandoned buildings following the sale of the entertainers' estate following their deaths
The once luxurious mansion has been revealed to have become overrun with homeless squatters taking refuge as the estate decays
Piles of garbage litter the inside of the grand mansion as homeless people take refuge in the abandoned buildings
Heaps of prescription drugs and garbage, shopping carts, beer bottles and food remnants are seen scattered across the abandoned floors
The magicians moved into the sprawling property in 1982, about 30 years after it was built in the 1950s. It not only served as a lavish estate for the pair, but also to their beloved tigers who were common companions to Seigfried and Roy and had near free reign over the property
Within the walls of the compound, the magicians created a lush, surreal fantasy land that mimicked their spectacular showmanship — one visitor once described it as 'opulent to the point of vulgarity'
The grand spaces of gaudy decor and homely comfort have been reduced to bare bones, littered with trash and covered in dust
Siegfried Fischbacher died at 81 from pancreatic cancer in 2021 and Roy Horn had died less than a year earlier at 75 from Covid-19 complications
The estate was put on the market in 2022 following their deaths and was bought for $1.87 million, before being sold again in 2023
In 2023, the estate changed hands again and was sold for $3 million to Carden International Circus owners, Brett Carden and his father George
The estate was once home to priceless Persian rugs, gold candelabras, baroque wood furnishings and crystal studded candle holders
There are also three guest houses, two detached studios, three swimming pools and a jacuzzi
The second, which is the second largest of the three, is 1,875 square-feet and includes two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and one of the three pools.
The final guest house does not have a private pool despite being the largest at 1,959 square-feet.
The official listing emphasized that there was also a casita and a cabana on the premises.
'We have houses on each side, one for Roy and one for me. They are like two arms, wrapped around, and we meet in the middle,' Siegfried had told Las Vegas Weekly of his and Roy's living arrangements.
The pair were regularly described as 'the ultimate showmen' and dazzled visitors to 'The Strip' for 35 years with an act that included disappearing elephants, levitating tigers and Horn turning himself into a python.
Siegfried did the magic tricks, while Roy, who had a supernatural connection with animals, became his assistant and was the one to have suggested they upgrade the 'rabbit out a hat' routine with a live cheetah.
'From the moment we met, I knew Roy and I, together, would change the world,' said Siegfried, after the death of his 'best friend' with characteristic braggadocio.
They met while working on a cruise ship in 1957.
Roy, a cabin boy, felt underwhelmed by Siegfried's magic tricks, and smuggled in a cheetah onboard before their next voyage.
The 8,750-square-foot abode and featured a number of animal enclosures, as well as a bird sanctuary
Carden said in 2023 that he and his father George consider the mansion an 'investment,' and they might try to open it to tourists
'We have houses on each side, one for Roy and one for me. They are like two arms, wrapped around, and we meet in the middle,' Siegfried previously told Las Vegas Weekly of his and Roy's living arrangements
The iconic magicians met on a cruise ship, and gained fame after changing out the 'rabbit in a hat' trick with a Cheetah
Prescription drugs, as well as small dime bags, were captured within the home which is now accommodating homeless squatters
The new owners were admirers of the legendary magicians and bought the property with hopes to maintain its legacy
'We paved the way for a new standard of oceanic entertainment,' wrote Horn in their 1992 autobiography.
The pair went on tour, taking the cheetah around Europe, with mixed results until they performed at a 1966 charity ball in Monte Carlo, wowing an audience that included Princess Grace, Cary Grant and Sophia Loren. News of their act quickly spread in the right places.
The entertainers made their Las Vegas debut in 1967 at the Tropicana Hotel where on opening night the cheetah broke loose and stole the toupee from the head of bandleader Ray Sinatra, cousin of Frank.
Vegas veterans originally scoffed at their magic acts, citing that it lacked a sense of tawdriness intrinsic to Sin City.
But never before had there been a magic act quite like theirs, a pyrotechnics spectacular with the production values rivalling Hollywood, in which they could seemingly make animals disappear and reappear, change into women or fly through the air.
