The Liberace Mansion: How a $500K Fixer Became Clark County's First Historic Landmark Home

A grand staircase imported from Paris for $75,000 rises through the center of a house that, from the street, looks like it belongs on any other block near UNLV. It doesn't. This is the Liberace mansion in Las Vegas, and that staircase is one of the least surprising things about it.

The house sits at 4982 Shirley Street, a stretch of ordinary residential blocks between the UNLV campus and Harry Reid International Airport. It didn't start as one house at all. In the early-to-mid 1970s, entertainer Wladziu Valentino Liberace — the flamboyant pianist known simply as Liberace — bought two separate homes on the block, both built in 1962, and fused them into a single sprawling residence. When he was done, it was the largest home on the street, and it stayed that way for decades.

Liberace died in 1987, and for years the mansion drifted in and out of neglect, changing hands and losing much of its shine. Then, in 2013, a British businessman named Martyn Ravenhill paid $500,000 in cash for the property — a price that reflected its condition more than its pedigree. Ravenhill went on to pour roughly $3 million total into the purchase and restoration, bringing the house back to something closer to its original glittering self. On March 2, 2016, that work paid off in an unusual way: the Liberace mansion became the first residential property in Clark County ever designated a Historic Landmark.

Two Houses, One Legend

What makes the Liberace mansion in Las Vegas so unusual isn't just who lived there — it's how the house itself came together. Combining two separate 1962 houses into one residence meant reworking floor plans, structural walls, and sightlines to make two ordinary tract-era homes read as a single, cohesive estate. The Paris staircase was the signature move, a centerpiece meant to announce that this was no longer a typical east Las Vegas house. It was theater built into the architecture, which tracked with the persona Liberace had spent decades perfecting on Strip stages.

A $500,000 Fixer With a $3 Million Second Act

By the time Ravenhill bought the mansion in 2013, decades had passed since Liberace's death, and the house needed far more than cosmetic work. A $500,000 cash purchase for a home of that size and history was, in real terms, a bet on a fixer-upper — one where the value wasn't in square footage or a hot ZIP code, but in what the house had once been and could be again. The roughly $3 million Ravenhill ultimately invested in restoration reflects how much had to be undone and redone: structural repairs, period-appropriate finishes, and the kind of painstaking detail work historic restorations demand.

Clark County's First Historic Landmark Home

The March 2, 2016 designation is the part of this story that matters most for anyone who cares about how Las Vegas preserves its own past. Landmark status for a commercial building or a casino sign is one thing — the city has done that before. Designating a private residence as a Historic Landmark was different, and the Liberace mansion was the first house in Clark County to receive it. That distinction turned a restoration project into a piece of public record, formally tying the property's preservation to its place in Las Vegas entertainment history rather than leaving it to the discretion of whoever happened to own it next.

Why It Still Matters Today

For anyone who's spent time driving the residential grid near UNLV, the Liberace mansion is a reminder that Las Vegas's showbiz history didn't stay confined to the Strip — it moved into ordinary neighborhoods, sat behind ordinary front doors, and in a few cases, got formally protected because of it. Most homes that once hosted Las Vegas's golden-era entertainers have long since been sold, remodeled beyond recognition, or torn down. The fact that this one survived, and that Clark County chose to protect it, says something about which pieces of the valley's past residents have decided are worth keeping.

It's also a useful reminder for anyone thinking about historic value in this market: landmark designation doesn't happen automatically, and it comes with real restrictions on future changes to a property. The Liberace mansion earned that status through a documented, deliberate process, not just its famous name.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is the Liberace mansion located in Las Vegas?

The Liberace mansion sits at 4982 Shirley Street, in a residential area between the UNLV campus and Harry Reid International Airport. From the street, it blends into a block of otherwise ordinary homes, which is part of what makes its history so surprising to first-time visitors.

Can you visit or tour the Liberace mansion?

The property is privately owned, and public access has varied over the years depending on the owner; it is not a standing public museum in the way Liberace's former show memorabilia collection once was. Anyone interested in visiting should check current availability directly rather than assume it's open, since access has changed with ownership.

Why was the Liberace mansion named a Historic Landmark?

On March 2, 2016, Clark County designated the property its first residential Historic Landmark, recognizing both its connection to entertainer Liberace and the extensive restoration then-owner Martyn Ravenhill had completed after buying it for $500,000 in 2013. The designation formally protects the property's historic character going forward.

Source: reviewjournal.com