Earlier this week we heard that Hard Rock founder Peter Morton had picked up Elvis and Priscilla Presley's marital house in the Trousdale Estates (he paid $9.8 million). The house is a favorite pilgrimage site for Elvis fans and it's also pretty lovely in a very offbeat mashup way. Word was that Morton planned to tear it down and build something new. And now it's getting interesting: a tipster sends along the original building permits and it turns out the house was built by excellent mid-century architect Rex Lotery. Beverly Hills, which has a notoriously terrible track record with preservation, turned over a new leaf last year and got itself a historic preservation ordinance to help protect significant buildings. As part of that effort, it created a list of Master Architects, which serves as one criteria for determining if a house is worthy of protection. Rex Lotery is on that list. Add that to the Elvis connection and it looks like it could be tough for Morton to tear this place down. As our tipster points out, we don't even know what Morton's planning yet and maybe he wants to encase the house in amber and cherish it forever, but this is good to know.
· Hard Rock Founder Tearing Down Elvis's Old House in Trousdale [Curbed LA]
· Beverly Hills Finally Trying to Preserve Historic Buildings [Curbed LA]
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