The Las Vegas mansion where Siegfried and Roy lived with their lions and tigers is under contract. The new owners say they want to turn it into a shrine.

The lavish, jungle-themed Las Vegas mansion once owned by famous magician duo Siegfried and Roy is under contract for $3 million, days after it was listed on the market.

The late illusionists Siegfried Fischbacher and Roy Horn lived in the estate — often referred to as the Jungle Palace — with many of their exotic pets, including white tigers and lions.

Siegfried and Roy bought the house in March 1982, per property records. The duo lived there for nearly four decades, up until their deaths.

Siegfried died of pancreatic cancer in January 2021 at age 81, while Roy died from Covid-19 complications in May 2020 at 75, per their New York Times obituaries.

The property was completed in 1954, per the listing. This is the second time the house has changed hands after Siegfried's and Roy's deaths.

The house has four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a metal gate emblazoned with the letters "SR," and a pool out back. It features a white facade reminiscent of a castle, and a wildly varied interior, from an-all black bathroom and a bedroom with a massive print of an elephant to a red-carpeted staircase.

Tracy Spadafora and Jacob Taylor bought the Las Vegas compound in February for $1.87 million, per property records. According to online records, Taylor is a real-estate agent with Exp Realty.

Two weeks later, on March 4, the home was on the market again for $3 million, per listing records. The sellers did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

The estate was snapped up within days of it being relisted: George and Brett Carden, the owners of the Carden International Circus, told The Las Vegas Review-Journal on March 17 that they were in contract to buy the property at its asking price.

George said he knew Siegfried and Roy personally, and that the duo had attended the family's circus performances at Orleans Arena.

"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 added.

The Cardens did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

For decades, Siegfried and Roy dazzled crowds in Las Vegas with their magic performances and exotic animals.

Over the course of their entire career, the German-American duo generated more than $1 billion in ticket sales, the Guardian reported.

And it all began as a result of a chance meeting onboard a German cruise ship in 1957, per Roy's New York Times obituary.

Siegfried, a steward, was doing magic tricks for passengers when cabin boy Roy approached him with a challenge.

"I told Siegfried if he could make rabbits come out of a hat, why couldn't he make cheetahs appear?" Roy told the Times.

He presented Siegfried with Chico, a cheetah he had smuggled onboard, and together the trio became the ship's newest entertainment act, per Roy's obituary.

After performing around Europe for a few years — including in Monte Carlo for Princess Grace of Monaco — Siegfried and Roy debuted in Las Vegas in 1967, per Siegfried's New York Times obituary.

The duo first played at the Tropicana, before becoming headliners at the Stardust in 1978, per The Atlantic.

In 1981, Siegfried and Roy moved to the Frontier, per The Atlantic. They stayed there for seven years and had a star-studded audience that included Hollywood celebrities, three former US presidents, and Pope John Paul II. 

Michael Jackson, a close friend, even wrote their opening theme song, "Mind is the Magic," Siegfried told the Las Vegas Review-Journal in 2009.

Jackson was a frequent audience member and caught their show when they performed in Japan, where his appearance caused a frenzy.

"I introduced Michael and the fans went crazy," Siegfried told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "People were jumping over barriers. We had to stop the show."

But it was at The Mirage in Las Vegas that Siegfried and Roy cemented their reputation as legendary entertainers.

In 1987, real-estate developer Steve Wynn announced plans to build a $640 million hotel on the Strip — and he wanted Siegfried and Roy as resident entertainers, per Roy's obituary.

The duo persuaded Wynn to build them a $30 million theater to their specifications, with a seating capacity of 1,500 and a stage that could fit a mechanical dragon, per The Atlantic.

Wynn agreed, and both parties signed a five-year, $57.5 million contract, per Roy's obituary. In 1990, Siegfried and Roy opened at the Mirage — and played their show's 10,000th performance in Vegas.

For the next 13 years, Siegfried and Roy played twice every night for six days a week, bringing in nearly 800,000 people annually, per the Atlantic.

The exotic tigers and lions that performed with Siegfried and Roy lived with the pair at their Las Vegas home, often roaming freely around the estate like house cats.

Roy, in particular, had a strong connection with the large cats — so much so that he believed he had been a tiger in a past life, he told Vanity Fair's Matt Tyrnauer in 1999.

"You have to understand that they have been born literally in my lap," Roy told Tyrnauer. "Wherever I am, they are comfortable, because the first voice they hear is mine. The first face they see is mine."

At that point in time, Siegfried and Roy kept 55 tigers and 16 lions, per Vanity Fair. Roy fed all the cats by hand from a bottle.

"Your love has to be bigger than love," Roy told Tyrnauer, "because they are like our children."

An onstage incident on Roy's 59th birthday put an end to their decades-long showman career.

On October 3, 2003, Roy was mauled in front of a live audience by a white tiger named Mantecore, per his obituary. The tiger bit Roy in the neck and dragged him across the stage, crushing his windpipe and damaging an artery that carried oxygen to his brain.

Roy survived the incident but not before flatlining thrice, per the Atlantic. He spent the next few years recuperating from his injuries outside of the limelight, and the pair made its final public appearance together in February 2009 at a charity show.

In 2014, Siegfried and Roy granted Entertainment Tonight a rare interview at their home to explain the events that took place on the night of the accident. In the interview, Roy was adamant that the tiger had saved his life by pulling him away from the stage after sensing that he'd suffered a stroke.

That same year, Roy took to their shared Facebook page to announce the death of Mantecore due to old age. In the post, he recounted how the tiger cub had nearly died at birth.

"My mouth-to-mouth resuscitation brought him back – I saved his life and then he saved mine, so we were even," Roy wrote.

After Siegfried's and Roy's deaths, an estate sale was held to support the Sarmoti Foundation, a charity they had started for animal conservation.

The Bonhams Los Angeles auction sold 480 of 481 items for a total of $1.4 million, per Artnet News. These items included Siegfried and Roy's extensive collection of art, stage costumes, and jewelry.

In August, The Calida Group, a local developer, got approval to demolish the iconic Jungle Palace, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

The Las Vegas City Council voted in favor of the company's plans to create a 334-unit rental project, per The Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Josh Nelson, the chief investment officer of the Calida Group, told the Review-Journal that all of the buildings would be demolished to clear space for the new apartment complex.

It's unclear how the demolition will proceed in light of the sale of the property to the Cardens. The Calida Group did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.