Elvis Presley's Graceland named U.S. landmark

Graceland, Elvis Presley's Memphis estate, has joined the White House, the Alamo and Pearl Harbor as a U.S. National Historical Landmark.

U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton bestowed the designation on the famed Tennessee estate at an on-site ceremony Monday. The distinction is the highest recognition that can be awarded to a historic U.S. property.

"It didn't take Americans and the rest of the world long to discover Elvis Presley and it is absolutely clear that they will never forget him," Norton said, noting Presley's continued popularity 30 years after his death.

To Presley, the estate was "a tangible symbol of how far he had come from his very humble beginnings," his former wife Pricilla Presley said at the ceremony.

"Elvis would be honoured and moved to know that his beloved home [received the recognition]," she added.

Presley spent two decades living at Graceland, which he bought in 1957 for $103,000 US with some of the earnings from his first hit song, Heartbreak Hotel.

The "King of Rock and Roll" died at the mansion in 1977 from a drug overdose and complications from heart disease. He is buried on the grounds.

Graceland opened as a museum in 1982 and now attracts more than 600,000 tourists each year. Since 1991, it has also been on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places and is one of the top five most visited home museums in the country.

Presley's daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, is the sole owner of the property.

Nearly 2,500 National Historic Landmarks are located around the U.S., denoting sites where significant historic events occurred or where prominent citizens worked or lived.