Emily Laura Blog's: Bow Down, Mortals! Must-See Las Vegas Lair Is a Temple to the Sacred and Profane

Tuesday 13 October 2020

Bow Down, Mortals! Must-See Las Vegas Lair Is a Temple to the Sacred and Profane

Unassuming from the outside, a 2,500-square-foot home on Wesley Street in Las Vegas puts on quite a show inside.

Most of its floor space is chock-a-block with idols, effigies, and other totems of the world’s religions, which apparently have deep meaning for the owner.

“He’s very spiritual. He just doesn’t want to move the spirits, and he doesn’t want to move the statues. He lives daily life by what the spirituality tells him,” explains the listing agent, Thelma Abitia.

“It’s a very clean property. He takes pride in the property,” she says.

The owner is respectful of the presences that inhabit his home.

“It’s how he runs his life,” says Abitia.

Listed for $284,999, the home has three bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms and was built in 1977. Abitia says she knew this listing would be different.

“I did talk to him when we first took the listing,” she explains, to ask him to remove some of the items. “Sometimes people don’t understand,” she says, “and it gets overwhelming.”

The owner was adamant. “He didn’t want to do that,” she says. “He said that he knew the house was going to sell and that he was not going to move them.”

Exterior of the house in Las Vegas
Lister Assister

The interior certainly makes a statement.
Lister Assister

The owner is a designer, Enrique Montes, who has dubbed himself the King of Fashion. He’s known in the Vegas area for his extravagant dresses for weddings and quinceañeras, and he runs a local dress shop, Dreams XV Boutique.

“He’s very flamboyant. Very, you know, extra. He’s a great person, a really nice guy,” Abitia says.

Once you get past the statues and religious paraphernalia, Abitia says the bones of the house are solid.

“The property is in great condition. He did an addition in one of the bedrooms upstairs and made it into a grand master bedroom,” she says.

The bathroom now connects to the hallway, and there’s extra living space in the bedroom.

The agent added, “He’s got another private room, which could be turned into a great walk-in closet for anyone that likes those great closets.”

The kitchen is small and doesn’t have a dishwasher, but it does offer plenty of space for dining. The ornate kitchen chairs and all the other furnishings are not part of the sale.

Abitia explains that all the furnishings are going with Montes to his new home.

Although someone did offer to buy some of the statues, she says, Montes is “not interested in selling anything.”

To make room for more of his collection, Montes converted the garage into an additional living room.

The yard has low-maintenance desert landscaping and a small shed in the backyard.

“He has a private room in the backyard, and it also has spiritual things in it, but he has that locked,” Abitia says.

The agent told us there’s a fair amount of interest in the home, but she’s aware that as they tour the property, it’s difficult for some potential buyers to look past the hundreds of pairs of eyes that are looking back at them from all the statues that inhabit the place now.

“It is in good shape,” Abitia insists.

She admits, though, that the vibrant decorating colors may not be to everybody’s taste.

“It would need to be painted, but this is just what he likes,” she says. “He’s a great guy, and this is a great property. It just needs a little bit of updating, because he’s got very different style.”