A Chance to Own the Home Where Kentucky Fried Chicken Was Hatched

The 1800s house that belonged to the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken is slated for auction at the end of the month, alongside his handwritten recipes, kitchen supplies and legacy restaurant. 

Col. Harland Sanders and his wife, Claudia, bought the 5,400-square-foot mansion in Shelbyville, Kentucky, in 1959 and headquartered KFC out of the garage, before moving to the adjacent restaurant. Built in 1866, the two-story mansion features five bedrooms, a lounge, a library and a piano room. Much of the furniture owned by Sanders is still intact.

“It has so much of his life, and his time in this home, and I think that’s what a buyer wants,” said auctioneer Bill Menish of the Menish Group Auction & Real Estate. “If it had been completely redone and modernized, I think that would have been an incredible disappointment to potential buyers.”

Menish offered no price estimate for the property sale.

The 3-acre property that’s up for a sealed-bid auction includes Sanders’s home—named Blackwood Hall—as well as the still-operating Claudia Sanders Dinner House. 

After selling KFC for $2 million in 1964, Sanders opened the Dinner House—what “became an extension of the values and traditions that made the Colonel famous,” according to the auction’s news release. Blackwood Hall could be used by a new owner for anything from an event venue, a luxury vacation rental, a museum or “executive retreat,” according to The Menish Group.

Sanders, who died in 1980, hosted franchise owners from across the world at the property for workshops in cooking techniques, hospitality standards and business practices.

The 25,000-square-foot building, which was rebuilt and modernized following a fire in 1999, now features a main dining room, two smaller dining rooms and a larger event venue, as well as a gift shop, commercial kitchen facilities, and a second-floor lounge and balcony. The sale encompasses the full operating business, as well as the intellectual property and trademark rights tied to it.

“This was where they came together and said ‘This is our business, our restaurant,’” Menish said. “It’s a preserved time capsule of their impact.”

Aside from the sealed-bill property auction, KFC enthusiasts can also bid on documents and artifacts that recall Sanders’ career, personal life and public legacy: photographs, certificates, business documents, personal clothing and accessories, and a birthday card from President Richard Nixon.

Among the artifacts is Sanders’s working planner, which garnered media attention when it became the subject of litigation in 2001. The planner includes recipes that have never previously been available to the public, including a list of 11 herbs and spices that “has everyone wondering and wanting to see for themselves,” according to Menish.

The auctions opened on Monday and have received more than 100 offers from across the world, Menish said. The artifacts will be auctioned off, both in-person and online, on July 28, and sealed-bid offers for the property are due July 31.

“It’s a chance to own an iconic part of our childhood, or our parents or grandparents’ childhood, and that doesn’t come around every day,” Menish said. “It really has a great buzz going.”

Blackwood Hall was sold to Tommy and Cherry Settle in 1974, who worked to preserve the Sanders’s interior design. It is going to auction after two attempts to sell the property didn’t yield satisfying offers, according to Menish.

The Dinner House remains open—drawing thousands of visitors on holidays—and will continue to host events throughout the sale process.

“Families will tell you that they go there every year, and that will never change no matter who owns it,” Menish said. “It’s already changed hands before, but that spirit continues.”

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