Exclusive tour inside Neil Armstrong’s former El Lago home

EL LAGO, Texas - The El Lago home of Neil Armstrong, who gained international fame by being the first man to walk on the moon, has gone up for sale. FOX 26 got a look inside from the buyer's perspective.

The current homeowners have lived here for 22 years, and they tell me they’ve never let a news crew get a tour inside, until now.

“This house has a lot of great history. This is actually the home that Neil Armstrong owned when he landed on the moon. The community of a Lago has a lot of rich history of astronauts. They were over 47 astronauts that lived in this community and he was one of the first ones to actually build when NASA first moved here,” said Eric Shacklette, Listing Agent with The Loken Group.

When you walk through the front door you are immediately transported back to the 1960s.

“Once you see this stone fireplace it’s just like a big shock. There were countless photos of Neil Armstrong and his family hanging out here in the living room. The beams are still original, they’ve just been re-stained.” said Shacklette.

The first thing we noticed was how there was so much contrast in the house, but it all worked together. Shacklette says "Yeah, the house really flows well from modern to back in the 1960s… This banister is actually an original banister that when Neil Armstrong and the family built this home they had installed."

Melinda Sutherland and her husband have lived in the home for over two decades. They said it was important to keep the integrity of the house, even though they lived there longer than the Armstrongs did.

“He couldn’t live here, I mean the publicity was so great. I exercise with a lady that actually knew him and his family, and she said that the news media would come all the way to the windows, you know, so the privacy was gone.“ said Sutherland, who also had wonderful stories to share, and offered us some of its history.

The home was built in 1964. Armstrong and fellow astronaut Ed White, who died during the Apollo I mission in 1967, bought three lots of land to split between them, built houses, and lived next to each other for years.

At more than 2,500 sq/ft., the home sports lots of charm. The tiles, mailbox, restrooms, Armstrong’s study, and little details have all been preserved and extend to the outside.

“The pool tiling’s, the brick, the pink concrete, This is all original. If you look at older photos of Armstrong and his family swimming you will see this exact detail.“ said Shacklette.

The home offers the current homeowners some much-needed privacy.

Sutherland tells FOX 26 that NASA hands out maps of El Lago that say here is where all the prior astronauts lived. "So people drive through all the time with their little maps, and so it’s not unusual at all to stop at the front, you know, and if you were outside they’ll go 'Is this Neil Armstrong‘s house?' We’ve had them ask can they come in."

With a listing price of $375,000 they have already received lots of interest in the home, and are told it won’t be on the market for long.