I know I can’t be the only person in El Paso who has looked up at the Franklin Mountains, spotted that massive house with the bright blue roof and thought:
Who lives THERE?!
You know the house. It’s perched high above Central El Paso, seemingly built right into the side of the mountain. I’ve seen it more times than I can count, but somehow I never knew it actually had a name.
It’s called the Farah House, and once you learn the story behind that blue roof, things get pretty wild.
El Paso’s Famous Blue House Is Even Wilder Up Close
The Farah House was built in 1986 at 2300 Red Sky Lane, and calling it a “house” almost feels inadequate.
The three-level home stretches more than 7,400 square feet along the Franklin Mountains, with four bedroom suites, a library, office, theater lounge, wine cellar and resort-style pool and spa.
Then there are the details.
Those famous blue tiles were imported from Japan, while the interior features Italian marble floors, silk-lined walls, German granite, custom woodwork and gold inlays. There’s even a massive marble dining table that reportedly had to be lowered into the house by crane during construction.
Oh, and the entire home is anchored directly into the mountainside with massive steel columns and reinforced concrete.
Subtle, this house is not. But the extravagance makes a little more sense once you learn who it was built for.
The Farah House Was Built for Virginia Farah
The home was designed for Virginia H. Farah, a member of one of El Paso’s most prominent families.
The Farah name came from Farah Manufacturing, the clothing company that became a major part of El Paso’s manufacturing industry.
Virginia was also a philanthropist who established the Virginia H. Farah Foundation in 1983, initially using it primarily to fund scholarships at UTEP.
But there’s another part of her story that sounds straight out of a movie: Virginia once employed Charles Harrelson as a bodyguard.
Charles was the father of actor Woody Harrelson and was eventually convicted of murdering federal judge John H. Wood Jr. (Which is another insane story!).
In 1980, Harrelson ended up in a six-hour standoff with law enforcement near Van Horn, holding a gun to his head and threatening to take his own life. Authorities brought Virginia Farah from El Paso to the scene.
She helped talk him into surrendering!
Suddenly that big blue house on the mountain feels a little more mysterious, doesn’t it?
El Paso Has Plenty of Stories About the Farah House
With a house this unusual and an original owner with such a fascinating story, you can probably guess what happened next:
El Paso started talking.
Over the years, stories have circulated about secret rooms, hidden pathways, strange controls and even tunnels supposedly leading into the mountain.
Separating actual history from decades of El Paso lore isn’t always easy.
What we do know is that the house itself is very real, and it’s still just as hard to ignore.
The Farah House is currently on the market, giving the rest of us a rare look behind that famous blue roof. For everyone else, at least the next time you spot it sitting high above El Paso, you’ll finally know what you’re looking at.
That giant blue house has a name, it’s the Farah House- and somehow, knowing its story makes it even harder not to stare!
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Gallery Credit: Joanna Barba