The most amazing structures in Las Vegas didn’t appear overnight. Decades of building projects transformed the Las Vegas skyline into what it is today. And it keeps getting more amazing every year.
Let’s look at the incredible amount of vision and design genius that went into making the modern marvel known as Las Vegas.
Not the Usual Urban Sprawl
Unlike most cities which expand outward, Las Vegas operates under a different ethos. Out with the old, in with the new. The Las Vegas Strip is the central focus of Sin City and all its scintillating sights. To keep people on the Strip, the biggest resort companies won’t stray too far from the action zone. So, they destroy their own buildings every decade and drop a new design bomb. Once a resort starts to look dated, its days are numbered. The demolition crew appears, and the old casinos and resorts implode to make way for a new star on the Strip.
In fact, Las Vegas consists of two towns. Downtown Vegas, home to the original Vegas casinos, and The Las Vegas Strip, which is in a suburb called Paradise, NV. Downtown Vegas gave us old timers like Golden Nugget, Four Queens, and Binion’s.
The Las Vegas Strip began as an alternative to Downtown Vegas, where early mobsters made their mark. Bugsy Siegel opened The Flamingo in 1946. By the 1990s, the mega-resort casino boom began.
Glitter Gulch
Before The Strip became the bedazzled, 800-pound gorilla it is today, Downtown Vegas was the place to go for all the action. Fremont Street is ground zero for the earliest Vegas gaming halls and casinos.
Early gaming pioneers opened the Golden Nugget, Binion’s Horseshoe, Four Queens, and Fremont in the 1940s-50s. Binion’s Horseshoe transformed old hotels with sawdust floors into a lush gambling den styled after an old riverboat. Benny Binion also started the World Series of Poker, the most recognized global poker tournament of all time.
One defining feature shared by the downtown casinos was the neon lighting. Unhappy with mere cocktail tube glass neon signs, each casino’s exterior glowed with so much neon signage that the entire area became known as Glitter Gulch. Look for the famous waving cowboy sign, Vegas Vic. This neon cowboy has been inviting guests to the Pioneer Casino since 1951.
To keep up with the times, Glitter Gulch added its ultimate bling in recent years. A massive steel and glass canopy covers the bulk of Fremont Street with millions upon millions of LED lighting effects and light shows.
Early Las Vegas Strip
In the early years of the Las Vegas Strip, you wouldn’t recognize it. The first casino built on the area now called The Las Vegas Strip was El Rancho Vegas. Built in 1941, this gambling resort featured 63 bungalow hotel rooms. Soon, Hotel Last Frontier opened in 1942. The sudden surge in casino action lured organized crime figures like Bugsy Siegel into Vegas.
Bugsy Siegel built the Flamingo resort with mob money in 1946. Siegel threw extravagant soirees, flying in fellow mobsters and movie stars to revel in his fun zone. As more mobsters streamed in to stake their claim, the Nevada Gaming Board issued strict laws prohibiting felons and gangsters from running casinos. So, the mobsters hired front men and watched from the shadows. Problem solved.
By this time, the old Highway 91 was renamed the Las Vegas Strip. And the largest building boom in Nevada history began in earnest. Over the next decades, old resorts expanded and improved, and newer, glitzier gambling dens sprang up out of the desert.
Moguls and Megaresorts
The most amazing structures in Las Vegas aren’t all buildings. The first hint of this hits you when you enter the Las Vegas Strip from the south. The iconic Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign, built in 1959, formally invites you to Sin City. Originally, the sign sat on a divider in the road. But the city had to redesign the area to accommodate more visitors eager to take selfies below it. Previously, intrepid visitors had to dart across traffic to bask in the glow of the fabulous sign.
Caesars Palace dropped in 1966. This began the march toward megaresort casinos over the next decades. Caesars was one of the first themed resorts of its scale. Lush, Roman sculptures, columns, and statues adorned the entire establishment. Imagine being greeted by a young woman in a toga who says ‘Welcome, sire. I am your slave.’
Soon the International Hotel opened its 1,512 rooms to the public in 1969. The race to build the most amazing structures in Las Vegas began. Caesars Palace was one of the first themed resorts in Vegas. And with their ambitious Roman Empire fantasy theme, other themed resorts soon followed suit.
Fantasy Oasis: Themed Resorts
Las Vegas was mostly considered an adult playground during the 60s. But clever entrepreneurs decided to cash in on the family vacation dollar. Circus Circus opened its doors in 1968 with the promise of big fun for the whole family.
Live trapeze artists fling through the air overhead in a giant big top tent structure. Trained monkeys roamed the grounds of the casino and paid out winnings. Baby elephants rode around the resort in a tram, while a full-blown circus took place elsewhere.
Another fantasy resort with the whole family in mind also sits on the Strip: Excalibur. This Camelot-themed resort sprung from the pages of a fairytale. Towers, battlements, and knightly halls fill the resort space. You can even enjoy a medieval feast fit for a king while watching knights whack each other with swords.
If swords and swashbuckling tickle your fancy, check out Treasure Island Hotel and Casino. This pirate-themed resort features lagoons with pirate ships, complete with staged pirate battles. Over time, owners downplayed the pirate theme, losing the show but keeping the ships.
City-Themed Resorts
Another amazing structure in Vegas is the giant, gleaming glass pyramid known as Luxor, modeled after Ancient Egypt. A giant sphinx guards the entrance to the largest atrium space in the world. Originally, a Nile River ride flowed through the middle of the interior. Since then, the waterworks have been replaced with an IMAX theater and a showroom featuring the likes of Carrot Top. The largest man-made light in the world shoots out of the apex of the pyramid to pierce the night sky.
Closer to home, New York, New York recreates the Big Apple in a miniature resort version. A Statue of Liberty replica beckons the tired, the weary, and those hungry for casino action to take a bite. Various skyscrapers house hotel rooms for guests, and a roller coaster zips around between them.
Amazing Structures in Vegas: The Euro-Desert
Ever wanted to glide down a canal in Venice on a gondola but couldn’t afford the plane ticket? Visit The Venetian Las Vegas. This Venice-themed resort captures the iconic details of the floating city, right down to canals and gondoliers. Float under a replica of Rialto Bridge and dock at the Doge Palace at St. Mark’s Square. All without changing dollars to euros.
While you’re in the Euro-desert, visit Paris Las Vegas. An Eiffel Tower replica shoots up 540 feet into the sky. Unlike the real tower, the four tower legs straddle the resort to maximize space. Inside, you can visit replicas of the Arc de Triomphe and the Louvre.
Another tribute to the Old World lies in Bellagio, named after the village with the same name in Lake Como, Italy. Opulence and splendor adorn both interior and exterior. But Bellagio’s famous fountain wows the crowds as it springs and sings to passersby 24/7. It was featured prominently in the closing scene of the Vegas heist film Ocean’s 11.
Tallest Structures in Vegas
Over time, the megaresorts were literally eclipsed by towering megaliths of money as casino skyscrapers emerged. The theme wasn’t king any longer, as many garish gambling giants raced for dominance. They soon built the tallest structures in Vegas.
The number one spot on the list of tallest structures in Las Vegas goes to The Strat. The Strat, built in 1996, is a towering giant stretching 1,149 feet into the desert sky. And this is why we chose the name ‘tallest structures’ instead of tallest buildings. The Strat is a Seattle Space Needlesque observation tower with a surrounding a casino/hotel. If you want the best view of Las Vegas, look no further.
The number two spot on the list of tallest structures is also the tallest casino resort in Las Vegas: Fontainebleau. Built in 2023 at a cost of $3.7 billion, this 735-foot megaresort is the second most expensive Vegas resort—and the newest. Fontainebleau features a 173,000 sq ft casino and 3,644 hotel rooms.
Number three and four on the list are The Palazzo (part of the Venetian complex) and Encore. The Palazzo rises 642 feet into the air and features 105,000 sq ft of gaming space and 3,066 rooms. Wynn Resorts built Encore in 2008 as a sister property to Wynn Las Vegas. This 631-foot, 2,034-room resort features 72,000 sq feet of gaming space.
Spherical Miracle
One of the most amazing structures in Las Vegas isn’t the tallest. When Sphere came to town, it dominated the Las Vegas skyline like nothing else before it had. In 2023, Sphere opened not as a casino resort, but as the most innovative exhibition space in history. Then Sphere took the Vegas residency thing to the next level when it opened September 29, 2023. U2:2V – Achtung Baby Live became the first live exhibition to design the show with the building as part of the act.
At 366 feet tall and 516 feet wide, Sphere is the largest spherical structure on earth. While the Luxor Sky Beam cuts the night sky with a single beam, Sphere lights up the desert with 580,000 sq ft of exterior LED displays. And the interior is no less impressive. Top to bottom 16K resolution LED screens completely engulf viewers in moving images from floor to ceiling. Add the world’s largest loudspeaker array (1,586 Holoplot X1 Matrix speakers), and you’ve got a Bonafide Thunderdome.
Oasis of Dreams
Las Vegas (the meadows in Spanish) began as a welcome desert watering hole for thirsty explorers and travelers. Over the next hundred years, this remote oasis grew from desert watering hole to global entertainment hub. Innovation gave us the Hoover Dam to supply water and electricity to the growing city. Wild dreams gave us the rest.
When you descend into Las Vegas by plane, the impossible suddenly seems possible. A massive playground of pyramids, global landmarks, sprawling lakes, fountains, and one giant Sphere greets your eyes.
And you marvel at the ingenuity, dreams, and design miracles that gave us the most amazing structures in fabulous Las Vegas.
