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« LA Sux ... Or Don't | Main | Getting Lost in Big Cities »

January 08, 2010

Elaborate Interiors, Vegas Style

Donald Pittenger writes:

Dear Blowhards --

Important public interior spaces of yore (think railroad stations, opera houses, 1920s movie theaters, large libraries, museums, and so forth) were grand both in size and decor. The advent of modernism along with the decline in the number of skilled craftsmen who could create the architectural details resulted in the current situation where ornamentation is very costly to produce.

One place where elaborately ornamented buildings are built is Las Vegas, where billion dollar construction budgets permit it. Not all hotel-casinos go fancy, but several built over the last ten or 15 years offer visual feasts. Below are some photos of Las Vegas interiors I took in November.

NY%20NY%20street.JPG
New York, New York
As a warm-up, here's what can happen in a strongly "themed" casino -- in this case, a purported New York City street.

Paris%20interior%20-%202.JPG
Paris
Okay, one more before we get to architectural detail and interior decoration. The Paris casino tries to a create Parisian atmosphere.

MGM%20stairway%20detail.JPG
MGM Grand
Some shopping and restaurant areas in the MGM Grand are starkly modernist. But part was designed to evoke elaborate movies houses of the past as can be seen here.

Bellagio%20court%20-%202.JPG
Bellagio
Parts of the Bellagio are done in Italian galleria style.

Caesar%27s%20looking%20up.JPG
Caesar's Palace
Just inside the Vegas Strip entrance to the shops area is this view, if you choose to look up.

Venetian%20-%20ceiling%20painting.JPG
Venetian
And if you look up here and there in the Venetian, you might spy more than a few ceiling paintings such as this one.

Venetian%20hall.JPG
This Venetian hallway leads from the casino floor to the hotel lobby ...

Venetian%20lobby.JPG ... here.

Palazzo%20entry%20area.JPG
Palazzo
The new Palazzo is attached to the Venetian. Here is one of the entry areas. The dark, twisty object by the statuary is some seasonal decoration.

Palazzo%20court.JPG
This is the gallery in Palazzo's shopping area.

Wynn%20shops%20corridor.JPG
Wynn
Steve Wynn created the Bellagio and then went on to build the hotel-casino he modestly named after himself. Perhaps that's why there is a touch of galleria in the main shopping section.

Wynn%20-%20escalator%20area.JPG
This is just beyond the shopping. Outside is a pool and (not seen here) a waterfall, inside are escalators and a bar on the lower floor.

Encore%20hallway.JPG
Encore
On the same grounds as the Wynn is Wynn's latest -- the Encore. Shown is a hallway near shops. Note the butterfly theme found over much of the public areas.

Encore%20interior.JPG
A bit of Encore interior decoration to close our show.

Later,

Donald

posted by Donald at January 8, 2010




Comments

I've often imagined late Roman Empire palaces looking like this. But not as well lit. Hubris.

Posted by: Charlton Griffin on January 8, 2010 10:59 AM



Beats glass and aluminum and hard right angles any day.

My first time in Vegas I was completely blown away by all that. I think I spent an entire day doing nothing but walking the strip and checking out the big casino hotels.

Posted by: dzot on January 8, 2010 9:58 PM



My God, how awful! I will never ever visit Las Vegas. Horrible, horrible kitsch!

Posted by: Simonr on January 12, 2010 4:42 AM






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