I was in Las Vegas last week to lecture at the Las Vegas Market, filled with fascination, but not seeing any great decoration. Then a call came from one of the great aesthetes of our time, Stuart Feld, the leading eye behind Hirschl and Adler and expert on American painting and the decorative arts.  He wanted me to visit his Duncan Phyfe show at the H&A galleries in New York, which I had already seen and you should, too. Then he asked me how I liked Las Vegas, adding ”I love it, it is part of our culture”. I was surprised to hear that from him. He added how much he liked the Wynn Resort, so I immediately went to see it. 

As in all matters of taste, he is right. If you stay  at the Wynn, you will love Las Vegas. Unlike its neighboring resorts and casinos, this bastion does not attempt to evoke Venice with a faux Grand Canal, Rome with a group of high rises topped with columns of an unknown order, or a shipwreck on a Caribbean island — how unfortunate is that? Rather, the Wynn’s striking decoration is based on classical proportions, but modernized and expanded with acute eyes and grand style. While some may question aspects of taste, it remains a more beguiling and original creation than any of the paste ups of old motifs that surrounds it.  

The centerpiece of the hotel is, and I do not use this word loosely, a fantastic double story atrium known as the Parasol court that opens onto a desert oasis replete with modernist waterfall and viewing balcony that cuts away to a lounge. What makes the space so memorable are the giant silk “parasols” that really are more like lanterns. They are made in brightly colored fabrics decorated with embroidery and tassels and hang from fabric covered poles that move slowly up and down (the lounges in the court are incidentally named Parasol Up and Parasol Down). Their scale is dramatic — some may even be taller than me. The floor is equally remarkable with huge flowers rendered in mosaic.

I am grateful that Stuart answered my cry from the wilderness because after my wondrous visit to the Wynn, I can love Las Vegas, too.   

All photos show the Parasol court at the Wynn Resort at Las Vegas. 2nd Photo from bottom shows the view from the Parasol court to the waterfall.

As a bar experience, you can read a review here.