Wiseguys Return to Las Vegas
A $50-million museum in downtown Las Vegas will examine America�s cultural fascination with organized crime and it�s impact on the city.
Las Vegas is embracing its racy roots with a new $50-million Mob Museum.
The interactive cultural attraction is being housed inside the historic federal courthouse and U.S. Post Office in downtown. The 55-ft-tall neoclassical structure is being refurbished to its 1933 condition.
The Las Vegas Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, as its being called, is scheduled to open in mid- 2011. It will examine the mob�s impact on the city and cultural imprint on America.
The FBI has agreed to lend records and other artifacts to the project.
Designed by architect James A. Wetmore, the 42,000-sq-ft building was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. APCO Construction, Las Vegas, is the general contractor, and the Phoenix offi ce of Westlake Reed Leskosky is the architect.
�The Mob Museum has incredible potential to draw hundreds of thousands of people to the museum and downtown Las Vegas, given the worldwide intrigue and fascination with organized crime,� says Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, who rocketed to fame as a criminal defense attorney for organized crime fi gures Meyer Lansky, Frank �Lefty� Rosenthal and Anthony �Tony the Ant� Spilotro in the 1970s and 1980s. �We are confi dent it will become a must-see for tourists and locals alike. As such, the museum is a vital part of the city�s redevelopment eff ort and creates a compelling reason to visit downtown.�
The building exterior is being restored with terra-cotta brick cladding and limestone base, an original loggia entrance and granite paneling. Copper flashings, windows and a metal canopy are being replaced, and the steel-framed structure is undergoing a comprehensive seismic retrofit.
Work entails gutting and replacing walls with a 4- to 6-in.-thick mat of rebar- reinforced shotcrete to meet modern building codes. More than 9,100 lbs of reinforcing steel is being installed to beef up the building.
�The unique challenge of this project is the installation of interior shotcrete along with existing exterior brick wall drag beams that will utilize both pre-existing structural elements along new elements to conform to today�s seismic requirements,� says Randy Nickerl of APCO Construction. �It�s more complex on a historical retrofit since you�re limited by the amount of exploration that you can perform within the Secretary of Interiors guidelines.�
The loading dock canopy is being enclosed to create additional exhibit space, while interior spaces are returned to their original Depression-era appearance. The architect uncovered original 80-year-old conceptual drawings that served as a template for recreating the building�s beauxarts detailing.
�We�re restoring all the public spaces back to their original look,� says WRL project director Robert Mather, who oversees a team of 17 consultants to ensure authenticity. �We used the original architect drawings to remake light fixtures and return the building to its opening-day look.�
A $50-million museum in downtown Las Vegas will examine America�s cultural fascination with organized crime and it�s impact on the city.
The three-story facility was a working post office until 2002. Three bays of mailboxes were salvaged and are being refurbished and reinstalled. Tickets will be sold out of the original post offi ce windows.
The 16-ft-tall by 60-ft-long lobby has terrazzo marble, travertine and granite fi nishes. New plaster, paint and crown molding are being installed.
�We are recreating the original construction with ornate hand-formed plaster ceilings and a marble tread stairway,� Nickerl says.
The ground level houses the building�s main 60-person courtroom, where the 1950-51 federal hearings on organized crime were held by U.S. Sen. Estes Kefauver of Tennessee. The 60-ft by 40- ft space will have wood paneling and benches and show a 25-minute film on the mob in Las Vegas. Courtroom walls will serve as projection surfaces.
The first floor will also contain the museum gift shop.
The second level features offices and another courtroom followed by more office space above. The areas are being transformed into 13,000 sq ft of permanent and temporary exhibition space, with audio and video displays as well as re-created environments. San Francisco based Gallagher and Associates designed the displays, exhibits and program spaces.
�We�re making improvements as inconspicuous as possible, especially in critical spaces,� Mather says. �It was a working building until the city took it over, so it had been well maintained.�
The museum is seeking LEED certification. Lead paint and asbestos tiles have been removed, and several existing building materials are being recycled.
A high-efficiency heating and cooling mechanical system is being installed that enables energy monitoring and zone climate control. No-VOC paints and glues are being used.
