Jon Jerde, the architect of many of Southern Nevada’s most iconic attractions, has died. He was 75.
Jerde was the architect of the Bellagio resort on the Las Vegas Strip, as well as Downtown’s Fremont Street Experience, the refashioning of Treasure Island, and other attractions that moved Las Vegas from a gambling-centric era into a non-gaming destination resort.
“Jon Jerde was a warm and delightful friend and gifted architect,” Wynn Resorts Chairman Steve Wynn, creator of the Bellagio, said in a statement. “My colleagues and I had the pleasure of collaborating with him on the design of Bellagio and, in addition, Elaine Wynn and I joined with he and his wife, Janice, in the design of our Shadow Creek home. That residence reflected the elegance and the warmth of Jon’s creativity. We will all miss him.”
Jerde, an Illinois native, moved with his family to Long Beach, California in 1952, at age 12. He studied engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles before transferring to the University of Southern California’s architecture school on funding arranged by its dean.
Wynn enlisted the architect to transform Treasure Island into the Strip’s first “family” resort. The duo drew up plans for a lake, pirate-themed entertainment and retail, as well as the city’s first Cirque du Soleil show, Mystère.
Then, of course, he teamed with Wynn to design the Bellagio, which debuted in 1998 and launched a new era of casino design that would transform the Strip with properties like Paris Las Vegas, Mandalay Bay and The Venetian.
Jerde is survived by his wife, architect Janice Ambry Jerde; five children; and four grandchildren.
The family plans a memorial service at a later date. To honor Jerde’s memory, the family said contributions may be made to the UCLA Foundation to support the work of Dr. David Reuben of the UCLA Alzheimer’s & Dementia Care Program; to Ancient Egypt Research Associates in Boston; or to the Jon Adams Jerde, FAIA, Endowment at the University of Southern California’s School of Architecture.
