Las Vegas, The Smith Center for the Performing Arts

The Smith Center for the Performing Arts, opened on March 10 2012, is a five-acre performing arts center consisting of three theaters in two buildings. The Smith Center is the home of the Las Vegas Philharmonic and Nevada Ballet Theatre. Prior to The Smith Center opening, Las Vegas was one of the largest cities in the country without a performing arts center. The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation made a donation of $150 million in 2005, the second largest donation to performing arts in United States history. The building was named after Fred and Mary Smith, the chairman of the Reynolds Foundation and his wife, as the largest benefactors. The Lied Discovery Children’s Museum also resides in the Smith Center. The building is a reinterpretation of the Nebraska State Capitol at Lincoln and the Bullocks Wilshire in Los Angeles. White Indiana limestone for the facade (as at Lincoln), as well as numerous detail elements based on the Hoover Dam and 1920’s motifs, feature throughout the facility, including a winged sculpture in the Center lobby modeled after the dam’s famous Winged Figures of the Republic statues. At the corner is a 17-story tower featuring 47 bells and providing a new focal point for the downtown skyline, as well as the Center.