Paradise Misplaced: Inside the Xanadu

Artist's conception of the main atrium.

A color conception.

The Xanadu's builders envisioned their casino as a pleasure palace where patrons could relax amid a garden of earthly delights. The architect's blueprints and artist's renderings capture an echo of a paradise not necessarily lost, but certainly misplaced.

As can be seen, the public areas were to be dominated by the huge atrium, much like the Luxor's are today. Mirrors, chandeliers, and generally shiny objects were to be the order of the day, as can be seen by looking inside another Stern casino, the Showboat.

Click any thumbnail for a large view.

Imagine the Xanadu...
Outside the Xanadu	sectional view
typical room plan	casino floor plan
garden level	ground floor plan

Inside a Stern Casino
Because it was never built, we will never know exactly what the Xanadu would have looked like. But these color photos of Atlantic City's Showboat, another Stern-designed casino, give the spectator a good taste of Stern's concept of casino design. The soaring atrium, with large mirrors and a reflective escalator, would not have been out of place in the Xanadu. Certainly the Xanadu would have had restaurants that looked remarkably like those pictured here, and casino floors look very similar no matter where they are.	the Showboat, on the Boardwalk in AC
the atrium	a view of the escalator
theater	off the lobby
seafood restaurant	inside the buffet
the casino floor	more of the floor

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