Little Church of the West
National Register of Historic Places

Little Church of the West

Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada
Listed
September 13, 1992
Type
Building
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
92001161

About this property

Little Church of the West is a wedding chapel on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, United States, that is listed on the United States National Register of Historic Places. Built of redwood, it was intended to be a replica of a typical pioneer town church. It is the oldest building on the Las Vegas Strip. The Little Church of the West opened May 22, 1943 on what became the Las Vegas Strip. The chapel was originally built as part of the Hotel Last Frontier complex on the Strip. It was moved from the north side of the hotel to the south side in 1954. In 1979, to make way for the Fashion Show Mall, the chapel was moved onto the grounds of the Hacienda hotel-casino. In December 1996, when the Hacienda was closed and demolished, the chapel was moved again to its current location on the east side of the Strip, south of the eventual Mandalay Bay resort. The church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) on September 14, 1992, and is the only building on the Las Vegas Strip to be listed. In 2002, the church performed 6,000 weddings a year, and more than 250,000 couples had been married there since its opening. In 2017, it celebrated its 75th anniversary and remains the oldest building on the Las Vegas Strip. In an episode of Perry Mason titled "The Case of the Startled Stallion" (1959) the church is mentioned and the neon sign is shown. It appears in the 1964 film Viva Las Vegas, in which the film's characters played by Elvis Presley and Ann-Margret recite their vows in the church. In the 1978-81 ABC series Vega$ the chapel appears in "Serve, Volley, and Kill" (Season 1, Episode 11, 1978), starring Red Buttons as "Reverend" Tommy Cirko, "All Kinds of Love" (Season 2, Episode 14, 1980), and "Vendetta" (Season 2, Episode 23, 1980). UNLV Architecture Studies Library Tour (South Las Vegas)

Location

3960 Las Vegas Blvd. S.
Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada
36.09164, -115.17422

Categories

COMMERCEARCHITECTURE
National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Nearby Historic Sites

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Railroad Cottage Historic District
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Questions about this property

When was Little Church of the West listed on the National Register?

Little Church of the West was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 13, 1992.

What type of historic resource is Little Church of the West?

Little Church of the West is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Little Church of the West?

The period of significance for Little Church of the West is recorded as the industrial era.

Can I research the history near Little Church of the West?

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