Architect George Vernon Russell, interior designer, Tom Douglas, and building contractor, Bud Raulston, worked with W.R. Wilkerson Enterprises in the design and early construction of the Flamingo Hotel and Casino. Owner William R. Wilkerson, a chronic gambler, hoped to recoup some of his losses at cards, craps and the racetrack, by owning his own outrageously profitable casino. In 03/1945, Wilkerson purchased 33 acres on the outskirts of Las Vegas, NV, and envisioned a grand resort with a golf-course, shopping center, hotel, restaurants, shooting ranges and other diversions shaped around a central casino. Wilkerson's ideas transformed casino design, but he ran out of money at a time of post-war materials shortages, and soon found borrowed money from underworld financier, Meyer Lansky, Benny "Bugsy" Siegel and others. Siegel managed to wrest control of the Flamingo from Wilkerson in 1947, who sold out to save his own life. Siegel discontinued the role of Wilkerson's design team, Russell, Douglas and Raulston, inserting his own team to finish the complex. Due to his profligate spending on the Flamingo (and other reasons), Siegel was killed on 06/20/1947.

PCAD id: 13204