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Vegas Retold

The history of Paris Las Vegas

Opened September 1, 1999

Paris Las Vegas’s ornate frontage, Beer Park terrace and blue balloon sign in 2026, with palms and the separate Planet Hollywood tower in the background.
Paris Las Vegas frontage and its balloon sign on April 23, 2026, with the separate Planet Hollywood hotel behind. Published Commons resized reproduction.

© Frank Schulenburg / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

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Paris Las Vegas opened to the public on September 1, 1999. Its Eiffel Tower, balloon sign and French-inspired streets made the resort recognizable from the Strip. This was a newly opened themed hotel-casino beside Bally’s, rather than a new name for the entire older property. Today the neighboring Bally’s is called Horseshoe.

A city-inspired opening

The opening was staged as a connection between the two cities. The operator’s contemporary announcement described a ceremony linking the Eiffel Tower in France with the replica in Las Vegas, followed by the public entering at 10 p.m. Park Place Entertainment owned the new resort. Rooms, dining, shops, gaming and convention facilities opened together, making the French setting part of a complete resort rather than a freestanding observation tower.

The architecture of the theme

The architecture compresses several Parisian references into one property. The Eiffel Tower replica rises above the casino, while other facades and landmarks draw on the Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre and the Hôtel de Ville. Inside, painted skies and street-like pathways continue the theme. These are Las Vegas interpretations of French places, not historic structures brought from France.

A tower added from Horseshoe

The resort’s later growth also relied on an existing neighboring building. In May 2023, Caesars announced plans to renovate Horseshoe’s Jubilee Tower and integrate it into Paris as Versailles Tower. The project changed the tower’s appearance, rooms and resort identity; it did not rename the whole Horseshoe property or demolish it to build another Paris hotel.

The conversion happens in phases

By the resort’s twenty-fifth anniversary in August 2024, the operator was offering redesigned Versailles rooms and balcony rooms. At that point, further exterior and bridge work was still described as forthcoming. The architect of record’s later project account and the operator’s October 2026 fact sheet confirm the converted tower and its pedestrian connection. The announced timetable and the finished project should be distinguished.

Paris and its neighbors today

Paris remains an operating hotel-casino at 3655 South Las Vegas Boulevard. Its footprint and room inventory now include that later tower addition, while Horseshoe remains a separate neighboring resort. The April 2026 photograph shows Paris’s street frontage and balloon sign with Planet Hollywood behind. That background hotel is a third property, not a tower of Paris; the photograph does not show the 1999 opening or establish a walking route between the resorts.

  1. The 1999 opening-night announcement

  2. A tower changes resort identity

  3. Versailles rooms available by August 2024

  4. The completed tower conversion

  5. The operating Paris and its architectural references

  6. The main Paris building area

  7. Paris frontage and balloon sign in April 2026

What remains uncertain

  • The September 1, 1999 opening differs from the September 3 dateline and September 5 publication date of the contemporary release.
  • The former Jubilee Tower became Paris’s Versailles Tower through renovation and reassignment. Horseshoe continued as a separate resort.
  • Tower rooms and the connecting bridge were completed in phases; announced deadlines are not treated as verified actual opening days.
  • The representative main-building marker does not map every Paris parcel or Versailles Tower, and is not an entrance or verified route.
  • The selected 2026 photograph shows Paris frontage and its balloon sign; Planet Hollywood is the separate background hotel. It is a published Commons resized reproduction, not the full-resolution source file.

This site through time

Shared or overlapping site with Horseshoe Las Vegas

Paris Las Vegas expanded by taking over and renovating the former Jubilee Tower of the neighboring Horseshoe/Bally’s complex as Versailles Tower. Caesars announced the project in May 2023; renovated rooms were available by August 2024, and the operator’s October 2026 record confirms the integrated tower and connecting bridge. This concerns one existing tower and its resort affiliation. Horseshoe and Paris both continued as separate hotel-casinos; neither whole property was renamed into or demolished for the other.

Historical source — Operator October 2026 fact sheet, page 1: former Jubilee Tower at Horseshoe now open as Paris’s Versailles Tower, with bridge. May 1, 2023 operator project announcement and August 13, 2024 room-availability update establish phased sequence; BWA architect-of-record project confirms conversion of the existing tower. Those dates are not asserted as a single exact transfer/completion day.

  • Only the former Jubilee/Versailles Tower is the reused part; complete resort footprints and entrances are not equated.
  • The work occurred in phases across 2023–24; a single day marking completion of the whole conversion has not been established.
  • This is a partial-building shared-site and renovation history, not a complete-property replacement or rename.
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