The Stardust Hotel opened in 1958.

UPDATE: The Stardust was imploded on Mar. 13, 2007.

Las Vegas will lose another mid-century modern hotel.

Last week, the owner of the 1958 Stardust Hotel announced plans to tear down the 1,500-room hotel, which was featured in the 1996 film "Swingers." A $4 million four-hotel casino complex will rise in its place, Las Vegas-based Boyd Gaming Corp. said on Jan. 5.

"The past years have been a succession of classic hotels that have gone down," says Andrew Kirk, executive director of Preserve Nevada. "They've all gone down for the same reason: The extreme value of the land is just an enticement. There is really no incentive on the Strip for preservation, even though there is a growing sentiment in Las Vegas for preservation in general."

Other famous hotels on the Las Vegas Strip have been cleared for so-called mega-resorts: The famous 1955 Dunes Hotel was demolished for the Bellagio in 1993, and the 1950 Desert Inn was razed five years ago. Although most of the La Concha Motel was torn down last year, a local museum is raising money to move and reconstruct its shell-shaped lobby, designed by African American architect Paul Williams.

The famous Strip is not located within the city of Las Vegas, which has a historic-preservation commission and preservation ordinances; it's in nearby Clark County, which has no such protection for historic sites. Therefore, Kirk says, "the preservation ordinance and the regulation of historic sites don't count when it's on the Strip."

The Stardust Hotel's 32-story tower and adjacent nine-story building will be demolished by the end of the year.

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