The following two questions came in at around the same time, so we combined them. One, a recent LV Review-Journal article described the Encore (631 feet) and Wynn (614 feet) as the fourth and fifth tallest buildings in southern Nevada. I’m guessing the Stratosphere is first, but what are second and third? And two, what is the lowest elevation in Clark County? I'm guessing it's the dry lake beds near Primm. Also, the highest elevation?
About the 1,150-foot-tall Stratosphere … yes and no. It’s the tallest observation tower in the U.S., but through some quirk of definition, it’s not a “building” because it’s not fully habitable. Thus, second-place Fontainebleau (735 feet) is actually the tallest building in southern Nevada, followed by Palazzo (642 feet), which is the tallest finished building in the area. Two feet behind Palazzo is Trump International and 640 feet high. Then come Encore and Wynn. So, if one excludes Stratosphere, the Review-Journal had it right.
As far as those flats out in Primm, actually no. The lowest point in the county is the Colorado River, 479 feet above sea level as it passes Laughlin. That’s also the low-water mark, as it were, for all of Nevada.
As for the highest point, that would be the peak of the Mount Charleston massif, some 11,916 feet in elevation. Boundary Peak, at 13,140 tall, is the state’s highest point, but it’s in Esmeralda County.
