The Medical Mansion: Reno's Doctors' House on Ridge Street

High on the bluff above the Truckee River, at 599 Ridge Street in Reno's Newlands Heights, stands a long, low house with a tile roof and arched windows that local historians call the “medical mansion.” The name comes from the two physicians who owned it at different times, and the house later hosted one of the most talked-about weddings in the city's divorce-era history.

This is the story of that house, told from the published record with the sources named. Where accounts differ, or where we could not confirm a detail, we say so.

A Mansion on the Bluff

The house stands at the corner of Ridge Street and Nixon Avenue, according to a 2013 article in the Greasewood Tablettes, the newsletter of the University of Nevada School of Medicine's Great Basin History of Medicine Division. Its current address is 599 Ridge Street; the Reno Historical entry for the West/Hood House notes it was previously numbered 657 Ridge Street.

The ground has a pedigree. Reno Historical says the original building was “a large, garage-like structure situated on the Nixon estate overlooking the Truckee River.” That estate belonged to Senator George S. Nixon, whose own mansion, finished in 1907, still stands nearby on California Avenue. After Nixon's death in 1912 his widow relocated to Southern California, and in 1921 Dr. Claudius W. West acquired the structure and property “when the property was being liquidated by Senator Nixon's widow.”

The Reno Historical description of the finished house is precise: about 5,641 square feet plus a 1,072-square-foot finished basement, seven bedrooms and eight bathrooms, with a horizontal plan, a tile roof, and arched windows. It is a stop on the Historic Reno Preservation Society's “Mansions on the Bluff” walking tour.

DeLongchamps and the Mediterranean Revival Design

Reno Historical states that Dr. West “commissioned prominent Nevada architect Frederic DeLongchamps to design the house,” and tags the building as Mediterranean Revival. That is the style name the source uses, so it is the one we use, though the tile roof and arched windows will look “Spanish” to many eyes.

Frederic Joseph DeLongchamps (1882–1969) was born in Reno and, as Wikipedia notes, became one of Nevada's most prolific architects despite having no extensive formal training. He ran his own firm from 1909 to 1938 and designed the Washoe County Courthouse (1911), the Riverside Hotel (1927), and the Reno Main Post Office (1934). If you have read our story of the Riverside Hotel, from divorce-era glamour to artist lofts, you already know his work from downtown.

One point deserves a careful note. A mid-1920s design date is sometimes cited, but the sources we could read give no drawing date. What the record does show is that West owned the property from 1921 and sold it in 1926, so the commission presumably falls within those years. That is our inference, not a documented date. The Greasewood Tablettes article, for its part, says the house was built in 1921, and does not mention DeLongchamps at all.

The record preserves one charming detail: according to West's daughter-in-law, Thelma Charlton West, the doctor himself put the medical shields on the concrete flower boxes in front of the house.

The Doctors Who Made It the “Medical Mansion”

Reno Historical puts it plainly: “two physicians owned it, but not in succession.” Between them came a businessman. In 1926 West sold the house to William Stanley Hill, a medicine manufacturer, for about $50,000. Hill told the newspapers he had bought it as an anniversary present for his wife, and that he planned to spend half the year there writing and the other half in New York attending to his business.

The second doctor was Dr. A. J. “Bart” Hood, who acquired the residence early in the 1930s. Reno Historical describes him as a Nevada native, born in Battle Mountain in 1895, whose father, D. C. Hood, was the first licensed physician in Nevada. Dr. Hood “was the first orthopedic surgeon in Reno” and practiced medicine for 36 years, mostly at St. Mary's Hospital. During the Great Depression he is said to have bartered his professional services for chickens and vegetables.

Was it a home or an office? On the evidence we found, a home. Reno Historical calls it a “residence,” the Hoods added a children's wing and a woodshop, and Dr. Hood practiced mostly at St. Mary's Hospital. We found no source describing it as a patient clinic. Dr. West's specialty is not stated in the sources we read.

A Society Wedding on Ridge Street

Dr. Hood married Elizabeth Charlton in 1931. According to Reno Historical, she had come to Reno from Boston in 1929 to divorce Earle Perry Charlton, an heir of one of the five founding families of the Woolworth chain, and had brought her two children, Thelma and Earle “Chuck,” with her because of the recent Lindbergh kidnapping. In Reno she met Dr. Hood. The house became “the scene of many social events.”

The most famous was a wedding. Elizabeth Hood's friend, the Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton, married her second of seven husbands, Danish Count Kurt von Haugwitz-Reventlow, “in front of the fireplace in this house, the day after she divorced Georgian Prince Alexis Mdivani.” The Reno Divorce History site says she married the count “in the Reno home of Mrs. A. J. Hood” as soon as her divorce was final.

A note on the date. Reno Historical does not give a year for the wedding. The Greasewood Tablettes article says “In 1935.” Time's Milestones column of May 20, 1935 reports that the day after her divorce she married the count. A 1931 date for the wedding has also been cited, but we could not find it in the sources we checked, and the only 1931 in the Reno Historical account is the year Dr. Hood and Elizabeth Charlton married. On the evidence we could verify, 1935 is the year, and we flag any other date as unconfirmed.

One more coincidence: in 1945, Elizabeth's daughter Thelma married Fraser E. West, son of Dr. Claudius West, so the two doctors' families were joined.

The Neighborhood and the Nixon Estate

The Nixon Mansion, at 631 California Avenue, is the anchor of the area. Reno Historical records that it was designed by Marshall and Fox of Chicago, finished in 1907, and built in the Italian Renaissance Revival style with some 33 rooms. A 1979 fire left the interior uninhabitable; Carla and Harry Hart restored it by 2002. On the Mansions on the Bluff tour, the two houses are consecutive stops.

The neighborhood itself arrived in the same decade as the doctors. Historic Reno's overview of the Newlands name says Newlands Heights was established in 1920, one of the subdivisions of the Newlands Historic District in Reno's Old Southwest. A National Register nomination for another Newlands Heights house, the Hawkins House (built 1911), describes the area as a fashionable bluff above the Truckee, developed during an era of rapid growth fueled by the wealth of the Tonopah and Goldfield mining areas.

For the other side of Reno in the same years, the commercial street that carried travelers through town, see our look at the Lincoln Highway in Reno.

What It Is Today

The house is documented by Reno Historical as a residence, and it remains a fixture of the Mansions on the Bluff walk. We could not confirm its current ownership or use, so if you go to see it, please treat it as private property and admire it from the street. The c. 1920s photograph on the Reno Historical page is credited to the Nevada Historical Society; we have not reproduced it here because we could not confirm it is in the public domain.

At a Glance: The Medical Mansion

• The house is at 599 Ridge Street (formerly 657 Ridge Street), at Ridge Street and Nixon Avenue on the bluff above the Truckee River in Newlands Heights.
• It began as a garage-like structure on Senator George Nixon's estate and was acquired in 1921 by Dr. Claudius W. West when Nixon's widow liquidated the property.
• Reno Historical credits Nevada architect Frederic DeLongchamps and calls the style Mediterranean Revival, with a horizontal plan, tile roof, and arched windows. A precise design date is unconfirmed.
• West sold it in 1926 to medicine manufacturer William Stanley Hill; Dr. A. J. “Bart” Hood, described as Reno's first orthopedic surgeon, acquired it early in the 1930s.
• Barbara Hutton married Count Kurt von Haugwitz-Reventlow in the house the day after her Reno divorce from Prince Alexis Mdivani; the Greasewood Tablettes and Time point to 1935.
• Sources describe the house as a family residence rather than a clinic, and it is a stop on the Historic Reno Preservation Society's Mansions on the Bluff tour.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is it called the “Medical Mansion”?

Reno Historical says two physicians, Dr. Claudius W. West and Dr. A. J. “Bart” Hood, owned it, though not in succession; a medicine manufacturer owned it between them.

Who designed it, and in what style?

Reno Historical says Dr. West commissioned Nevada architect Frederic DeLongchamps and classifies the house as Mediterranean Revival. We could not confirm the design year.

Did Barbara Hutton really marry there, and when?

Reno Historical and the Reno Divorce History site both place her wedding to Count Haugwitz-Reventlow in the Hood home. The Greasewood Tablettes gives 1935, as does Time's May 20, 1935 Milestones column; a 1931 date could not be verified.

Was it a doctors' office or a home?

The sources describe it as a residence, and Dr. Hood practiced mostly at St. Mary's Hospital. We found no source describing it as a patient clinic.

Conclusion

The Medical Mansion makes Reno's history feel close: a doctor's flower-box shields, a manufacturer's anniversary gift, and a Woolworth heiress married in front of the fireplace. Behind the stories is a handsome piece of 1920s craftsmanship by an architect who shaped the downtown we still walk. To collect the spirit of that era is to look for the same things in smaller form: honest materials, good proportions, and the marks of use.

To bring a piece of that history home, explore our curated collection at The Eclection, and if you would like to meet us in person around town, see our note on the Reno Antique Faire.

Resources & Further Reading

For deeper study, these local and national preservation resources are reliable, non-commercial starting points:

• Reno Historical — the West/Hood House entry and the “Mansions on the Bluff” tour.
• Historic Reno Preservation Society — walking tours, FootPrints newsletters, and preservation advocacy.
• National Park Service: National Register of Historic Places — nomination forms and listings for historic districts and houses.