The Riverside Hotel: From Divorce-Era Glamour to Artist Lofts

The Riverside Hotel stands on the south bank of the Truckee River at Virginia Street, on ground where Reno itself began. Six stories of red brick and cream terra cotta, it has lived three lives: a grand hotel of the late 1920s, the best-known address of Reno's quick-divorce trade, and, since 2000, affordable live/work housing for artists.

Its story is also a study in how a city remembers. Sources do not always agree on dates, so we attribute them below and flag the places where they differ. For collectors, the Riverside is a useful key to the early 20th century in Reno: the railroad-era hospitality trade, the design language of the 1920s, and the paper and objects that travelers left behind.

Hotels on the Truckee

According to Reno Historical, Charles William Fuller built a bridge across the Truckee and opened a primitive log hotel here in late 1859, serving travelers of the Rush to Washoe. In mid-1861, Myron Lake took over the crossing and created the Lake House. That original inn burned on December 4, 1868.

The Riverside name came later. Reno Historical says Lake's son-in-law renamed the hotel in 1888, while the Intermountain Histories project places the change in 1880, when Lake's family took over; the sources differ, so the 1880s is the safe range. Harry Gosse then replaced the old building with a chateau-style brick hotel of about 110 rooms, dated 1906 by Reno Historical and 1907 by Intermountain Histories. A fire destroyed that hotel on March 15, 1922.

That sequence matters to the building's character. Reno was a railroad town, and its river-crossing hotels were part of the machinery that moved people through it. The site had been serving travelers for more than sixty years before the building we know today rose from the ashes. If you collect the ephemera of Reno's roads and crossings, you will recognize the pattern.

Wingfield, DeLongchamps, and the 1927 Building

After the 1922 fire, Gosse sold the lot for $70,000 to George Wingfield, whom Reno Historical calls the city's most powerful citizen. Wingfield financed and built the replacement, and he commissioned the Nevada architect Frederic DeLongchamps to design it. Artspace dates construction to 1926; Reno Historical records that the new six-story hotel opened on May 14, 1927.

DeLongchamps gave the Riverside a Gothic Revival profile: red brick, cream-colored terra cotta trim, and a vertical, stepped silhouette. Wikipedia describes it as Nevada's tallest building until the seven-story El Cortez opened in 1931. The hotel's plan was generous for its day, with 40 corner suites that included kitchens and 60 single rooms. The kitchens were a quiet clue to its purpose: these were rooms meant for long stays.

For a very different Reno hotel of a later decade, see our look at the Mapes Hotel and Reno's Art Deco era, which sets the Riverside's restrained Gothic against the modernist taste that followed.

The Divorce Capital of the World

Nevada had required 90 days of residency for divorce since 1927. In 1931, the legislature shortened that to six weeks, the shortest waiting period in the country, according to a Nevada Appeal account of the law. Together with the legalization of gambling the same year, the change turned Reno into what writers called the divorce capital of the world.

The Riverside stood at the center of that trade. Those waiting out their residency took rooms here, and the hotel appears in nearly all of the novels and films about Reno divorces, according to Wikipedia. One early arrival was Clare Boothe, who came to Reno in February 1929 to divorce her first husband, George Tuttle Brokaw. Travel Nevada notes that soon-to-be divorcees rented luxurious rooms at the Riverside through the 1930s and 1940s.

The hotel grew with the trade. A casino operated here by the 1930s, and an expansion of about 84 rooms, a swimming pool, a theater-restaurant, and a dance floor followed after the Second World War; Wikipedia dates the expansion to 1949, Reno Historical to 1950. Wingfield sold the hotel in 1955.

Decline and Closure

The postwar decades were harder. According to Wikipedia, the Riverside's gaming license was revoked in 1967 after a dice-cheating scandal, and the hotel closed in 1968. Jessie Beck bought it in 1971 and reopened the casino. Artspace attributes the wider decline to changing divorce law, as no-fault divorce elsewhere removed the reason to come to Nevada at all.

The closing date is another place where sources differ. Wikipedia says the hotel finally closed in 1986, nearly sixty years after Wingfield rebuilt it. Reno Historical gives a more precise account: the casino folded for good in 1986, and the hotel and restaurants followed in 1987. Artspace also gives 1987. We use that two-step version here.

The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 6, 1986, according to Wikipedia (reference number 86002256), so its landmark status was recognized just as its operating life ended. Listing honors a building; it does not protect it from demolition, and by 1997 the Riverside faced exactly that threat.

From Hotel to Artist Lofts

The rescue came through a community campaign. The Sierra Arts Foundation partnered with Artspace, the national nonprofit developer of artist housing, to convert the hotel into 35 low-income artist lofts. Artspace lists the project as established in 2000, and Reno Historical says the renovated Riverside reopened that year.

The financing was a patchwork typical of preservation projects: Artspace names the City of Reno, the National Equity Fund, the Nevada Department of Housing, the Nevada Historic Preservation Office, U.S. Bancorp, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Washoe County among its partners. The architects were Miller Dunwiddie Architecture and Sheehan VanWoert Bigotti Architecture. The lofts offer open floor plans, large windows, and views of the river and the Sierra, while the ground floor holds the Sierra Arts Foundation Gallery and a restaurant.

The project is a noted example of adaptive reuse. Susan Boskoff of the Nevada Arts Council said it opened the eyes of elected officials and the public to what downtown could be, and showed that people would live downtown.

What Remains

The Riverside has outlasted its own reason for being. The divorce trade is gone, the casino is gone, and the building has kept its brick, its terra cotta, and its place on the river. What survives is partly architectural and partly material: the postcards, matchbooks, stationery, and luggage labels that guests carried out of the lobby and into the trunks and drawers of the country.

For collectors, early-20th-century Reno is a rich, under-collected field. Hotel and railroad-era memorabilia, travel ephemera, and the clean-lined furnishings and lighting of the 1920s all share a context with this building. When you find a piece with a documented Reno provenance, the history is part of the object. To see period pieces in person, find us at the Reno Antique Faire.

At a Glance: The Riverside Hotel

• The site on the Truckee River at Virginia Street has hosted hotels since 1859, including the Lake House and earlier Riverside hotels; an earlier Riverside burned on March 15, 1922.
• The current six-story brick building opened May 14, 1927, built by George Wingfield and designed by Nevada architect Frederic DeLongchamps in a Gothic Revival style.
• Nevada's residency requirement fell from 90 days (1927) to six weeks (1931), and the Riverside became a landmark of Reno's divorce trade.
• The casino folded in 1986 and the hotel closed in 1987, according to Reno Historical; Wikipedia gives 1986 for the final closure.
• The hotel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 6, 1986, and faced demolition in 1997.
• Artspace and the Sierra Arts Foundation reopened it in 2000 as 35 affordable live/work artist lofts.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who built the Riverside Hotel?

George Wingfield, who bought the lot from Harry Gosse after the 1922 fire, built the current building, and Nevada architect Frederic DeLongchamps designed it. It opened on May 14, 1927, according to Reno Historical.

Why was the Riverside Hotel important to Reno's divorce trade?

Nevada's short residency requirement meant divorce seekers had to live in the state for weeks before filing. The Riverside, with suites that included kitchens, was where many of them stayed, and it appears in numerous novels and films about Reno divorces. Residency fell from 90 days in 1927 to six weeks in 1931.

When did the Riverside Hotel close?

Sources differ slightly. Reno Historical says the casino closed in 1986 and the hotel and restaurants in 1987; Wikipedia gives 1986 for the final closure. Artspace gives 1987.

Can you still visit or live in the Riverside?

Yes, in part. Since 2000 the building has operated as the Riverside Artist Lofts, 35 affordable live/work units for artists, with a gallery and a restaurant on the ground floor. The residential units are private homes, so the public spaces are the places to visit.

Conclusion

The Riverside is one of the few Reno landmarks to have had three distinct lives and survived all of them. It was built in the confident years of the 1920s, defined by the divorce trade, left empty, and finally returned to use by a community that decided it was worth keeping. That arc, from glamour to vacancy to purpose, is a preservation story told in brick and terra cotta.

To bring a piece of that era home, explore our curated collection at The Eclection, chosen for the craftsmanship and history each piece carries.

Resources & Further Reading

For deeper study, these non-commercial sources are reliable starting points:

• Online Nevada Encyclopedia — Nevada Humanities' reference on the state's history, including Reno's divorce era.
• Reno Historical — a local history project with entries on the Riverside Hotel and downtown Reno.
• National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places — the federal register of historic properties, including the Riverside Hotel.