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Front facade of the Peleg Brown Ranch main house, Old Virginia Road, Reno, Nevada, photographed March 22, 1994 by Martin Fisher for the Historic American Buildings Survey (public domain, Library of Congress)
From Peleg Brown to Damonte: One of the Truckee Meadows’ Oldest Ranches
Ask around Reno where the city was “first settled,” and you will often hear the name Damonte Ranch. It is an understandable answer: the land south of town carries one... Read more...
Wagon in the Field, an oil painting of a Nevada landscape by Mahree (Marie) Roberts of Reno, a period-appropriate piece from the Viridian Eclection collection, not the Patrick Ranch itself
The Patrick Ranch: An Old Truckee Meadows Homestead and Its Lore
The Patrick Ranch House at 1225 Gordon Avenue in Reno: a c. 1901 Folk Victorian dairy homestead, the Patrick family who ran it, what became of the ranch, and the... Read more...
An engraved map of Nevada from the 1870s-1880s, a period-appropriate piece from the Viridian Eclection collection, not the Lake Mansion itself.
The Lake Mansion: Myron Lake, Jane Lake, and the Founding of Reno
Reno did not begin as a grand plan. It began as a wooden toll bridge on the Truckee River, a wayside inn for teamsters bound for the Comstock, and the... Read more...
A Grand Rapids cabinet-on-stand, circa 1920s-1930s, from the Viridian Eclection collection. A period-appropriate piece, not the Medical Mansion itself.
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... Read more...
A late-Victorian pine wall bracket shelf, c. 1885-1905, from the Viridian Eclection collection. A period-appropriate piece, not the White Pine mining towns themselves.
Hamilton, Treasure City, and Shermantown: Nevada's White Pine Silver Rush
In the spring of 1868, a silver strike on a bare, wind-scoured hill in eastern Nevada set off one of the shortest and most frenzied rushes of the American West.... Read more...
Reno to Virginia City railroad ticket, Central Pacific and Virginia & Truckee, 1878 (public domain)
Moved Down the Mountain: The Virginia City Houses That Became Reno Homes
Reno likes to be called a railroad town, a river crossing, a divorce capital. It is also, in a few places, a town built partly out of another town. When... Read more...
Carleton Watkins, Virginia City, Nevada, albumen silver print, 1875: the Comstock town at the top of the climb (public domain)
The Old Road to Virginia City: Lockwood, Lousetown, and the Climb to the Comstock
A local-history guide to the old freight-and-stage corridor from Lockwood on the Truckee River, past the ghost town of Washington and the settlement of Lousetown, to Virginia City. Read more...
A vintage leather club chair and ottoman, c. 1930s, from the Viridian Eclection collection. A period-appropriate piece, not the Old Post Office itself.
Reno's Old Post Office: DeLongchamps' Art Deco Landmark on the Truckee
Step onto the south bank of the Truckee River at Virginia Street and one of Reno's most graceful Depression-era buildings is right there, faced in pale green terra cotta and... Read more...
A Warwick China oval serving platter, circa 1925-1945, from the Viridian Eclection collection. A period-appropriate piece, not the Riverside Hotel itself.
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,... Read more...
A mid-century emerald green spiral optic glass vase, circa 1950-1965, from the Viridian Eclection collection. A period-appropriate piece, not the Holiday Hotel itself.
The Holiday Hotel: A Riverfront Chapter of Reno's Casino Era
The Holiday Hotel is one of the quieter chapters of downtown Reno's riverfront story. It was never as famous as its neighbors, and it began with a premise that sounds... Read more...
A beveled easel mirror, Edwardian to early Art Deco (1905-1930), from the Viridian Eclection collection. A period-appropriate piece, not the Mapes Hotel itself.
The Mapes Hotel: The Rise and Fall of Reno's Art Deco Landmark
The Mapes Hotel was, for a generation, the tallest address in Nevada and the place to be seen in Reno. When it opened on December 17, 1947, at 10 North... Read more...
A steamer trunk by Portland Trunk Manufacturing Co., c. 1920s-1940s, from the Viridian Eclection collection. A period-appropriate travel piece, not the Lincoln Highway itself.
The Lincoln Highway in Reno: How Fourth Street Became Nevada's Main Street
Long before Interstate 80 carried traffic around the north edge of town, the road that brought America's first great wave of motorists through Reno ran down Fourth Street. The Lincoln... Read more...