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Note: This article appeared in the Volume 7, Number 3 FootPrints issue.
From the mid-to-late 1930's until the late 1940's the El Reno Apartments, located at 1307 South Virginia Street, were the premier rental property in all of Reno. Not only were the apartments new, innovative, attractive and comfortable, they were truly unique, constructed of prefabricated porcelain-coated steel designed to look like board-and-batten siding.
The El Reno's were really more like individual homes in a common setting than apartments. They were roomy by apartment standards, at approximately 900 square feet, with a living room, kitchen, one and one-half baths and two bedrooms. They were heated by hot water circulated by a central plant according to a Yellow Pages advertisement in 1942. A row of metal garages lined the west side of the property. The units sported small, individual yards that blended into a common yard, facing South Virginia Street.
The developer/landlord of the El Reno Apartments was Roland Giroux. Giroux was reportedly handy, good-natured and friendly to the residents. Eventually, in the late 1940's Giroux wished to raise the rent on the units. A former resident recalls the tenants agreed, but the post-war rent control board refused to allow it. According to this person's recollection Mr. Giroux became frustrated by the rising costs and being unable to raise the rent, and chose to sell the units off individually and be finished with them. It is reported that most were sold for about $800 apiece, with a house-moving fee of $100. City directories list the tiny ranch-style cottages on South Virginia until 1948.
Seven of the El Reno's were featured on a new walking tour during May 2004 Historic Preservation Week led by Debbie Hinman, El Reno tour guide. Hinman first offered a bus tour last fall that took participants to all 13 houses, five of which have been moved from their original southwest neighborhood.
Her fascination with the little houses began on a warm afternoon when she spied one while coming out of her dentist’s office. Intrigued, she walked over for a better look, placing a bare palm on the metal siding and promptly pulling it back. She hadn’t realized the house was sheathed in a metal skin made to look like wood.
Hinman also cited a story by Karl Breckenridge in the Reno Gazette Journal as a source for more details about the little houses. Locals who had some history to share called to reminisce about living in them. Breckenridge even drew a map of how the apartments, a laundry facility, power plant and garages were laid out on the sizeable lot now occupied by Statewide Lighting and a parking area.
It is believed that the El Reno Apartments were inspired, but not clear if designed, by Paul Revere Williams, a well-known Los Angeles architect. In a book by Paul Williams' granddaughter, Karen Hudson, entitled Paul R. Williams, Architect: A Legacy of Style, there are several references to El Reno style buildings. The Jay Paley estate shows a pool house at the rear of the residence that is remarkably similar to the El Reno's, with a distinctive bay window at the rear of the residence that appears identical to the one adorning the front of the El Reno's in Reno. In the book's introduction, a reference is even made to Williams' mid-thirties "little steel houses", a further clue to their origin.
Mella Harmon of the State Historic Preservation Office referred FootPrints to a copy of The 1938 Book of Small Houses published by Simon and Schuster. On page 56 is a house called the “Better-Home” Cottage with Paul R. Williams listed as the architect. It’s a dead-ringer for an El Reno complete with bay window and decorative iron trim on the front porch.
Walking around Reno's southwest today, you’ll see some El Reno's which are as pristine as when first built. Near Lander and Mount Rose, one owner of three has preserved them as rentals with their white paint and dark green trim. Others have had basements added underneath or added rooms and even whole wings. Another owner had to stucco her steel exterior thanks to an over abundance of rust. But that distinctive bay window and lacy iron trim still marks the building as an El Reno original.
How ever they have been individualized over the years, the El Reno's remain a unique and recognizable vestige of Reno's history.
This article was written by Linda Sievers, a retired copy editor who worked 20 years for the Anchorage Daily News. Excerpts of a text written by Debbie Hinman on the El Reno’s was used liberally for this article.
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