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Note: This article appeared in the Volume 9, Number 2 FootPrints issue.
Entering the Bartley Ranch Park Western Heritage Interpretive Center, your eye is immediately drawn to the striking mural of ranch life painted by Loren Jahn in 2000. The lovely little ranch house nestled amid the towering trees is a prime example of Carpenter Gothic architectural style.
Carpenter Gothic houses are perhaps the most representative of pure Americana of all architectural styles. We're fortunate here in northern Nevada to have several fine specimens to admire. The Winters' Ranch house near Washoe Lake on Highway 395 near the turnoff to Bowers Mansion is perhaps the grandest and best-known example of Carpenter Gothic in Nevada. Built in the early 1860s, this house features the large main gable plus central side gables framing the large signature gothic lancet windows.
The Longley House with lancet window and woodwork on the roof and front porch, 2002.
Originally, the Gothic Revival style was meant to be executed in stone or brick to imitate the lofty, imposing cathedrals of medieval Europe. A form of Gothic Revival, the Carpenter Gothic style in America grew out of a need for quickly built houses - and the desire for fanciful details. The new balloon framing technique and the invention of steam-powered scroll saws, which allowed for the mass production of intricate mouldings, paved the way for this style.
New England architect Andrew Jackson Downing popularized the style with his published pattern books Cottage Residences (1842) and Country Houses (1850). The architecture is described as having asymmetrical massing, with the emphasis on balance rather than symmetry. Although modest examples of Gothic architecture appeared symmetrical, the intent was to revolt against the boxiness of classical design. Downing had been influenced by the English Gothic theorist Augustus Pugin who felt that Gothic architecture was very moral because it did not impose rigid orders upon the design and that classicism was pagan. Pugin's vision of Gothic as the perfect marriage of the functional and the beautiful was one of the foundations of Downing's ideology.
Roberts House in Carson, 2000.
The Gothic styles were seen as most suitable for rural areas. It was Pugin's and Downing's philosophy that a country person did not have to have a plain house. They could live in refinement and experience the "lifting towards the heavens" and be "one with beauty," which the style offered.
Identifying features of the Carpenter Gothic style include steeply pitched roofs and gables, gingerbread ornamentation, fancy scroll work, barge boards, carved porch railings, and strong vertical design elements, such as board-and-batten siding. Window trim typically replicated the masonry trim of English Gothic cathedrals on these otherwise simple country cottages.
Carpenter Gothic houses appeared on the landscape in western Nevada in the late 1850s and early 1860s with the boom of the Comstock Lode. The ranches of the Truckee Meadows, Eagle Valley (Carson City), Carson Valley and the Honey Lake Valley provided food for a Virginia City population. As settlers emigrated to Nevada from the eastern United States they brought with them the styles of the time, including Carpenter Gothic architecture. So they built their ranch homes closely following the patterns and ideas popularized by Downing. These houses were stick framed with wood drop siding or clapboard siding. In later years, many of them had an application of asbestos siding placed over the top of the original siding. Often times, square nails and the original siding can be observed where the asbestos has broken off.
These early Nevada Carpenter Gothic country houses sported clapboard siding and ornate wooden adornments. Though some of Nevada's early mills and carpenters may have been producing these products, it is thought that some of the more refined building materials were shipped around the horn from the eastern United States and brought up to northern Nevada from the ports of San Francisco Bay, many even before the establishment of the Central Pacific Railroad. It is also suggested by their similarity and common occurrence that these houses may have been shipped from San Francisco in complete kit form and erected by early Nevada builders, following Downing's patterns.
In addition to the Winters' Ranch house, there are about a dozen Gothic style houses in the Carson Valley that were built in the late 1850s to 1870s time frame. Although quite modest, all retain the basic architectural style of a gable roof with a steep central gable window and front entrance below.
The cute and original property at 339 Ralston, 2005.
The James D. Roberts house was built in Washoe City in 1863, disassembled and moved to Carson City (1207 N. Carson Street) in 1873 and reassembled. The Roberts House is thought to be one of the oldest houses in Carson City and is now a museum. Typical Gothic Revival elements include its gingerbread bargeboard, lancet windows and a steeply-pitched roof.
Governor John Sparks purchased a large property at Anderson's Station in 1887, south of Reno near a Virginia & Truckee Railroad stop. He moved his family there and built the Alamo Stock Farm and ranch house. Now called the Sparks-Moffett house, it was located at the northwest corner of Peckham and S. Virginia. The ranch house was moved south of Steamboat to the west side of Highway 395 near Pleasant Valley in 1978. Lately, this house has undergone extensive restoration and remodeling but one can still observe the original steep gothic gables.
One of the best examples of Carpenter Gothic architecture in the Truckee Meadows is hidden within an industrial park on old Longley Lane. The A.A. Longley (later years Beidelman and Capurro) house was built circa 1870 and is constructed in the pattern book (Downings, Cottage Residences, design No. IV, An Ornamental Farm-House) style. Much of the gingerbread and porch details are still intact. This cutting-edge house was designed with indoor plumbing and carbide gas light illumination, before Reno had its own light generation system. The carbide gas system was contained in a small hip-roofed outbuilding.
Porch detail of 339 Ralston, 2005.
Within downtown Reno, 339 North Ralston Street is the best-preserved original Gothic example. Built by James Borland in the summer of 1875, it has the traditional steep central gable and modest lancet window. The main attic on the north end has a beautiful radial vent. This home also holds the distinction of being on The National Register of Historic Places. The registry is currently being updated and the house will be referred to as the Borland / Clifford house as it has been proven to have no association with John Orr as previously thought.
Borland was a local businessman who held several jobs in Reno, Rye Patch and Martinez, California before moving to San Francisco. The house was used as a rental whenever Borland worked out of town and was eventually sold in 1902. In 1907, OJ. Clifford purchased the house. He was a local pharmacist and lived in the house until his death in 1932. His son kept the house until his death in 1984.
Halfway through the 20th century, there were numerous Carpenter Gothic country homes in Washoe County and the Carson Valley. One by one many of them have been replaced by industry, business and modern housing developments. Truckee Meadows Remembered would like to find a way to save these remaining structures, in particular the Longley Lane home whose days may be numbered. As the small outbuildings of Bartley Ranch Park were rescued and relocated, a similar destiny is envisioned for this architectural gem where future generations can appreciate its historical significance and graceful design.
This article was written by Loren Jahn and Jack Hursh, Jr. Loren Jahn is a local historian and artist whose work call be seen in a mural of ranch life in the Interpretative Cener at Reno's Bartley Ranch. With Jack Hursh, Jr, Loren formed Truckee Meadows Remembered to save historic buildings. Jack Hursh, Jr. is a Reno Native and third generation Nevadan. He is an activist, through his photography, for the preservation of Nevada heritage. Hursh is a member of the HRPS Board and is responsible for the 2006 programs. Photos courtesy of Jack Hursh, Jr.
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