We are back! Back! Back! It's been four years since we've held an historic home tour where you get to see the inside of these delightful properties. This year's event will be held on Saturday, September 23rd from 10:00 am until 3:00 pm.
Marsh Addition
Sitting with its distinctive bay window facing front and the entry to the side, is a very historic home tucked behind lovely greenery. This is a home with all the fascinating history you could dream of. It is likely the oldest house in the Marsh Addition, which dates from 1877, and it is believed to have been moved from Virginia City following its decline once the mines were played out. Because of its age and many changes, the architectural style is hard to determine; it may have originally been Virginia City Working Class Vernacular and then later altered to look Victorian or a combination of common styles. This often happens with older homes that have many past lives, but we'll call it Folk Victorian. The current owner uses a wonderful word that describes a jumble or medley of things; she uses it to describe the style of her home. The word is gallimaufry.
The first resident to be shown in a city directory was a mechanic known as E. Burr. As time went on and the home was likely improved upon, residents became more significant. A local attorney who later became a judge was Jerome L. VanDerWerker who, in his spare time, was a gardener devoted to growing flowers. He even freely donated bulbs so others could beautify their yards. In the late 1930s the home was that of well-known local realtor, developer and insurance man Reinhold Redelius. He bought and sold houses all over Reno and even purchased and built kit homes on lots he acquired. Redelius sold the Humboldt house in 1939, advertising it as a "beautiful modern home, completely furnished."
Marsh Addition
For the past few Home Tours, HRPS has included an "adaptive reuse" property to show how a home can be converted to a business without negatively impacting a largely residential neighborhood. Here is our example for the 2023 Tour. This modest Craftsman bungalow was built in an era when it was one of the most popular architectural styles in Reno. With bricks being plentiful, thanks to the availability of dark red clay and several companies producing them, such as Reno Press Brick Company, brick homes are featured in most older neighborhoods throughout Reno. The Marsh Addition is no exception. The Arts and Crafts movement across the United States added intricate woodwork and handcrafted details to the interior and exterior of these homes. Some of the common features of this style are focal-point fireplaces, charming dormers, coffered ceilings, exposed rafter tails, and open floor plans. The style became so popular, you could even build your own bungalow from a kit in a mail-order catalog! The term "bungalow" dates to 18th century India. Bangla or bangala, is the Hindi word meaning "of the province of Bengal." The term came to be used to mean houses built for the British colonial authorities. The porches with the wide, unenclosed eave overhang helped shelter the home from the sun.
University Terrace Addition
If any of you experienced HRPS' 2011 first historic homes tour, you may recall this very special property, our first "encore" home for 2023. The home was built in the late 1920s and is an example of Period Revival Eclecticism. This term refers to eclectic works, particularly suburban and country homes of the first three decades of the twentieth century, in which a particular historical or regional style is dominant. The roof pitch, the placement of the large front dormer with its compass-point oval window, the projecting front porch, and the stucco-over-stone finish suggest a French Eclectic influence.
The home occupies two lots in the University Terrace Addition, probably completed in 1928. In 1927, the acreage containing these lots was sold to Nevada Developers, a company headed by W. E. Barnard who had also bought up land in the Old Southwest. These two neighborhoods seem to have been his favorite areas of Reno. He had many homes in both additions built in both Period Revival and Mission Revival styles. Though it doesn't seem to be documented anywhere, it is likely that he was the builder of this lovely home. It seems the sort of architecture he would have loved.
Newlands Manor Addition
Holly Cottage, a name given to the home by its builder, is the third house on Joaquin Miller Drive that HRPS has featured on its Home Tour and with good reason. The homes are unique in character and feature architecture not to be found anywhere else in Reno. It's probable that most were built from patterns found in architectural style books but the building materials themselves were likely found or produced in the Reno area. The style of this home was derived from the Eclectic movement that followed the Victorian era in the early twentieth century. The Eclectic movement stressed relatively pure copies of domestic architecture as originally built in various European countries and their New World colonies. Referred to by some as Period Revival or Reminiscent styles, Holly Cottage might also be called a Cotswold Cottage, an Ann Hathaway, or Hansel and Gretel Cottage. It certainly has a storybook appearance.
Newlands Manor, as well as other Newlands additions, was developed by W. E. Barnard, a financier and builder who came to Reno in the mid-1920s. He began by erecting public buildings but later created Nevada Developers, Inc. and expanded to homes. Barnard liked to name those he was particularly fond of. In Newlands Manor you can find Greystone Castle, Casa del Rey and Holly Cottage; a few short streets away are Green Gables, Casa Monte Bella, El Mirasol and Las Violetas. Barnard returned to California in the mid-1930s but returned quite frequently with his wife Edna and daughter Beryl to visit his wife's parents, Reno residents.
Sierra Vista Addition
In the nine years of home tours HRPS has offered, we have received many requests for certain homes to be featured on the tour. We have listened and approached owners, but have not been able to honor many of those requests for various reasons. However, that changed this year when one of our most frequently-requested homes was made available by its generous owners. We are thrilled to present the Hill/Redfield House this year and know you will be swept away by its beauty and old world charm.
The home was built in 1930-31 by August Hill of Hill & Sons, in a style that echoed Hill's brownstone home in Brooklyn, New York. August designed it as a duplex, with basement and garages on the bottom and two identical two-bedroom, one-bath apartments on the first and second floors. The attic space was unfinished. He referred to the home as the "Sierra Vista Castle," after the addition that he created and named. The Castle stood sentry over the neighborhood, as August had selected the highest point for its location which at the time had unobstructed views in all directions. To the north was the city, to the south, Mount Rose and to the west, grazing lands of alfalfa. The house was built entirely of native Truckee River stone.
The Wells Addition
Another tradition HRPS has begun with the past few home tours is to include a home from an earlier tour, known as an "encore house." Many of our participants may have missed it the first time around and all are worth repeating with the owner's agreement. This home from the 2014 tour is a charming example of the type of smaller home built for young families as Reno's population grew, following the Depression. The home was of quality construction and with other similar homes surrounding it, formed a safe, solid neighborhood where families could grow and flourish.
Built in 1937, the home is a Minimal Traditional style home with a Tudor arched front porch. The Minimal Traditional style was common from 1935 to 1950. Minimal Traditional met the national need for good-quality small homes during the Depression and for military and worker housing during World War II. These homes have minimal decorative detailing, but what elements there were tended to be Tudor or Colonial Revival.
©
1997 - 2023
Historic Reno Preservation Society — All rights reserved