(rshsdepot) Reno, NV

[I95BERNIEW_@_aol.com]

From the Reno Gazette-Journal.
 
Go to 
_http://news.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20071217&Category=NEIGHBORHOODS&ArtNo=712170328&Ref=AR_ 
(http://news.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20071217&Category=NEIGHBORHOODS&ArtNo=712170328&Ref=AR)  for  photo and 
more information.
 
Bernie Wagenblast
 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
Building is enduring reminder of Nevada's railroad history

PATTY CAFFERATA 
SPECIAL TO THE RENO 
Posted: 12/17/2007  

Gazette-Journal
 
The Central Pacific and V&T railroads were not the only railroads in  Reno in 
the 1880s. The Nevada-Oregon Railway line ran north from town to  Beckworth, 
Calif. Most early Nevada railroads were associated with mining, but  this line 
was built to transport passengers, lumber, cattle and sheep.
 
The railroad was in a rocky financial position, when the Moran Brothers, a  
New York banking house, bought the troubled line for $372,534 in April 1884.  
They renamed the narrow gauge railroad the Nevada-California-Oregon Railway.  
Because of the success of their freight business, the railroad line eventually  
reached Lakeview, Ore., in 1912. The 238 miles of track made it one of the  
longest narrow gauge railroads in the West.
 
In 1910, Thomas Dunaway, vice president and general manager of the railway,  
arranged for the construction of a ornate passenger depot and offices at 325 
E.  Fourth Street in Reno.
 
Station creation
 
The $35,000 station was designed by Nevada native Fredric DeLongchamps. He  
received his bachelor's degree in mining engineering from the University of  
Nevada in 1904. He became an architect after developing a lung condition from  
working in the underground mines.
 
In 1910, he won the design competition for the Washoe County Courthouse.  The 
same year, he designed the railway station. By the end of his career in the  
1960s, he had designed hundreds of buildings in Nevada and throughout the 
West.  Among some of DeLongchamps' best known buildings in Reno are the Riverside  
Hotel, the downtown U.S. Post Office building and the U.S. Bureau of Mines at 
 the University of Nevada, Reno campus.
 
Eclectic style
 
The architectural style DeLongchamps selected for the passenger station can  
only be described as eclectic. Each feature of the building followed an 
element  from a different architectural style. The result is an exquisite two-story  
rectangular red brick station. The one-story entryway porch is constructed in 
 Mission style and the hipped roof of the building is made of red Spanish 
tile.  The massive brackets under the eaves are like the elaborate designs found 
in the  Italianate style. N-C-O-RY is inscribed on the arch over the porch. 
The arched  porch roof, the arched windows and doorways on the main floor, 
however, follow  the Romanesque Revival style.
 
Iridescent green tiles in a rectangular geometric pattern grace the white  
tiled entrance walls. White tiles also cover the entryway floor that is  
decorated with red and green tiles in a Native American
 
type design.
 
DeLongchamps accentuated the building with greyish white concrete to  
contrast with the red brick. The quoins on the corners of the building, the  
keystones over the upper rectangular windows and the windowsills and the arch  over 
the entrance were built of concrete. Three flat roof like awnings over the  
train platform were held up by chains from lion face reliefs near the second  
story windows.
 
Irish contractors
 
The building was constructed by James and Peter Burke, prominent masonry  
contractors. Born in Ireland, the brothers moved to Reno in the 1870s to set up  
shop. In addition to the Nevada-California-Oregon Railway depot, the Burkes  
built several important buildings in Reno, such as the South Side School, the  
foundation of St. Thomas Aquinas Cathedral and four buildings at the UNR.
 
The N-C-O Railway operated until June 1917, when the depot and machine  shops 
in the Reno area and the tracks from Reno to Herlong, Calif., were sold to  
the Western Pacific Railroad for $700,000. The narrow gauge rails were pulled 
up  and replaced with standard gauge and moved east of the terminus.
 
Western Pacific used the building as a passenger and freight depot until  
1937, maintaining their offices in the building until 1975. In 1959, the  
building was owned by Pete and Thelma Barengo and operated as Sierra Wine and  
Liquors. The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places by  the 
Department of Interior and the National Park Service in 1980. The station  
also was designated as Nevada Historical Marker, No. 210.
 
The handsome Nevada-California-Oregon Railway depot stands as a silent  
reminder of Reno's early transportation history.
 
This article was suggested by Jim Lohse of Reno Railfans. Some of the  
information on the station was supplied by Ron James, State Historic  Preservation 
Officer, and by Michael Maher, Nevada Historical Society  Librarian.
 
Patty Cafferata, author of Nevada history books and articles, can be  reached 
at _pdcafferata_@_sbcglobal.net_ (mailto:pdcafferata@sbcglobal.net) 



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