There’s no predicting a place’s future without knowing about its past.
It’s why it shouldn’t surprise anyone that preserving Reno’s oldest house isn’t exactly an easy fit when it comes to the latest development plans for the new Neon Line entertainment district. The home on 347 West Street is believed to have been built in 1868 on the outskirts of what would become known as “The Biggest Little City in the World.”
Parts of Reno’s past have passed away as suddenly as a modern Midtown eatery, and been reborn through numerous reincarnations of a fanciful downtown with a history that’s both glamorous and seedy.
Nowhere was that glamour phase more on display than in the previously imploded downtown landmark, the Mapes Hotel. It was the first skyscraper built in the western United States following Word War II. Designed in a distinctive Art Deco style, the hotel was a unique high-rise built to combine a hotel and casino. When it opened in 1947, the 12-story Mapes was the tallest building in Nevada.