Robert L Douglass House, Fallon, NV
N 39° 28.481 W 118° 46.711
11S E 347024 N 4370964
This beautiful house was built in 1904, just one year after Fallon was established.
Waymark Code: WMFY08
Location: Nevada, United States
Date Posted: 12/15/2012
Views: 3
This structure was originally built in 1904 as a residence, but has also been used for a hospital, and a bed-and-breakfast (hotel). It is a late Victorian/Queen Anne archetectural style, and one of the best examples of this style in the State of Nevada. Historical documents indicate it was designed by a Reno architect, and it is suspected the architect was Ben Leon, who was in Fallon in 1903 while preparing the designs for the nearby Churchill County Courthouse and Churchill County Jail.
Regardless who the architect was, the design of he 2,605 square foot home is a classic example of the Victorian style. It incorporates a complex roofline with both hipped and gabled forms, a nexagonal hipped roof, topped by a finial and covering the turret. There is a characteristic Queen Anne wrap-around porch and six Doric columns that bear the load of the porch cover. A one-story bay window adds design element. Window treatments include beveled, leaded-glass panels in various geometric shapes, and two stained-glass windows with blue and yellow leaded glass adorn the library on the south side. Originally the first story was covered in narrow-band horizontal wood siding but today a stucco treatment has been applied (installed sometime in the 1940s or 1950s).
The interior of the structure has remained largely original, including the pine wainscoting in the parlor, and paneling, crown molding and decorative fretwork throughout. There is built-in furniture throughout the house, including window seats, desks, and hutches. The pine floors and other decorative woodwork remains unpainted.
HISTORY:
A garage accompanied the home when it was built in 1904/1905. It was of sufficient size to house the Doctor's automobile, and was said to have included a turntable inside, which would rotate 190 degrees so the auto could be driven striaght out of the building. In 1914, the garage was converted in the Cottage Hospital, and a two-story partially-enclosed proch was added to the front, and included 8 truncated columns (to mimic the columns on the home). The remodel from garage to hopital included adding 2 additons to the rear and alterations to the windows and roofline. A subsequent remodel between 1923-1947 converted the Cottage Hospital into apartements and included a 3rd addtion to the rear and the porch was enclosed at that time.
R. L. Douglass arrived in Fallon soon after it was designated the new county seat, and just as the town began to boom following the beginning of the Newland Project in which the federal government indeavored to supply funding to bring irrigation to the desert for the purpose of agricultural expansion, he was an important figure in the growing community. When Dr. Franlin E Nichols arrived in 1913 and purchased the dwelling (converting it to a hospital in 1914), Fallon had been the county seat for more than 10 years and the home was already well known at that time. The structure has been an important landmark and historical building since the formation of Churchill County.
Source: This information is taken from the official National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form.
Street address:
Douglass House and County Hospital
10 and 22 S. Carson Streets
Fallon, NV United States
89406
County / Borough / Parish: Churchill County
Year listed: 2001
Historic (Areas of) Significance: Architecture/Engineering, Even
Periods of significance: 1925-1949, 1900-1924
Historic function: Hospital, Single Dwellin
Current function: Domestic
Privately owned?: yes
Season start / Season finish: From: 01/01/2012 To: 12/31/2012
Primary Web Site: [Web Link]
Secondary Website 1: [Web Link]
Hours of operation: Not listed
Secondary Website 2: Not listed
National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed
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Visit Instructions:
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