Bottle House - Goldfield, NV
N 37° 42.446 W 117° 14.007
11S E 479422 N 4173379
One of two bottle houses in the former mining town of Goldfield.
Waymark Code: WMY3Y3
Location: Nevada, United States
Date Posted: 04/15/2018
Views: 1
This bottle house, known as the E. A. Byler House, is one of a number of significant structures as part of the Goldfield Historic District which was listed in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1982. The NHRP Nomination Form highlights the significance of this building and reads:
The original portion of the E. A. Byler house is a square structure measuring 15 feet to a side. It is built of bottles laid in an adobe matrix and covered with a gently sloping pitched roof. The exterior wall surfaces were plastered but much of that finish has fallen away. A frame addition ca.1907 occurs at the rear of the house and extends to the east. It is surmounted by an intersecting gable roof and the wall surfaces have been covered with contemporary rolled asphalt siding. The 12 light window at the front (north) facade appears to have been a modification to the original window opening. All other openings in the bottle house are simple, discretely located along the wall planes, and supported with wood lintels.
Although the building displays a certain amount of modification and is in a deteriorated condition, its overall integrity remains intact.
E. A. Byler, mining engineer and U.S. Deputy Mineral Surveyor during the Goldfield boom, built this house in the spring of 1905. It is locally significant for its use of materials and method of construction, being the best preserved bottle house in Goldfield
Constructed of discarded bottles set in an adobe matrix, the house exemplifies an indigenous response to the availability of local building materials. Bottle houses, although not extremely common, can be found in many twentieth century Nevada boom towns. The use of the material was usually the result of the need for inexpensive construction, or because of the inaccessibility of conventional building materials.
The E. A. Byler bottle house is an important local resource, valuable to an understanding of the architectural evolution of the town of Goldfield.
There is another preserved bottle house located at the west end of Goldfield and next door to a newly-built visitor center.