Barengo Building
Opened by Italian immigrant brothers Natale and Camillo Barengo in 1936
The Barengo Building at 151 N. Sierra Street was originally intended to look very different from its final form. Designed in 1930 by renowned Nevada architect Frederic J. DeLongchamps, brothers Natale and Camillo Barengo initially planned it as the four-story Ambassador Hotel with three storefronts at ground level and 90 hotel rooms on the upper three floors. Construction began in 1930 but work was halted after the basement and foundation were completed. Work resumed five years later, in the summer of 1935, but with a modified plan for a one-story commercial building with no hotel.
The building features the initials "BB" for Barengo Brothers at the top of the corner pillars at each end of the building. The brothers first gained a name in Reno as grocers and importers of foods, including grapes for wine and juice from the Galt and Lodi districts of California, beginning in 1914. Natives of Italy, they had moved to Reno from San Francisco. In June 1934, months after the repeal of National Prohibition, they opened a wholesale distribution business called the Sierra Wine and Liquor Co. on Reno's East First Street.
The National Dollar chain store occupied the Barengo Building from its completion in 1936 until 1970. The interior was ideal for retail purposes, featuring a mezzanine with offices on the ground floor, and large display windows that ran across the entire front length of the store.
In 1970, it became the new home of Parker's Western Wear, a Reno institution run by Harry Parker that had been located on the corner of Center and East Second Streets since 1921. Parker's remained on Sierra Street until closing its doors for good in 1998. The building then had a series of tenants including Antiques & Treasures. It was sold by the Barengo family in 2021 and underwent a major renovation that briefly uncovered the old Parker's Western Wear sign that once spanned the front facade.
Images
