Mansions on the Bluff

29 Locations | Curated by Donna and Paul Erickson/Historic Reno Preservation Society

This captivating enclave close to Reno’s downtown is probably the city’s best-kept secret. The title also is the name of one of the most popular walks sponsored by the Historic Reno Preservation Society (HRPS) during the months of May, June and July each year. The residences in this relatively small neighborhood include the homes of three former U.S. Senators, prominent attorneys, local merchants, renowned doctors, and more—in short, the movers and shakers who helped to make Reno the Biggest Little City in the World.

One man can be credited with causing this area to become what it was and is today. Francis Griffith Newlands was a young attorney living with his wife (the former) Clara Adelaide Sharon and practicing law in San Francisco. Prior to his death in 1885 Clara’s father, William Sharon of Virginia City, had appointed Francis as general counsel of his business ventures. In 1888 Francis Newlands married his second spouse (the former) Edith McAllister, daughter of the dean of the San Francisco Bar. Shortly thereafter they relocated to Reno where he professionally attended to managing the Sharon estate. Over a period of several years, he purchased hundreds of acres of land from Jane Lake, the divorced spouse of Myron Lake (Reno’s founder) that ran from Court Street up onto California Street at the top of the bluff. Construction of their 6,851-square foot house (see entry for the Senator Francis G. Newlands House) started in 1887.

In 1895 Newlands advertised his first subdivision of Riverside Estates in the Nevada State Journal mentioning lots for sale adjoining the residences of F.G. Newlands, A.H. Manning and the late M.D. Foley, the location being the healthiest and most pleasant in Reno, with fine views and dry, clean streets in winter. Eight years later in 1903 Francis Newlands formed the Newlands Company with local businessmen Oscar J. Smith, W.A. Massey and N.W. Rolf; the company acted as the umbrella corporation and oversaw the neighborhood’s development from 1903 into the 1940s. Francis Newlands correctly predicted the popularity of the bluff for development. The acreage accommodated a robust building boom of upscale homes on estate-sized lots in the Newlands Heights (originally Rio Vista Heights) subdivision.

Info for this tour was compiled by the Historic Reno Preservation Society, with special assistance and contemporary photographs by Donna and Paul Erickson, and additional research and writing by Alicia Barber.

The French/Cooke House, now owned by the Cooke family's third generation, tells the intertwined story of two attorneys who came to Nevada from very different parts of the country at the height of the state’s mining boom and later became partners with an impact on Nevada’s mining industries. …
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This was the longtime home and law office of attorney Robert M. Price, who moved to Reno with his wife, Jennie, in 1904. Practicing first with the firm of Cheney, Massey, and Smith, Price quickly became an active member of the community. He was a member and president of the Reno School Board (1914…
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This house was the residence of Joseph H. Gray, Jr., said to have been the first white child born in Truckee, California. The year was 1868, five years after his father, Joseph H. Gray, Sr., a lumber mill operator, had constructed the first cabin in Truckee, which was then known as Gray’s Station.…
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The house at 465 Court Street was originally the home of Harry “Pop” Gosse, a Nevada resident for more than 80 years who was perhaps best known as the owner of one version of the famous Riverside Hotel, located on the south bank of the Truckee River at Virginia Street. Gosse was born in 1857 in…
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The house at 491 Court Street was built for Roland F. Roy in 1907, the same year that the nearby Nixon Mansion was completed. Newlands Heights was the most exclusive neighborhood in town, a testament to the affluence and prominence of its residents. At the time, Roy was the manager of Nevada…
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In 1901 Hosea Reid became one of the founders of the Gray, Reid & Company dry goods store, along with partner Joseph Gray, whose house is located at 457 Court Street. Their store was originally located at the corner of Second and Virginia Streets, with its final location at the site of the…
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What is now a vacant lot at 543 Court Street was once a beautiful residence overlooking the river. Its story began in 1906, when Robert Grimmon purchased five acres from Senator Francis G. Newlands, just east of the Newlands House. The large tract of land extended from Court Street all the way down…
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Attorney Prince Albert Hawkins purchased this plum piece of property from Senator Francis G. Newlands in 1912 and hired architect Elmer Gray of Los Angeles to design his grand family residence at 549 Court Street. Gray also designed and built the Beverly Hills Hotel and the Huntington Library.…
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In 1890-91, soon after constructing his impressive residence on the bluff overlooking the Truckee River, Francis G. Newlands had a smaller house built on his estate to serve as his personal office. The second building, like the first (see separate entry for Senator Francis G. Newlands House, NHL),…
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Frederic DeLongchamps, Reno’s most famous and prolific architect, designed this enchanting house in 1919. It is an example of the English Country Cottage, or Tudor Revival style popular throughout the Newlands Heights neighborhood. The house is often referred to as the “Honeymoon Cottage,” and…
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Forrest W. Eccles commissioned prominent Nevada architect Frederic DeLongchamps to design his new residence at 245 Lee Avenue in 1930. He and his family had previously lived a stone’s throw away, at 571 Ridge Street, in a house identified here as the Day-Creveling House. Forrest Eccles was born in…
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The home at 543 Ridge Street was designed by celebrated Nevada architect Frederic DeLongchamps and built for Harry and Anna Ginsburg in 1927. The Ginsburgs had moved to Reno in 1915 from Northern California, where Harry Ginsburg had owned a jewelry store in San Rafael, in Marin County. In Reno, he…
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This home was designed by Frederic DeLongchamps and built for Albert T. Donnels around 1916. Albert Donnels had been a Reno resident since 1896. He was born in Jamestown, California. As a young man in his early twenties he went to San Francisco; there in 1880 he entered into partnership with…
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The house at 235 Lee Avenue shares a history (and a garage) with the house built directly behind it. This one, on the corner of Lee and Ridge, was originally the home of William and Emma Simmons. Mr. Simmons was a prominent Reno businessman, and he and Emma were the stepfather and mother of…
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The brick bungalow at 571 Ridge Street was built in 1919 for Forrest W. Eccles, who moved here with his wife, Bessie, and their infant son, Forrest Kelly Eccles. The house was next door to the home of Eccles’ stepfather and mother, William and Emma Simmons, which was completed a few years later at…
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The Tudor Revival home at 575 Ridge Street was designed by architect Frederic DeLongchamps and built in 1927. It was the residence of Edward and Clara Chism, who were married in Reno in 1915. Edward Chism was a Washoe County native born on the Chism Ranch west of Reno in 1881. He attended local…
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Architect Frederic DeLongchamps designed this home, which was constructed in 1930 for Guy and Emeline Benham. The couple met in Reno, but were not native to the area. Born on a farm near Cedar Falls, Iowa, Guy Everett Benham moved to Reno in 1907 after working for many years in the…
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The Osen family became involved in the automobile trade at an early point. Based in Northern California, the Osen-McFarland Auto Company opened a branch in Reno in 1915, opening a sales room and service station on Commercial Row. In 1921, George A. Osen, the son of company co-founder George H.…
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This residence has been referred to as the “medical mansion”; two physicians owned it, but not in succession. The original building was a large, garage-like structure situated on the Nixon estate overlooking the Truckee River. The structure and property were acquired in 1921 by Dr. Claudius W.…
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This impressive Newlands Heights home was finished in 1907 as a statement piece for U.S. Senator George S. Nixon, who was elected in 1905 by the Nevada State Legislature (which elected the state's representatives to the U.S. Senate until 1909). Nixon was born on a farm near Newcastle,…
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Mary Ruth “Maisie” Kinder was born and raised in Pennsylvania; as a youngster she had the opportunity to go to London to live with her aunt. There she began acting, singing, and dancing. After working as an understudy, she was selected for roles in several plays and musicals including an early…
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Esteemed Reno architect Edward Parsons designed the house at 745 California Avenue in 1941 for Frank R. Payne and his new wife, Hazel. Mr. Payne was a retired executive for the J.C. Penney organization who had moved to Reno with his first wife, Maude, in 1935. Maude passed away in 1938, and the…
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According to George Steinmiller’s granddaughter Alice Parsons, “He wanted to be a big fish in a little pond. That is why he came to Reno from Sacramento.” George Steinmiller practiced dentistry in Reno for fifty years. He and his wife Alice purchased the parcel at 761 California Avenue from the…
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Architect Edward Parsons, who lived next door at 761 California Avenue, designed the estate at 775 California, modeling the residence after George Washington’s Mount Vernon Home. His client was Irving Briggs Dexter, a Philippine mahogany lumber baron who had left there to escape at the onset of…
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This chateau, sometimes referred to as “The Castle,” began as a guest house owned by Janet Sharon Newlands Johnston. Johnston was perhaps the closest thing to Nevada royalty, as the granddaughter of U.S. Senator William Sharon and the second of three daughters of U.S. Senator Francis G. Newlands. …
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