Price House
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 to 1935) and served on the Board of Visitors at the University of Nevada (1911 to 1914), as well as the board of the Red Cross. He also directed the Reno Chamber of Commerce for many years, was the first president of the Reno Lions Club, and the first president of the Reno YMCA.
Jennie Price was a renowned pianist and hosted many luncheons, teas, and meetings at the residence, where the couple also hosted many gala dinner parties. Their daughter, Harriet, born in 1908, became the state champion in women’s singles tennis in 1924 and went on to attend Stanford University.
Robert Price was a native of Barton, Wisconsin, and as a boy moved with his family to California, where he graduated from Oakland High School. In 1893 he graduated from the University of California and was admitted to the Bar two years later. He practiced law in San Francisco during the years 1896 through 1900, and in 1906 he received his LLB Degree from the Hastings School of Law in San Francisco.
Price specialized in water litigation for much of his career and also held a leadership position in the Anti-Gambling League, which sought to prohibit gambling in Reno in the years before 1910 (when the Nevada legislature passed a law prohibiting gambling throughout the state). He became a partner in the firm of Cheney, Massey, and Price in 1906, and later with Cheney, Downer, Price, and Hawkins, then Price and Hawkins, and finally, with Charles M. Merrill. During the 1934-1935 year, he served on the Nevada State Bar Association board of governors. He also was a member from Nevada of the General Council of the American Bar Association from 1932 to 1935. He died in Reno in 1940, and his wife, Jennie continued to live in the house until a few years before her death in 1966. The residence then became home to a series of offices.
Built ca. 1910-11, the Price House is a Tudor Revival-style structure encompassing 2,941 square feet plus a 520-square-foot basement. It has two-and-a-half bathrooms and one fireplace. Interesting architectural features include the steep elaborate chimney, half-timbered effect, and rusticated brick.
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