City guide

architecture in Carson City.

5 buildings worth a detour, each with what to look for. Open them on the map, or walk them with the iPhone app, which collects each one you photograph.

Styles you'll see Renaissance Revival Romanesque Revival Neoclassical

Landmarks

The buildings that define the city's architecture.

Romanesque Revival

Carson City Post Office

Mifflin E. Bell

The Carson City Post Office was built from 1888 to 1891 to designs by Mifflin E. Bell, a Supervising Architect of the U.S. Treasury Department, with the work finished under his successors Will Frost and James Windrum. It was only the second federal building erected in Nevada, after the Carson City Mint, and the only one built in Richardsonian Romanesque style. The building served as a courthouse for the United States District Court for the District of Nevada from 1891 to 1965; in 1999 it was renamed the Paul Laxalt State Building for the former Nevada governor and now houses the Nevada Commission on Tourism.

Photo: teofilo , CC BY 2.0

Neoclassical

Nevada Governor's Mansion

George A. Ferris and Son

The Nevada Governor's Mansion, the official residence of the state's governor, was built between 1908 and 1909 by Reno architect George A. Ferris in Classical Revival style with Georgian and Jeffersonian motifs. Before its construction, Nevada's governors and their families had to find their own lodging in or near Carson City. State Assembly Bill 10, the 'Mansion Bill,' passed in 1907 to secure a permanent site, and Mrs. T.B. Rickey sold the land to the state for $10; the construction bid came in at $22,700.

Photo: Davemeistermoab , CC BY-SA 3.0

Renaissance Revival

Nevada State Capitol

The Nevada State Capitol anchors downtown Carson City at 101 North Carson Street, built in the Neoclassical Italianate style between 1869 and 1871. Abraham Curry, the founder of Carson City, had set aside four city blocks at the center of town for a future capitol as early as the early 1860s — Mark Twain described the site in 1861 as an unfenced vacancy used for auctions, horse trades, and camping teamsters. The Nevada Legislature's 1869 act to build the capitol was signed into law by Governor Henry G. Blasdel, and the Board of Capitol Commissioners fielded construction bids ranging from $84,000 to $160,000.

Photo: Amadscientist , CC BY-SA 3.0

Notable buildings

Worth a stop when you're nearby.

Landmark

Carson City Mint

Alfred B. Mullett · 1863

The Carson City Mint, designed by Alfred B. Mullett, was created in 1863 and built at the peak of the silver boom near the local mines it served. It didn't begin operating until 1870, minting silver and gold coins bearing the 'CC' mint mark across 21 non-consecutive years before closing for good in 1893. The building now houses the Nevada State Museum, Carson City.

Photo: Scott Schrantz , CC BY-SA 3.0

Landmark

Carson City Public Buildings

Frederic Joseph DeLongchamps

The Carson City Public Buildings are a set of three historic structures on Carson Street dating to 1920: the Nevada State Supreme Court Building, the Ormsby County Courthouse, and the Heroes Memorial Building, the last designed by Nevada architect Frederick J. DeLongchamps. The Ormsby County Courthouse served the former Ormsby County, Nevada, which was dissolved in 1969. The set was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.

Photo: OK-59 , CC BY 2.0