195 N Virginia Street – Reno, Nevada

If people just did what they said they would do, this very long story would be cut in half. In October of 1875, W. Sanders and A. C. Neal bought the furniture and undertaking store of B. H. McClure. Sanders & Co. operated on the southwest corner of Second and Virginia Streets until the local Independent Order of Odd Fellows decided that would be a good place for a lodge. Myron C Lake sold them the property in March of 1876 and holy heck did the games begin.

The wood frame furniture store was placed on rollers and moved just south of the new building site. While that was happening, the Truckee Lodge No.14 board of trustees authorized $20,000 in bonds to be sold and a deed of trust to be executed to the bond holders for security. Lake made the largest pledge at $10,000 but the problem was he never fully paid up. Lake only paid half of his pledged amount and several others didn’t pay anything at all.

Meanwhile, the Lodge hired architect John S Sturgeon to design a two-story Italianate building with 44 feet of frontage along Virginia and 100 feet along Second. The upstairs Lodge room measured 50×34′ with 20-foot arched ceilings. Along with a library and other supporting lodge anterooms, there were also three offices for rent on the second floor. Most of the second floor was finished with mahogany wainscotting. Sturgeon was asked to plan for a bank to occupy the main floor corner space so he added a 10×12′ vault on a concrete foundation. Sanders and Neale would occupy the south storefront, which measured 20×100′. Dr. Hutchins had secured a 15×20′ main floor office fronting Second Street and a neighboring 22×20′ office was up for grabs. The two floors had 28 cast iron ventilators.

The brick walls were 20 inches thick on the main floor and 16 inches thick upstairs. Window casings were made of granite. The building’s roof and cornices were galvanized iron. An octagonal cupola with a 20-foot flag staff was placed at the corner.

Reno Savings Bank was formed in May of 1876, partly by merging with the private banking business of Joseph E Jones, who became vice president of the new institution. Myron Lake was president, of course, with James H Kinkead the sacrificial manager. RSB claimed $100,000 capital stock but this was a lie.

By August of 1876, even the newspapers knew the building costs would exceed $20,000.

The cornerstone was laid on August 30 and the vault was installed a couple days later.

Reno Savings Bank opened on January 15, 1877, again advertising $100,000 fully paid-up capital stock.

A common practice in IOOF facilities was for the commercial areas which would bring in revenue to be finished first. The carpet wasn’t installed in the Lodge room itself until the end of March. The formal dedication was held on April 26, 1877.

Total building expenses were said to have totaled $25,000 but that figure was also a lie. Assuming it was factual, Truckee Lodge still didn’t raise enough money to build it. Reno Savings Bank, *allegedly* fully capitalized at $100,000, advanced the money for construction and the Lodge ended up being about $7,000 short. I would argue with that number but there were bigger problems. The contractor didn’t pay HIS bills so liens were filed against the property. The bank once again stepped in and bought the building when it went up for sheriff’s sale around May of 1880.

Reno Savings Bank closed on June 24, 1880. Apparently, only about $30,000 of capital stock had been paid up and most of that was *allegedly* paid back to the stockholders in the form of dividends, leaving ZERO capital.

Joseph Jones was heavily invested in RSB and lost the bulk of his fortune when it failed. There was plenty of blame to go around and many fingers were pointed. Most agreed that Nevada needed to revise its banking statutes.

Cashier and clerk L. C. Batchelder was removed and replaced with D. B. Boyd by the Board of Trustees July 17. Manager James Kinkead was arrested on August 7 but the Journal called it for what it was from the very beginning and the case was dismissed.

It was in everyone’s interest to keep the building occupied and stop the bleeding. The new bank of John A Paxton and Allen A Curtis opened in September of 1880 with former RSB cashier L. C. Batchelder keeping the books.

The RSB lawsuits would take more than a decade to fully resolve. Notes of hand and stocks held by the bank were sold by the sheriff in April of 1881.

Paxton, Curtis & Co. consolidated and transferred all of their accounts to First National Bank of Reno (successor to D. A. Bender and Co.) in July of 1881.

The bank space in the IOOF building was vacated, as FNB had their own building on Commercial Row. It was then used by Manning and Berry to store flour and grain.

Former RSB manager James Kinkead was indicted for embezzlement in January of 1883 and acquitted. He was very open about how the sausage was made. The general sentiment seemed to be that what the officers did was legal but immoral and akin to insider trading. Calls were made for changes to the laws ensuring claims of all bank creditors, big and small, would be treated equally going forward.

First National Bank bought the building, then called the Arcadome, for $20,000 in January of 1887 and made plans to occupy the former RSB space.

The Arcadome letters were removed that March and replaced with a sign for First National Bank.

At the same time, the Odd Fellows were required to find other accommodations.

That spring, the bank also purchased the lot directly west of the building in anticipation of expansion.

The wholesale liquor business of William R Chamberlain and Herman J Thyes opened in the old furniture store space that April.

You can just barely make out the Chamberlain & Thyes sign, which is mostly obscured by the post office awning.

Chamberlain and Thyes dissolved their partnership in December of 1888 and Thyes continued as a sole proprietor. This photo is labeled as being taken on the Second Street side of the building, but as far as I can tell, this image predates both the Crystal Saloon and the Reese partnership and actually depicts the Virginia Street entrance.

I could be wrong but I think this interior shot is also from the space on Virginia. In addition to the wholesale liquor operation, Thyes served lunch daily and had reading and card rooms. Reese didn’t buy half interest in the business until August of 1906.

First National Bank hired George Holesworth to build an addition to the west end of the building in June of 1889. This two-story brick annex would include spaces for two storefronts with offices above.

Ground was broken on July 1 with brick work commencing that August. Tenants including attorney R. H. Lindsay occupied the building by December of 1889. This annex was used as a polling location for the Second Ward. The Democratic County Central Committee had offices there by 1890. Reno Lumber Company opened an office in the annex in February of 1891.

In November of 1895, First National Bank stockholders voted to reincorporate as Washoe County Bank. The new institution opened for business on January 2, 1896.

In November of 1901, Thyes moved his saloon to the Second Street side of the building two doors east of the post office so the bank could expand into the south space. This is when he began calling it the Crystal.

New enlarged windows and doors were installed in the directors’ offices at that time. Steam heat was added to the building that December.

The bank also received new fixtures that month.

At some point during all of this remodeling, the cupola was removed.

The remodeling continued with virtually every trace of Italianate styling removed.

This photo of staff and directors was taken June 18, 1921.

1929 was a wacky year all the way around but especially for Washoe County Bank, which got a talking-to by bank examiner Edward J Seaborn after submitting these financials.

The bank extended an insane amount of loans on land and livestock in a time when prices were severely depressed. Many of these were called “fozen loans” because ranchers were either unable or unwilling to pay any principal and in a lot of cases, not even interest. Some estimated the largest principal of these loans at anywhere between $300,000 and $600,000. As a result, Seaborn instructed the officers to replace $250,000 of capital that April and tried to organize a deal so people with the needed cash could take over operations. Those things didn’t happen and depositors became aware. The bank failed and closed on July 4 of that year to stop the withdrawals. WCB became the responsibility of Examiner Seaborn at that time.

Nevada’s oldest bank planned to reorganize and George Wingfield had a plan! He created a “realization company” owned by depositors and shareholders (managed by Wingfield) to assume the frozen and doubtful assets of the bank. That company would then liquidate the distressed assets and attempt to make the depositors whole. A new banking institution would be created, which was owned and managed by Wingfield.

After a full audit, George Wingfield proposed a merger of the new United Nevada Bank and Scheeline Banking and Trust Company. United Nevada Bank would use the WCB building, which was of course remodeled. Depositors would receive 75 percent of their money in new accounts immediately and the rest would be repaid as assets were recovered by the realization company. The plan was accepted and lawsuits were filed, with some asking the bank be put into receivership and liquidated immediately. Hindsight is a funny thing. United Nevada Bank opened its doors on August 26, 1929 with George Wingfield serving as president.

United Nevada Bank was caught up in Wingfield’s systemic failure and closed its doors on November 1, 1932 as part of a two-week banking holiday which was then extended for another month.

Reorganization was again on the agenda but the cumbersome process was further complicated by the continued operations of the Realization Company, which hadn’t yet resolved the outstanding Washoe County Bank debts. A full accounting was requested. Examiner Seaborn was a very busy man. Several plans were floated and by May of 1933, the committee couldn’t decide whether to reorganize or liquidate. Ultimately, Leo F Schmitt was appointed receiver for seven of the Wingfield banks and he set up an office in the former United Nevada Bank in the Spring of 1934.

Schmitt sold the building to the estate of James L Stack (father of actor Robert Stack) in September of 1935. With this deal, the rear 40 feet of the bank quarters including the vault and safety deposit boxes were to be leased to the receivership for up to three years so that Schmitt could continue winding everything down.

Reno attorney George P Thatcher was the Stack executor and he leased the bank space to William Ramos for a new location of Ramos Drug Co. The building underwent a major transformation in the Fall of 1935 with a new design by Russell Mills. The building had originally been constructed of handmade bricks, which made the modernization project quite complex. Much of the brick had to be rebuilt and reinforced with steel. Burnt orange glazed terra cotta was installed on the exterior with new aluminum and stainless steel window frames. Ramos chose zebra wood furniture inside with murals painted by Vasco De Soto. The new drug store also had a large soda fountain and lunch counter. A stainless steel reverse channel neon sign was placed out front. Ramos Drug Co. held its grand opening on December 17, 1935.

In December of 1938, Security National Bank was given authorization to organize. President Walter J Tobin secured space in the Stack building at 10 W Second Street and resigned as receiver of Reno National Bank at the beginning of February 1939. The bank opened on February 15.

The Stack building was sold in August of 1946 to Lerner Shops, Inc. and Franklin-Tampa Corp. for $580,000. Ramos Drug moved to their new California Avenue location and Security National Bank also vacated the building in the Fall of 1951. The building was remodeled again in the Summer of 1952 for Leed’s Shoe Store, which carved out an L-shaped space with entrances at the south storefront and also toward the west end of the building on Second Street. Their grand opening was held September 12-13, 1952.

Edises Jewelers bought the Griffin jewelry store across the street and remodeled the remaining drug store space at the same time. The new store owned by S. E. Edises was managed by L. C. Griffin. Their grand opening was on September 25, 1952.

Leed’s moved a few doors south in 1960 and was replaced by Burt’s Shoes, which closed in March of 1967. GallenKamp Shoe Store held their grand opening event in the former Burt’s spot from April 18 -22 of that year.

GallenKamp closed in either 1976 or 1977. Family Savings and Loan opened a new office in their old spot in October of 1977.

The Edises Jewelers going out of business signs went up in June of 1982 and Family Savings and Loan followed shortly after.

In August of 1983, Reno attorney Nada Novakovich announced she was basically building a shrine to her late husband, Luke Aluevich. She put approximately $4.5 million into renovating in a building she didn’t even own. Although not historically correct, the cupola was set to return in the form of a clocktower.

Big Luke’s opened in September of 1984 with a combination of gift shop, deli, and boutique on the main floor of the old bank. The Rose Room cocktail lounge was located upstairs.

Novakovich paid around $130,000 per year in rent on a business which never turned a profit. She operated for about three years and made several unsuccessful attempts to sell the business. When that failed, she turned to alcohol, embezzled from her clients, and lost both her lease and her license to practice law.

Restaurant equipment from Big Luke’s was auctioned off in July of 1988, the same year it was purchased by Dr. John Iliescu. The main floor became occupied by T-Shirts and Souvenirs R Us, which was later confined to a smaller space. Wendy’s opened with dining areas on both the main and second floors in April of 1989.

At the beginning of 1992, Ron Teston obtained a business license and placed ads for the Academy of Casino Careers on the second floor at 195 N Virginia with “easy payment plans.” It appears this venture was located upstairs. Iliescu obtained a pawn broker business license for Pioneer Jewelry and Loan in the Spring of 1992. That business changed hands a few times and closed around 2023. The building has been listed on the Nevada State Register of Historic Places since December of 2003.

This is how the former Reno Savings Bank looks today:

Peeling real estate signs still adorn the windows but I haven’t been able to find an active listing. Some interior photos can be found here. As of this writing, the County website still shows the owner as the 1992 Iliescu Trust. Given Reno’s love for demolishing its history, it’s amazing this old beauty has survived as long as it has. With any luck, someone will come along and bring it back to life.

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