130 N Virginia Street – Reno, Nevada
At the turn of the twentieth century, Reno was in need of a playhouse which could accommodate modern performances. The stage in the aging McKissick’s Opera House was too small and that facility was nearing the end of its utility. By September of 1903, rumors were spreading about a new theater in the works.
A group of men including John Wagner, Senator William J Westerfield, and Richard Kirman, all connected with the Farmers and Merchants Bank, selected a site on the east side of Virginia between First and Second Streets. Architect Morrill J Curtis designed a two-story theater with a stucco finish measuring approximately 50 x 120 feet with an entrance in the center, flanked by two 15 x 32′ retail spaces. A seven-foot wooden platform at the back of the building allowed for loading along Lincoln Alley. Although the Grand was primarily meant for vaudeville, an asbestos-lined room above the lobby housed an animatoscope for showing silent films.
A traditional hand-painted advertising curtain adorned the stage, which spanned the entire width of the building. Seating estimates varied quite a bit so I’ll just say the facility accommodated approximately 1,000 patrons. A coved ceiling helped to improve the acoustics and the sloped floor ensured visibility. The balcony was accessed by two sets of stairs on either side of the building. The interior was said to have been decorated in a “semi-Oriental” style with “elaborate frescoes.”
West Coast theater pioneer Tony Lubelski of the Novelty Theater Company and Lester B Funge of the Grand chain created a partnership to lease Reno’s Grand Theatre for seven years. Reno was a strategic location for the vaudeville circuit between Sacramento and Salt Lake City. Before construction of the Grand, that journey cost the company a week due to travel time. Having a place in between allowed the shows to earn money along the way. Funge was to handle operations and Lubelski booked the acts.
Small wood frame structures were removed from the lot at the beginning of November. Dirt removed during excavation of the basement was used to bring the lot for the new Carnegie Library up to grade. Foundation work was completed in December and the roof beams were installed in January of 1904. The Grand passed its inspection that March.
The Grand opened on April 11, 1904 to a house packed well beyond capacity.
In addition to the advertised bill, the Reno Wheelmen band also played for the enormous crowd.
Nick Carter and George Dum opened the Hudson Cyclery in the south storefront on July 23, 1904.
Funge sold his interest in the theater business to Lubelski the same month. Al Cliff became the local manager at that time. In August, the Grand Theatre Company was formed to operate the facility.
Miss Kate E Burns and Mrs. G. D. Fisher opened a millinery store in the north space on September 1, 1904.
Hudson Cyclery was purchased by the newly formed Hudson Electrical Company in December of 1906 and that business became Riverside Fixture Company in April of 1907.
William E Sharp bought controlling interest of the theater company from Lubelski in April of 1909 and Sharp then sold it to the Hurst Brothers. The building itself was sold to Moritz Scheeline in March of 1911.
When the Hurst Brothers bought the Majestic in January of 1913, they changed programming so the Majestic was used for live performances and the Grand was used mainly for moving pictures. New Simplex projectors were installed that February.
In 1915, the building was extended 25 feet toward the alley so the seating capacity could be increased to around 1,100. The stage was removed during the project and a new 20-stop pipe organ was installed at the back wall. A grand reopening event was held on October 1, 1915.
At that time, the millinery store of Kate Burns was still located in the north storefront and the south space was occupied by optometrist Charles O Gasho.
A new flashing electric sign depicting the tail of a peacock was installed in March of 1916.
Dale and Glenn Hurst sold the theater business to Turner and Dahnken, Jr. Enterprises in June of 1921.
The same month, T & D announced the Grand would be showing return engagements rather than first run films.
T & D also operated the Rialto and apparently wanted to consolidate operations. Moritz Scheeline’s son, Harry, owned the building at that time and he started making plans to demolish the theater in the Spring of 1926. Frederic DeLongchamps was hired to design what would become Reno’s tallest building with a mix of retail and professional spaces.
Things were done completely out of order with all of these plans being made public before the retail tenants were even served with notices to vacate. That finally occurred in May of 1926 and the Grand closed on July 6. The electric organ was moved to the Rialto, which was being remodeled into the Granada.
Demolition began immediately with excavation for the new Medico-Dental Arcade being completed in August. The neighboring building to the south which housed the J. D. Mariner Music House at 124-126 N Virginia was also demolished as part of this project. That bit was more complicated because the Mariner lot was owned by Louis and Ava Meiss. The new structure on that lot was only a single story. Scheeline signed a long-term lease with the Meiss family, which complicated things later. Most of the building was leased by September of 1926.
Contractors Hilton and Leatherman rushed construction of the Gothic beauty, which had six stories plus a penthouse apartment.
A wide, red-tiled arcade extended from the entrance to the alley with wide doors which could be closed during inclement weather. The west and south sides were finished with stucco. Compressed air and suction equipment was located in the basement and made available to the medico dental floors.
When the building opened in the Spring of 1927, eleven of the arcade stores were occupied. The three spaces with frontage on Virginia were leased to The Corset Shop, Radcliffe Jewelry Co., and the Buckingham Shoppes in the former Mariner spot.
The upper levels housed a combination of 27 doctors and dentists, the Arcade Pharmacy, a law office, and a financial services company. The building was managed by Barnard, Southard & Co. which had an office on the arcade level. Reno Radium X-Ray Association moved to the fourth floor toward the end of April.
Building caretaker John R Hamlet and his family moved into the penthouse apartment.
Although “throngs of people” had already gotten a look at the new building, a formal grand opening celebration was held the evening of May 7, 1927.
You may recall that the Scheeline Banking and Trust Company merged with George Wingfield’s United Nevada Bank in 1929. The Wingfield banks failed in November of 1932 with Harry Scheeline owing nearly $160,000 that was backed by the company which owned the Arcade. California Western States Life Insurance Co. also held a $140,000 mortgage on the building. Bank receiver Leo F Schmitt assumed control of the Arcade on July 1, 1935.
Schmitt conducted an auction in the Summer of 1938 and the building was purchased by Homer Williams, John Connolly, and Dr. R. R. Craig for approximately $185,000. The mortgage was satisfied first with the remaining amount distributed to United Nevada Bank depositors. As Schmitt continued wrapping up the banks’ affairs, he moved the receivership office to the former Nevada Finance Company space on the arcade level.
The Arcade’s exit to Lincoln Alley was closed off in 1950 when that level was reconfigured. As the 1960s came to a close, vacancies increased. By the early 1970s, the entire arcade level was vacant. In 1973, the building only had a handful of tenants and it sold for only $600,000 in 1979.
Plans for the new Virginian Hotel Casino were approved by the Reno City Council in March of 1983. George Karadanis and Robert Maloff, owners of the Sundowner Hotel Casino, sought to build a 16-story hotel tower connected to a three-story casino on the site of the Arcade. Building inspectors had agreed both the Arcade and neighboring Clay Peters building were unsafe and should be demolished. Once that was completed, the site was used as a parking lot.
A foundation permit was finally issued in the Fall of 1985 but ground wasn’t broken until September of 1986. The City didn’t receive final plans until December of that year. Architect Bill Morris designed the hotel with its main entrance along Lincoln Alley. The parking garage had an automobile elevator which could handle 60 cars per hour.
Two floors of the casino opened on November 17, 1988. The ad has an unfortunate typo.
Matt Karadanis (second from left) served as the general manager.
A business license for the 120-room hotel, restaurant, and gift shop was granted in December of 1988 but these didn’t open until the Spring of 1989.
The hotel opened just before Memorial Day weekend, followed by MK’s Steak House. In December of 1996, the hotel closed, leaving only parts of the casino and one snack bar open. The only guests using the hotel were for Sundowner overflow and special events until the property completely shut down in July of 1997.
Best Gaming Corp., a subsidiary of Compagnie Europeenne de Casinos, bought the Virginian in March of 1998 with plans to operate it themselves. However, they quickly learned the differences between US and European gaming laws and instead leased the hotel to Club Cal-Neva. After a quick refresh, the Virginian reopened on May 27, 1999.
After their lease expired in May of 2004, Club Cal-Neva was unable to negotiate a new agreement and the Virginian closed again in October of 2004.
After sitting vacant for several years, the Virginian was purchased by Siegel Group in December of 2013. The roof was upgraded in 2014 and the rooms were converted to studio apartments with kitchenettes.
The neon on the west side of the building was removed in the Summer of 2016 with the facility’s first occupants being foreign exchange students in Reno for the summer. Collector Will Durham bought the Virginian sign which had been located just above the ground level. The sign up high on the north side was left in place.
Initially, the new façade wasn’t really new. Siegel added new Virginian Apartments signage above the entrance but the outlines of the old Virginian signage were still in place for several years, making the property appear unfinished. That changed in the Fall of 2024 when Derek Douglass and Anthony Castillo painted an enormous mural on the west side of the tower.
This is how the former site of the Grand Theatre looks today:
I have some thoughts about Siegel properties in general but I also understand economic realities. People need places to live and that mural makes the Virginian look nicer than it is. I hope the residents are living in clean and safe conditions.
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