Nevada Press Association The best in Nevada journalism since 1924
We’re sprucing up the place for the upcoming Nevada Press Association convention.
When I say “we” I really mean the painters from Home Innovative Painting in Sparks, who are giving the Rinckel Mansion (also known as the Reynolds Press Center, also known as the home of the Nevada Press Association) a couple of new coats of paint.
The mansion was refurbished in 2000 when the Nevada Press Foundation bought it to provide office space. It had been used as a restaurant in most recent years — the Carlton House, then Cafe del Rio, which is now in Virginia City and one of my favorite places to eat. It was showing its age — it is, after all, 142 years old — but a $500,000 restoration project led by then-NPA director Kent Lauer with donations from Nevada newspapers returned the mansion to her glory.
When I arrived in 2006, Las Vegas Review-journal capital bureau chief Ed Vogel told me, “You know, when it rains we can hear water running through the walls.” I went up to the attic and could see daylight through the 2x8s of the roof, which may well have been original to the house. The tin shingles probably were at least 60 years old. No plywood, no tar paper. Anyway, the first project was a new roof, with gray metal shingles that mimic the old ones.
(Remind me to show you the attic sometime. If it weren’t for the big air-conditioning units and the fact that you can get there only by ladder, we could rent it out as an efficiency apartment.)
We’ve had a few maintenance projects over the years, like replacing the boiler, digging up the main water line, regularly unplugging the sewer lines and repairing water damage to the north wall where the bathrooms are located, but this summer it was time for exterior paint. The distinctive yellow had begun to peel away in places, and there was some visible deterioration of wood trim along the front of the building. You can see them replacing a piece in the short video below.
The painting crew has been working a couple of weeks now, and it’s looking good. They’ve been dodging raindrops and, yesterday, got caught in a brief hail shower. We’re using exactly the same colors — green trim, gold accents — because I couldn’t imagine this place looking any other way. (Apparently, it was a dismal gray in the 1970s when the National Register of Historic Places conducted a survey and found considerable disrepair.
The history of this place is extraordinary. I often call it the best office in town, situated a half-block west of the capitol and within easy walk of the Legislative Building, Supreme Court, State Museum and my favorite lunch spot, Mom & Pop’s Diner. We’re proud to be entrusted with its care.
