Mathias Rinckel Mansion, 102 North Curry Street, Carson City, Carson City

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS NEV,13-CARCI,16-. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Carson City's later nineteenth-century houses. Many of its original ornamental features, both exterior and interior, are "well preserved. PART I. HISTORICAL INFORMATION A. Physical History: 1. Date of erection: 2. Architect: Charles H. Jones of San Francisco, architect and builder. 3. Original and subsequent owners: The Rinckel Mansion is located on lots 9 and 10 of Block 9 of Proctor and Green's Division of Carson City. (Frank M. Proctor and Green were two of the four original purchasers in I858 of the Eagle Ranch, upon which Carson City was platted.) The following references tracing the title of these lots are found in the Ormsby County, Nevada, Deed Books. Deed September 7S recorded in Book 11, page Anna E. Mooney bought lots 6, 7S 8* 9 and 10 of Block No.

9 of Proctor and Green's Division from the United States Government. Deed March 22, recorded in Book 12, page Edward D. Sweeney of Carson City bought from Isaac T. Mooney and Annie E. Mooney, his wife, of Downie- ville, Sierra County, California, the south one- half of Block No, 9 for Deed May 8, recorded in Book l6, page Mathias Rinkel [sic] of Carson City bought from WEV. |i- MATHIAS RINCKEL MANSION HABS No. NEV-13-1T Page 2 Edward D. Syeeney and wife of Carson City all of lots 9 and 10 and the east IT feet of lot no. 8, all "being in Block. No. 9 of Proctor and Green's Division: frontage of 85 feet on north side of King St. and 80 feet on vest side of Curry St.

Rinckel paid The property has been in the hands of members of the Rinckel family since Rinckel lived in the house until her death in The Rinckels' daughter, Louise, and her Husband, Geroge F. Blakeslee, then lived in the house. After Mr. Blakeslee's death, his widow lived there until her death in i960. The property is currently owned by John Lindstrom of Redwood City, California. Lindstrom is the grandaughter of the builder, Mathias Rinckel. h. Original plans, construction, etc.: Several of the original drawings, consisting of the front and side elevations, and the second floor plan, are in the possession of the owner, Lindstrom. Sandstone used in the foundation came from the Nevada State Prison quarry. The foundations extend six feet below grade.

Lumber used in the house is of kiln-dried, knot-free Jeffrey and Ponderosa pine from Glenbrook, Nevada, on the shore of Lake Tahoe. Floor joists are 10" x 2", laid 10" on center. The walls are of pressed brick, made at a kiln in Carson Valley. 5. Alterations and additions: A small one-story room at the northwest corner of the house appears to be a later addi- tion. It contains a servant's room and a bathroom. The room can be entered through a former exterior door in the rear hall of the house, or from its own exterior door in its east wall. The original roof was of wooden shingles. The present metal roof was installed c.

Very few changes have been made on the structure, and the earliest known repre- sentation (see section Sources of Information, first entry) shows the house as built to be essentially as it is today. The balustrades on the curved, steps leading from the front walk to the front porch have been removed. NEV. MATHIAS RINCKEL MANSION HABS Wo. NEV-13-17 Page 3 B. Historical Events and Persons Connected with, the Structure: Mathias Rinckel was "born in Altenheim in Germany. He "was the youngest of a family of seven children. When he was nine months old, the family immigrated to America and settled in Warsaw, Illinois. In "Matt," then a sixteen- year-old farmer, joined a group of five young men and proceeded west to the gold fields.

He remained in the Feather River district in California for ten years, "by which time he had accumulated a degree of wealth in placer mining. Leaving California, Rinckel came to Genoa in what was then Carson County, Utah Territory, and the next year, i860, went to Virginia City, where he increased his fortune in mining. In he settled permanently in Carson City, where he engaged primarily in livestock and butchering. He gained contracts to furnish meat for Virginia City miners, the timbermen at Glenbrook on Lake Tahoe, and others. By he was able to being construction on his mansion, which was finished in He built his house on the northwest corner of King and Curry Streets on the site of Carson City's first Post Office. Rinckel was to live there only three years.

He died in October at the age of k6. In addition to his previously mentioned activities, he owned and rented out many commercial structures in Carson City. A short biographical sketch of him on pages 5^2 of Thompson and West's History of Nevada states that "Many monuments of his untiring energy are still visible in Carson, in the shape of fine buildings." Rinckel continued to live in the house until her death in after which it was occupied l>j the Rinckels' daughter, Louise, and her husband, George F. Blakeslee. In addition to living in the house, the Blakeslees operated it as a house museum. They were induced to do so in at the urging of members of the cast of The Remarkable Andrew, a Paramount Pictures film which used the mansion as a backdrop in one of its scenes.

Louise Rinckel Blakeslee died in i960 and the house continued to be shown as a museum until under the curatorship of Ronald Machado of Carson City. MATHIAS RINCKEL MANSION HABS No. HEV-13-17 Page 1+ The house has "been vacant since that time. A recent robbery resulted in the loss of the family silverware, some furnishings s and portraits of the builder and Ms -wife. More recently, many of the furnishings have been sold, though, the house still contains many of its original carpets, draperies, lighting fixtures and paintings. C. Sources of Information: 1. Old views: There is a lithograph of the house facing page 96 in Thompson and West's History of Nevada, (see bibliographical entry below).

The Nevada Historical Society in Reno has many photographs of a fairly recent vintage of the house in its "Ormsby County Homes" files. Several of these show the house as it appeared with its original furnishings. 2.

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS NEV,13-CARCI,16-. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

"The Pony Express," Vol. XXIII, No. 1, No. 265 (June Sonora, California. Thompson, Thomas H. and Albert A. West. History of Nevada Berkeley, California: Howell-North, 1958.(Facsimile reprint of this volume which was originally printed in Interview and visit to the house with Mr. Ronald Machado, former curator, November Prepared by: S. Allen Chambers, Jr. Architectural Historian National Park Service December PART II. ARCHITECTURAL INFORMATION: A. General Statement: 1. Architectural Merit and Interest: A representative late nineteenth-century house of pretentious character with well preserved ornamental features. 2. Condition of fabric: Fairly good. MATHIAS RIKCKEL MANSION HABS No. OT-13-17 Page 5 B. Detailed Description of Exterior: 1.

Overall dimensions of main portion are approximately ^0' x ^0' . It is two stories and square with minor projections. The rear wing is 21' (2 "bays] long and is one story. 2. Foundations: The low foundation is two courses of pick- dressed sandstone ashlar with plain projecting water table. 3. Walls: Pressed brick, repointed, and painted. k. Porches: At the center of the east front there is a one- story wooden porch which is six-sided in plan and fills in the area between canted bays on either side. It presents on the front three arcaded bays, the two at each side. The columns, depending on their position9 are polygonal or square in plan; they rest on pedestals and have moulded capitals with applied fleur-de-lis ornaments on the neck.

Ornamental brackets with incised scrolls, above the capitals, give the openings the appearance of cusped arches. The cornice has a course of modillion-brackets. A deck roof has a balustrade with pedestals. The porch floor is of narrow pine boards; some repairs have "been made to the floor- ing. A balustrade with turned balusters is above skirting of vertical hoards between the porch floor and the ground. The skirting is enriched with a pierced design. Along the south wall of the west wing there is a two-bay wooden porch. Its columns are square in plan and are chamfered and rest on pedestals. The capitals are moulded "below brackets. This porch has a sheet-metal shed roof. 5. Chimneys: There are three "brick chimneys with patternwork ornamenting the caps.

All are on the perimeter: one centered on the north wall, one about ten feet from the front on the south wall, and one on the west wall about the same distance from the south corner. 6. Openings: a. Doorways and Doors: The main entrance is located at the center of the east front, sheltered by the porch described above. The opening is rectangular; the cap or lintel appears to be cast iron, painted. Athin wooden casing is inside the brick opening. A transom with two lights, contains ornamental white etched glass. The.transom bar carries incised ornamental scrolls. N V. , 13.CAtfo MATHIAS HIHCKEL MANSION HABS No. NEV-13-17 Page 6 There are double doors of walnut, each with a large glazed panel, the glass being treated ornamentally.

Below this there is a moulded, panel of composite shape: a Tertical rectangle with a semicircular projection at each side. The rear door is located on the west wall, approached through the porch on the west wing. It has four panels and a transom. b. Windows: Typically the windows are double hung with one light above one light. The openings have stone sills and ornamentals printed lintels of cast iron. A typical lintel consists of a cornice carried on a pair of acanthus-leaf brackets; above its central portion there is a paneled rectangular tablet with a semicircular projection at the center of the upper edge. The whole is decorated with incised and relief ornament. Above a double window at the second story over the main entrance, is a larger lintel of comparable design.

There are three two-story canted bays, one near the west end of the south wall and the others symmetrically located on the east front. Each contains three typical windows on each story. 7- Roof: 1. Hipped roofs extend over each portion of the house. The one over the main two-story portion is covered with stamped sheet metal in a hexagon pattern. Ornamental metal cresting extends along the sides of a deck and along the ridge of a smaller gabled roof above the projection of the southwest bay window. This metal- work appears to have been well preserved but it is now in need of repair. There are no dormers. 2. Cornices: A wooden cornice consists of corona and cymatium supported on brackets.

The brackets rest against a paneled frieze, one panel between each brackets This woodwork, in common with much of it in other places on the house, needs painting. C. Detailed Description of the Interior: N V. MATHIAS RINCKEL MANSION HABS No. NEV-13-1T Page 7 # 1. Floor Plans: a. Basement: There is a cellar under the rear (kitchen) wing only. This is entered via a stairway opening off the kitchen, and was used for food storage. It has a dirt floor, b. First Floor: The double front doors open directly into the stairhall. To the left is the front parlor, and to the right, the master bedroom. All three of these spaces extend ap- proximately half way through the depth of the main block.

Behind the front parlor, and separated from it by screen vails and double sliding doors, is the rear parlor, vhich extends to half the width of the stairhall, through which it may also be entered. On the back wall of this parlor is a door leading to the rear porch. The dining room is to the right of the rear parlor, and behind the master bedroom, through both of which rooms it may be entered. At the rear of the dining room is a door leading into the rear, kitchen wing. The door leads directly to a small rear hallway. To the left is the pantry, to the right a bathroom (in a later addition) entered through a former exterior door, and behind the hall, the kitchen itself. There are two exterior doors in the kitchen, one to the rear porch and one behind the ' aforementioned bathroom. c.

Second Floor; The second floor layout is a somewhat modified version of the first, having four large bedrooms at each corner of the house, over the four principle rooms below. Near the head of the stairs, a portion of the bedroom over the rear parlor is given over to a former "trunk room" now a bathroom, k. Interior finish, general: Walls are plastered, the plaster being one inch thick, and either painted or papered. All interior doors are four paneled, are of Ponderosa or Jeffrey pine, and have two-light transoms, hinged in the middle. Except in the parlors, where the doors and trim are painted white, all woodwork in the house is grained. The graining of the first and second floor stairhalls resembles walnut. In all other rooms it ifo- MATHIAS EIKCKEL MANSION HABS Mo.

KEV-13-17 Page 8 simulates golden oak, except in the right rear "bedroom on the second floor, where it imitates curly maple. The grain- ing is "beautifully done and in excellent condition. There is ornamental plasterwork in several rooms. Flooring is of pine "boards hut is covered with carpeting or linoleum in all cases. The first floor rooms are 11! 7" in height and the second floor rooms All rooms have a molded "baseboard, 11" high, except the rear wing which has a hl high wainscot of matched headed hoards. 5. Room Descriptions - First Floor: a. Stair Hall: The double, elaborately paneled and glazed entrance doors, with their surrounding trim, occupy the full width of the stairhall's eastern end.

Immediately to the right is a door to the master "bedroom, beyond which the stair begins its ascent. The stair takes up half of the width of the hall. To the left, several feet down the hall, is the door to the front parlor. At the rear on axis with the portion of the hall not taken up with the stair, is the door to the rear parlor. The walls are painted pink. All doors and trim in the stairhall are of pine stained and grained to resemble walnut. The stairway itself is of walnut. The stair consists of nineteen risers 7 high, and ascends in a straight run against the right wall for thirteen risers. At this point, the stair curves to the left and reaches the second floor at a 90 angle to the main run. The soffit of the stair is open from the fourth riser.

The red velvet stair carpet and the gold plated holders are said to be original. The original gas chandelier is in place. b. Front Parlor: The front parlor is entered through a door from the stair hall, and is connected to the rear parlor by double sliding doors. The front (east side) of the room is taken up with a large triple bay window. The south wall has two single windows, between which is an ornate Eastlake type pier mirror said to have come from the Philadelphia Exposition of All the windows have gold valances. All trim in this room is painted white, as are the walls. The floor is covered with the original carpet. The most elaborate features of the parlor are the ceiling and cornice. Just "below the cornice is a thin gold leaf picture mold.

The cornice members are picked out in shades of pink and pale green. The ceiling itself is painted pale yellow. \ 3 i" MA.THIAS RINCKEL MANSION HABS No. MEV-13-1T Page 9 In the center of the ceiling is a medallion from which hangs the original chandelier. Four ribs radiate from the center to meet ribs parallel to the cornice forming a decorative panel in the ceiling. The ribs and medallion are painted pink. c. Rear Parlor: The east vail of this room is taken up with doors - the double sliding doors leading to the front parlor, and a single door leading to the rear of the stairhall. On the north wall, close to the door to the stairhall, is a door leading to the dining room. On the rear wall is a door to the back porch.

This door has been closed for some time, and is fitted with bookshelves belov the transom. The south wall is, like the east vail of the front parlor, given over to a triple bay vindov. Trim in this room is white, the walls pink, the floor is carpeted. As in the front parlor, the most elaborate feature here is the ornamental plaster ceiling, similar in design and color to that in the front parlor. The chandelier in this room is a three part composition - the center part of which may- be lowered independently of the others, to serve as a reading light. There is an ornamental wood stove in this room, which served to heat both the front as well as the rear parlor. d.

Dining Room: The primary entrance to the dining room is the door from the rear parlor, which is in the south wall, near the SE corner of the dining room. There is also a door in the east wall, near the south east corner of the room leading through a short passage to the master bedroom. The north wall of the dining room has two windows, between vhich is a marble mantel shelf hung on brackets. There is a wood stove in front of the shelf. There was never a fireplace; the shelf was placed there to hold a clock. On the west vail is a door to the rear hall and kitchen beyond. All the trim, and the doors, in this room are grained to resemble golden oak. The walls are painted a deep ox-blood red.

A thin gold leaf picture mold at the intersection of wall and ceiling, serves in lieu of a cornice in this room. e. Kitchen Wing: The kitchen wing is entered through the door in the west wall in the dining room. This door leads directly into a small hall, with doors in each vail. 16- MATHIAS RINCKEL MANSION HABS No. NEV-13-17 Page 10 That to the left, or south, goes into a pantry. To the north of the hallway is a door leading to the bath- room. This door was at one time an exterior door, and the "bathroom floor is one step lower than the rest of the first floor. The east wall of this room has an exterior door and a window. This addition is said to have served as the quarters for a Chinese servant prior to having been made into a "bathroom.

It is said that this bathroom was installed in the but the present fixtures, while old, are not of that vintage. The rear door of the hallway leads to the kitchen itself. The north wall of the kitchen has an outside door at the northwest corner of the room. The rear or west wall has no openings. The south wall has a window and a door, both opening to the rear porch. The stairway to the basement is entered through a door near the door to the rear porch. The kitchen has a wainscot of matched beaded boards, approximately k feet high. This too, was originally grained to resemble golden oak. It has since been painted an off-white. The center of attention in the kitchen is the cast iron cook stove, labelled "Delmonico" and made by Rathbone Sard and Company of Albany, Hew York.

It is elaborately decorated with garlands, cupids, etc. The "Delmonico" was the gold medal winner in the American Range Display at the Philadelphia Exposition, and it is there that the Rinckels are said to have seen it. f. Master Bedroom: The master bedroom occupies the right front corner of the first floor. It may be entered through a door from the front hall, or from the dining room. The east or front wall of the room is given over to a three part bay window. The north wall has a single window near the north west corner. The west wall has two doors, that on the right leading to a closet and that on the left leading through a passage, in which there are shelves for linens and closet space, to the dining room.

Trim in this room is also grained golden oak, and a thin gold leaf picture mold serves as a cornice. The walls are painted a bright green. 6. Room descriptions - Second Floor a. Stairhall: This space corresponds to the stairhall below 16- MATHIAS RINCICEL MANSION KABS Ho. NEV-13-1T Page 11 and has the same trim grained to resemble walnut. All four "bedrooms, as -well as the former Trunk Room, now a "bathroom, open from it. The stairway reaches the hall near its rear wall and because of the curve, lands at the second floor level facing west. The stairhall is lit by a double window in the east wall, one portion of which is hinged at the side to act as a door leading to the deck over the front porch. The walls here, as in the stairhall on the first floor, are painted pink. b.

Guest Bedroom: (left rear bedroom). This bedroom is over the rear parlor, though not as large as that room. It is entered through a typical transomed door in its east wall from the hall. Its south wall is occupied by another of the three windowed bays. Trim in this room is stained to resemble golden oak. A portion of the floor of this room which had been taken up at the time of the recorder's visit for the installation of electric wiring, revealed the floor joists to be of 2" x 10" pine laid 10" on center. The walls are painted light green, and a maroon stenciled pattern near the ceiling takes the place of a cornice. A door in the southeast corner of this room leads through a closet- passage to the left front bedroom. c.

Left Front Bedroom: This room is entered by way of a door in its east wall from the hall, or at its south west corner through a door leading to the guest room. There are two windows on the south wall, and a three part bay window on the east wall. All the window heads are several feet below the ceiling level, but curtain rods and draperies are hung several feet above to give an im- pression of added height. In place of a cornice in this room is a picture mold. Again the trim is of pine stained to resemble golden oak, while the walls are pale pink. A closet opens off the west wall of this room. d. Right front bedroom: This room is entered through the hall and is over the master bedroom.

The east or front wall, has the last of the three windowed bays, and there is a window near the rear of the room on the north side. Next to this is another marble mantel shelf, though this room was heated by a stove. There is a hand stencilled yellow cornice pattern in this room. The floor is covered with a Brusels carpet. The closet to the rear of this room has an early linoleum floor, and formerly 13- Cflflci It- MATHTAS RINCKEL MANSION HABS No. KEV-13-1T Page 12 had porcelain hooks for clothes. The walls are painted a pale ivory. A second door in the west wall gives access to the right rear "bedroom. e. Right rear bedroom: This room, entered through the hall or the right front bedroom, was originally the nursery. Alone in the house, its pine trim is grained to resemble curly maple.

The original circulating drum stove, designed to catch the heat from the dining room stove below, bears the mark Ransom and Company, Albany, New York, Patented f. Trunk Room: At the rear of the stairhall, and entered only from it, is the Trunk Room, now a bathroom. The attic is entered through a small opening in the ceiling of this room. This bathroom is said to have been in- stalled in the D. Site and Surroundings: The Rinckel Mansion stands on a corner lot, with Musser Street to the south and Curry Street to the east, toward which the house faces. The ground is level and the yard is planted with trees. It is enclosed by an old picket fence having simple pedestals and gates, resting on a low sandstone base. This wooden fence is deteriorating. Exterior Description Prepared by: Harley J.

McKee Supervisory Architect National Park Service Date of visit: August 19, Interior Description Prepared by: S. Allen Chambers, Jr. Architectural Historian National Park Service December PART III. Project Information These records are part of the documentation made during the latter half of and the summer of in a project undertaken by the Historic American Buildings Survey in cooperation with the Nevada State Park System to record structures in Carson City and nearby areas. % 13- CARCi lb- MATHIAS RINCKEL MANSION HABS No, NEV-13-17 Page 13 The project was under the general supervision of John Poppeliers, Chief, Historic American Buildings Survey. Eric R.

Cronkhite, Administrator, Nevada State Park System, and Marshall Humphreys of the Nevada Land- marks Society assisted the HABS recorders in Nevada. Professor Harley J. McKee, Supervisory Architect, National Park Service, selected the subjects and provided architectural data for the sixteen Carson City structures which were recorded. Historical documentation for these buildings was pre- pared by S. Allen Chambers, Architectural Historian, Historic American Buildings Survey. Project Supervisor for the Nevada Summer Team, which produced the measured drawings, was Robert L. Hartwig of Harvard University. Student assistant architects were John T. M. Creery (University of Utah), Robert P. Mizell (University of Florida), and Jack W. Schafer (University of Cincinatti).

Photographs were made by Aaron A. Gallup of Sacramento, California.