El Cortez Hotel

Built in 1931, El Cortez Hotel is one of only three remaining major Art Deco buildings in Reno, and is an excellent example of this style. The foliated motif found on the terra cotta design on the building's base and parapet are remarkable Art Deco details. At the time it was built, it was Reno's tallest building. The hotel experienced such extensive use early on that an addition was built just a few years after its construction. The hotel included the Orchid Room, a swanky bar and a popular restaurant called the Tracedero Room. These rooms were elegantly appointed with stylish Art Deco ornamentation. The El Cortez was a high-class hotel, garnering an astounding $6 per night, compared to the prevailing room rate of $2.50 per night. The El Cortez was built in anticipation of increased divorce traffic after Reno's divorce law was liberalized in 1931. The residency period for those seeking a divorce in Reno was reduced from three months to six weeks, to boost the already lucrative divorce trade. El Cortez was one of several temporary residential complexes constructed during this time.

Reno-based architect, George Ferris and his son, Lehman A. "Monk" Ferris, designed this hotel for real estate investor Abe Zetooney. George Ferris's career in Nevada lasted over 30 years. He was educated at Swarthmore College and settled in Reno in 1906, where he opened his own architectural office. He was responsible for the Spanish Quartet of schools, including Mount Rose and McKinley Park, as well as the Governor's Mansion in Carson City, and later in his career he served as the State Architect for the Federal Housing Authority. Ferris formed a partnership with his son Lehman in 1928, which lasted until 1932. Lehman had studied at the University of Nevada and worked with Frederick DeLongchamps before going to work for his father. He was one of the first architects in Nevada to specialize in steel frame construction, served as the City of Reno building inspector, was instrumental in the adoption of a Uniform Building Code, and chairman of the first State Architectural Registration Board in 1947.

The El Cortez Hotel is located at 239 West Second St. in Reno. The lobby and casino are open to the public; for reservations call 775-322-9161.


and as a bonus...
(the following hotel was owned by the same family until the disaster happened there last year)


Pincolini (Mizpah) Hotel

The large, three-story brick Pincolini Hotel was constructed in three stages in 1922, 1925 and 1930, and is today the most intact building surviving from the development of Reno's "Little Italy." The hotel was an important component in this Italian commercial district, which included other ethnic groups, such as Basques, Chinese, Japanese and African Americans. The Pincolini Brothers--Joseph, Evaristo, Adelvaldo and Dante--came to Reno from Parma, Italy, around the turn of the 20th century. They financed the construction of the hotel with the profits from their agricultural interests in the area, which at one time included Rancho San Rafael, now a park in the county park system.

The Ward Brothers general contracting firm designed and built the original five-bay portion of the hotel in 1922. Two subsequent additions rapidly doubled the size of the hotel. The design is characteristic of the functional, residential hotels once common in Reno before the development of casinos, most of which have been replaced by newer development. These buildings combined first floor commercial space with upper story hotels. The interior of the hotel retains it original plan and many decorative elements including the lobby's desk and pine paneling, grained to simulate oak. Several of the hotel's 110 rooms contain the original furnishings; iron beds, pine dressers and night stands. An advertisement for the hotel in 1928 described the building as "the most comfortable hotel in the state" and detailed the services offered including "cold, pure spring water in every room. Steam heat, hot water, private baths and apartments." The Pincolini family continues to operate hotels in Reno today, and remains a social, political and economic force in Reno's Italian community.