Old Carson house looking for new owner

The price is right, but the house at Sixth and Nevada streets in historic downtown Carson City is definitely a fixer-upper.

Whoever wants the old green house can have it for free, as long as they move it to another location within the next few weeks, said developer Pat Clark of Building Concepts in Gardnerville.

Carson planning commissioners asked the developer to hold off demolishing the property until Tuesday to try to relocate the house, which is described as "historic but not historically significant."

"We would like to see if someone is interested in acquiring it and moving it to another site," said Walt Sullivan, director of Planning and Community Development.

Clark and his partner are planning to build two single-family houses and one duplex on the corner lot to replace the old structure. They considered trying to salvage the house, but found it would be too costly.

"There's nothing safe about the existing foundation," Clark said. "It wasn't feasible for us to rehabilitate the house."

The house is at least 130 years old, as it is shown on a map drawn by an insurance company in 1875. But through the years, owners have added onto it, enclosing a wraparound porch and adding rooms. The last owner used the house as a rental before the home was abandoned.

Many of the historic fixtures have been removed through the years, Clark said. But if Clark can't find anyone to take the house, the owners will first look through to see if they want anything to be used in the new development. Then, the Carson City Historical Society will be invited to salvage any remaining items.

If anything is left after that, Clark said he wants to find a way for the public to be invited in to remove anything they might want to keep.

Clark said it might not be realistic for anyone to move the house off the lot. The move would require finding a way to get the power and phone companies to remove overhead wiring on the streets in downtown, then put the house on steel beams. Without a foundation, that might be risky, he said.

Whatever the outcome, Clark plans to begin construction Aug. 1.

"If someone wants to honestly save a piece of Carson City, we will work with them," he said. "But they would have to have the means to get it out of there."

FREE HOUSE

Contact Pat Clark

782-8886