Three and a half years ago I wrote a post about the historic house at 808 N. Curry Street, which had most recently housed Capitol Jewelers, and was also a popular photography studio some decades ago. The house had been vacant for a while, and I said there were rumors that it was being prepped for demolition.
Well, last year those rumors came true. I didn’t write about it at the time so I can’t remember exactly what month it was, but in 2016 the house was torn down.
This house was the last structure on that whole lot, bounded by Curry, Washington, Nevada and Ann. It is now completely vacant aside from one large tree. One part of the lot is being used as a staging area for construction equipment and another is still a parking lot for the hotel across the street.
What is going to happen with this lot remains to be seen, but now that it has been completely cleared it’s a blank slate for the owners to do whatever they want.
There is a building on the 1885 and 1890 Sanborn Map in the middle of Curry St on that block. Listed as “Off” for office and wood frame. It maybe just a bit north though, it’s hard to say.
The earliest record I found was a listing in the 1910 U.S. Census, indicating the Cross family lived at 808 N. Curry Street. The husband Volney Berry Cross has a Find-a-Grave posting and is buried in the Lone Mtn Cemetery. He was living at that residence at the time of his passing on Oct. 1918. He was a Private in the New York Cavalry during the Civil War.
When I was in high school, Randell’s Photo Studio was in that house. Our senior portraits were done there. What a shame it was torn down
for a barren parking lot. We have so little respect for our history in this state.