Ghosts of Carson: The Ormsby House

I guess it was inevitable that the Ormsby House would end up here. The Ghosts of Carson has always been a series that looks at buildings that have been abandoned and forgotten, and the Ormsby House has straddled the line for many years. It was never quite abandoned; even up to a couple of years ago there was always a skeleton crew of construction workers on site doing something to the building. And it was never really forgotten; it’s pretty hard to truly forget a giant building in the heart of town, plus there would be news dribbling out every now and then about the progress, another interview with the owners, another prediction about how much longer the work would be going on for. But in recent years all that has dried up. The last of the workers packed up and left quite a while ago. For Sale signs went up as the owners finally conceded defeat and gave up the project. And barring a little bit of excitement last year, the newspapers have stopped talking about the Ormsby House because there’s been nothing to talk about. The place really has become abandoned, and it’s fading into the background of our daily lives as a hulking edifice that we’ve all given up on years ago. We drive or walk by it every day, or catch a glimpse of it on the skyline, and if we give it any thought at all it’s just a resigned chuckle. The Ormsby House has truly become a ghost, and therefore it’s finally made it into this column.

I was prompted to induct the Ormsby House into the list of Ghosts by the passing of an auspicious anniversary. 10 years ago, in 2010, I wrote an article about how the Ormsby House had been closed and under construction for 10 years. So do a little bit of math, and you can figure out that we are now at 20 years. It was September 21, 2000, when the announcement came out that the Ormsby House would be closing. Years of neglect had built up a pile of mechanical and structural problems, and the owners had been trying to do renovation without closing the doors. It was too much, though, so they decided that they needed a few months to swarm the site with construction workers and fix everything all at once. Their first announcement was that the remodel would take about 9 months, and reopening was scheduled for July 4th, 2001. The doors actually closed on October 29, 2000. The 20 year anniversary of that date is upon us.

What followed that first announcement and closing is a long ongoing story that I’ve tried to keep up with here over the last two decades. They started the renovation in earnest, but then their ambitions grew, and their plans for the remodel grew with them. The length of the closure slipped to a year, two years, three years, as they came up with new ideas and ran into new problems. As they stripped the building down to its bones they found more mechanical problems that needed to be tackled, but their plans for the finished project also grew more and more grand. The biggest flurry of work was done around the years 2003-2006, as the outside of the building was modified, added to, and painted. The difference that was made in those three years was pretty astounding. For a while it looked like the project was going to go well and the end result would be as impressive as they promised. But the cracks were starting to show already. Another project could have done that exterior remodel in one year instead of three, signs of a pervasive slowness even while they were busily working. And then some of the finishing details on the exterior, like rockwork, sidewalks and parking lots, took even longer than that. Work on the project seemed to get slower and slower as time went along. And even though the outside eventually looked great, a peek inside the windows showed that there was basically nothing happening inside.

The Ormsby House was always a punchline, ever since their first deadline slipped. But as the years went on, its reputation became worse and worse. Most people I think were hopeful that it would finally reopen one day, and be as opulent as promised, but faith in that dream slipped over the years. In 2006 the newspaper put up a reader poll: “Which local project will be completed first? V&T Railroad, the Carson City Freeway, or the Ormsby House?” The Ormsby House was the clear loser in the poll. Even back then the populace of Carson City had lost any optimism about the project. And the poll answerers were correct. The V&T Railroad started taking passengers in 2009, and the freeway was finished in 2017. And the Ormsby House? Well, here we are.

Finally, even the owners had had enough. Al Fiegehen and Don Lehr, the partners who had bought the Ormsby House, were ready for retirement and decided that they had lost interest in the project. In 2016 the news came out that the Ormsby House was going up for sale. Despite the announcement, though, work continued through that year on paving the parking lot and putting some more touches on the exterior of the building. But once that was done, the construction crews moved out and the period of abandonment began.

It turned out there weren’t any takers for a large hotel/casino. The property has been on the market for four years now, and so far no one has bought it. Gaming as an industry is kind of shrinking, especially in Nevada now that so many other states are starting to allow gambling in some form. The owners stated that one of their reasons for selling was that the market had changed and they weren’t sure if it would be feasible to reopen as a hotel/casino. They were looking to sell to perhaps a major hotel chain, that would open it as a non-gaming hotel, or to someone who would renovate it as housing. But so far, there have been a few people to show interest, but no one to actually step up and buy it.

The most serious offer entertained on the Ormsby House happened last year, in September of 2019. That was when Joe D’Angelo, a developer from Las Vegas, announced that he was buying the building, and he had some pretty ambitious plans. The lower two floors of the property would remain open as retail and dining space. The tower would be partially hotel and partially residential. Convention space would be opened up, and a green energy plant would be built on site. It was a grand plan, and it was just about the best case scenario that most people had hoped for. But there were some hiccups to the story. He was a little vague on some of his ideas, and reading between the lines brought up more questions than answers. His plan included rents in the neighborhood of $10,000 per month, an on-site pharmacy, and medical concierge care. The plans made it sound like it would be a nursing home, and while he denied that, he was cagey about the actual details. You need to read the article I wrote back then for more about this story. That all fell through when the city insisted he apply for a number of special use permits, and he balked at that demand. We haven’t heard any more from him in the last year.

So now that’s where we sit with the Ormsby House. No buyers, no progress, no news. The new paint they put up 15 years ago is starting to fade. Weeds are growing in unfinished landscaping areas. A peek inside the windows shows exposed steel beams and concrete floors still. The Ormsby House is in limbo, waiting for someone to come along who wishes to pick up a project that was begun two decades ago and carry it across the finish line. Will that ever happen? Who knows. 20 years is plenty of time to become jaded and lose any optimism about the project. For now all we can expect is that the Ormsby House will remain, and exist, and mystify. I’ve been writing about the project for 18 years, almost as long as they’ve been working on it, and something tells me I’m not done yet.

But for now, it will remain Carson City’s most prominent ghost.

Update (10/29): Maybe not! Two days after I wrote this, news came out that a buyer had entered escrow for the Ormsby House. There may be life left yet.

Enjoy this photo gallery of the Ormsby House. I took a walk around the building earlier this month for the first time in a good while, and tried to capture how the building looks now, in its ghostly state. Some of the renovations still look good, but decay is starting to set in here and there, betraying the abandoned nature of the building. At the end we’ll look at some old photos of how it used to look before the renovations.

14 comments

  1. Thank you for all of the updates over the long years. Out of state here, but still interested in the outcome.

    Sad to see it unfinished still.

  2. My husband and I were married on the capital steps, May 1981. We stayed at the Ormsby House. Every year or so, I search for any progress on the “remodel”! We could have finished the remodeling, room by room and floor by floor ourselves, in a much shorter amount of time! We’ve remodeled 8 houses in that time span! We also did all the work ourselves! I hate to see anything go to waste. Get all the retired craftsmen/women and contractors together to Save Ormsby! By selling shares to all involved, it could be a great investment for city coffers! Whomever the “lien holder” is, I’m sure they’d like to get this building off their records! Maybe they are just enjoying the “depreciation value” on their taxes!! I enjoyed your article, especially the humor. It is so difficult to find any humor in such a sad, sad story.

  3. i remember me and my parents having terriffic prime rib dinners here and i always won on the keno while eating and dad would always win at craps to pay for dinner back in the late 70s

  4. So very sad to see her ghost still there. I remember going through their haunted house which had a huge line to get in. Hopefully someone actually takes on the task of renovating her and getting her restored to her former glory

  5. I remember the night that the Laxalt’s opened the Ormsby House. Much of the town gathered around as fireworks were advertised. We were disappointed as the fireworks lasted perhaps a minute or two at the most.

  6. I love that old place. My parents started going in 1972, and I as a child trotted along. In the early 80’s, I worked there as a Bar-Back. It was a wonderful experience, and I cherish the memories!

  7. I lived for two decades in CC but never was able to visit them when open. It seems to have so much potential. When I’m done with my travels I’d like to retire back there… maybe a retirement community would be a good use! I do have to wonder if they owners are using it as some sort of tax write-off or something. Remember that they also own(ed?) Glen Eagles and Cubix….

  8. I was a iron worker when the Ormsby was going up
    I worked on the grand staircase and the awning out front
    I remember Pau would come by every day or so
    It was not unusual for him to stop and ask the guys how it was going
    He was outgoing and very nice
    Like me I guess we will both fade away
    Sorry to se it go
    Leon

    • I remember going there with my Dad, the grand wood work in the Casino, great food and drink to be had by all at there great restaurants, I was 27 at the time , now pushing 69 and have spent many trips to Carson and Reno driving by hopefully seeing some life be pumped into the grand place , hope before my time ends I can have a cocktail and enjoy a great meal also maybe win a jackpot or two

  9. Worked in the buffet as a bus boy, it was my second job as a working teen. I remember it being so busy every weekend I would work. I also remember working in the special events that were held there constantly. It seemed be the highlight of Carson City events and the place locals enjoyed visiting. I’ve found it sad to see such a historical part of Carson City just sit abandoned and somewhat forgotten about. Maybe, this structure is destined to meet the same fate another historical site, the old train station, met years ago. I hope this is not the outcome for the Ormsby House.

  10. I remember going up there with my exhusbands and having a good old time eating prime rib in that nice restaurant, doing a little gambling and drinking Champagne! We even had a visit from a friendly ghost checking in on us!

  11. I was just a young boy when the ground breaking took place to build the Ormsby House. The Dairy Queen was across Carson City to the east. When the OH opened, she was truly a grand and awesome hotel. I would love to see her brought back to her old glory.

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