This little wedding chapel inside an old house was at 1218 S. Carson St, between Carls Jr and Arby’s. I like the subtle storybook elements around the front door and the windows. The Carson City Assessor says the house was moved here in 1968; it doesn’t say from where. It wasn’t a wedding chapel for very long. By the 1970s it was a real estate office, and stripped of its more charming elements. And then in the 2000s it was a series of car dealerships.
And now it is no more. This little house is the most recent demolition in Carson City. It was torn down just a couple of weeks ago, on Thursday February 26th. I didn’t know the demolition was coming; I only knew when I saw the Facebook post from the demolition company. In hindsight it wasn’t surprising. The building had been empty for quite some time. The last auto dealer vacated around 4-5 years ago. It’s owned by the same real estate company that owns the land under the Carls Jr next door, so maybe they have plans to develop something new here between Carls and Arby’s. Or it’s just cheaper to maintain an empty lot then a vacant building. Whatever the reason, it’s gone now.
Here are the last photos taken of the building, taken by Armac Construction during demolition.
In that last photo you can see the colorful mural on the side of the building. We didn’t just lose a building, we lost two of our new murals. These murals were painted during the 2024 Carson City Mural Festival. I wonder if the owners knew they were planning on demolition when they gave permission for the murals to be painted? I guess this is the danger of putting murals on vacant buildings.
Artist: Jaimie & Zoe Daniels
Artist: Misstencil
This photo from 1978 shows the Hunger Hut restaurant, sitting in what today is the Carls Jr parking lot. On the right side of the photo you can see the wedding chapel. By this time it had been remodeled, and it was housing J.D. Smith Realty.
1978
This aerial photo is from 1969, and you can see the wedding chapel there on the left.
More photos of the empty lot.
Let’s take a trip through time using Google Street View, and look at the last 15 years of the building and different tenants that it held during that time.
Scott, great update! Yes, losing those nice newer murals is really a shame.. The motel across from Circus Circus Reno also had a fabulous tall three-story mural, painted on bricks, believe that was the Mardi Gras Motel, it was knocked down maybe 5 years ago?years ago. I am pretty certain the Carson City visitors bureau was also in that same Carson City building, about 1980 to 1983? I distinctly recall going in there, it seemed like 1980 to 81, to get local travel brochures. Sometimes, I would drive by there, and think about how I had gone in there long ago, to get those tourist brochures. Thanks again for all of your updates around Carson City…
My understanding sometimes property owners of abandoned buildings that they don’t feel are worth using for a new business while tear the building down to save on taxes. That could be the case with removing this structure from their tax bill?
smh, my typo. I meant will tear down the building to save on taxes.