These photos show another chapter in the ongoing story of downtown Carson City. At the start of the 20th century, the downtown core was a lot smaller, and there were many more houses on the fringes. But downtown has been growing ever since, and many houses have ended up being the victims of that growth. Last week we looked at the Nevada State Legislature Building, which when it was built in the late 60s took up six whole city blocks. Six blocks that had to be cleared off for construction to happen, removing many small businesses and houses. A couple of decades later it happened again right across the street. These two houses were at the corner of Fifth and Plaza Streets, with a front window view of the Legislature. They watched their neighbors across the street be torn down. They watched an office building be built right next door, the Sedway Building that can be seen in the background. And then, finally, in 1990 it was their time.

The State of Nevada bought this whole block in 1990, anticipating needing the space for future growth. Future is the operative word, since all they did with the land right away was put in a parking lot. That parking lot survived for 35 years until they finally got around to doing something with it. In 2025 they tore up the parking lot and started construction on a new office building for the Legislative Counsel Bureau. The block behind this one is going to be the home to a new parking garage for all the employees of this new building.

We’ll take a closer look at the construction site in another post, but first I wanted to take the time to focus on these two little houses that survived for decades before finally falling victim to downtown expansion.