A family room has been built around a large tree in the backyard at 603 W. Robinson.
After two years of remodeling work ranging from structural repairs to the foundation to extensive cosmetic work inside, the historic home on Robinson Street less than two blocks from the Governor’s Mansion is up for sale.
Owner Jim Warren said the home was once the residence of John E. Jones, Nevada’s eighth governor.
The house at 603 Robinson Street, with its elaborate stick and ball decorations and multi-colored features, is a familiar site to many Carson residents.
“It always amazes me how much interest this house generates,” said Warren.
He said although people have guessed its age anywhere from 1865 to after the turn of the century, he’s sticking with the 1865 date.
After all, Jones bought the place in 1888, he said.
Jones served as governor in 1895-1896 before he died in office leaving Lt. Gov. Reinhold Sadler to finish out his term.
The home on Robinson Street is one of several on Carson City’s west side that can claim to be the governor’s mansion. The actual governor’s mansion on Mountain Street wasn’t completed and ready for occupancy until 1909, so every house that was home to the governors before Denver Dickerson is considered a governor’s mansion.
Warren bought the two-bedroom, two bath house just more than two years ago and has been working on it ever since.
“I saw this thing for sale and just kind of fell in love with it,” he said. “But it was a challenge.”
He said he took this project in essence because he was bored after retiring.
He said the first issue was the huge mounds of trash everywhere inside the home and in the yard. He said neighbors had made a number of complaints and had, without success, ordered the former owners to clean the mess up.
Warren said it took four 20-cubic yard Dumpsters to haul all the stuff away.
“At the time I bought it, I didn’t realize there was a car underneath the pile in the back,” he said.
He uncovered an old Volkswagen and hauled it to the curb.
“Two days later, it was gone,” he said. “I don’t know who took it.”
He also had to fix ceiling wall and floor damage from a leaky roof, rebuild part of the brick foundation and completely rebuild a bump-out in the kitchen. But he said he did as much as possible to keep the historical integrity of the house.
He said with the home all but completely remodeled, he’s putting it up for sale. The asking price is $479,000 for the 2,200 square foot home.
“At the time I thought I might live in it,” he said. “I like the area; like the house. But I put so much money in it, I have to sell it to get out of debt.”
In addition to the house itself, there’s a garage and small apartment in a separate structure in back and the small, elevated gazebo structure at the east side of the lot.
“I call it a playhouse,” he said.
The structure is a combination of white and lavender with dark accents, a combination some people have told Warren they don’t like.
“That’s the color it is and that’s the color it’s going to stay,” he said.
For Warren it was a labor of love but it’s far from his first such project. He said he has been in construction for decades and restored upward of 25 homes and other buildings in Virginia City where he lives.
One bedroom is on the main floor but the second is upstairs, reached by way of a narrow stairway at the back of the living room.
One of the different features of the home is the family room added on much more recently than the original house with an inset in one wall to accommodate a huge tree in the back yard. The room literally wraps around three sides of the tree.
The open house for potential buyers and area residents who have been curious about the house for years is set for Saturday, September 17 at 10 a.m.