Major funding for this program was provided by the Nevada Department of Cultural Affairs State Historic Preservation Office.

Additional funding was provided by Nevada Humanities and the Nevada Arts Council.

MUSIC >>Alicia Barber: There is a bungalow on the corner of an established street in Carson City.

It sits quietly, as it has done since 1913.

At that time it was built by a young man soon to be married to his childhood sweetheart.

A young man who was campaigning to be district attorney of Ormsby County, John Chartz.

Like his father, Alfred, John would become a pillar of this small community.

His family would grow up and grow old within the walls of the Chartz house.

MUSIC The Chartz house sits on a tree lined street among its contemporaries as well as homes from the previous century.

There is a mixture of architectural styles, here in the historic district of Carson City.

Stately homes built by those who struck it rich in the Comstock era - as well as more modest dwellings that were built after the boom went bust.

Though this cottage masquerades as a Classical Revival with Tuscan columns adorning the porch, it is, in fact, a solid example of the Arts and Crafts style.

>>Sandra Marshall: The house has a wonderful front porch.

And, the porch is a part of the ethos of the Arts and Crafts, um, theory.

Part of the theory was that you want to integrate the inside and the outside so all Arts and Crafts period houses, mostly, had, um, large porches that essentially served as, um, additional rooms where you'd have, uh, furniture and tables, chairs, conversation setups, and, uh, in this way it's typical.

And, the way it's not typical is that it's adorned with these, uh, Classical Revival Tuscan columns which are very beautiful.

They, uh, were not necessarily unusual to be seen on this period house, um, because people often would, and still do, mix periods in their details.

So, although we have a, a classic Arts and Crafts bungalow here, we have, uh, American-beloved Classical Revival features on the outside.

The exterior of the house is arresting, in part because of owner Joyce Harrington's decision to add a brick staircase and unusual wrought iron railings.

The railings are based on a design from the 1800s.

A local artisan handcrafted them for the home.

In addition, when it came to painting the exterior, deep, rich colors were chosen.

The house is vivid and intense.

True to the style, pastels were avoided.

Dark, strong green and Tuscan red dominate.

>>Sandra Marshall: It's a marvelous choice of colors, especially on the exterior because people often balk at having true period colors because they seem a little dark to our taste these days and so they're often watered down.

These are not at all.

The home has been refurbished by the present owner.

She has done her homework well.

Though the Arts and Crafts style is hinted at in the exterior design, it hits you full force once you enter the home.

>>Sandra Marshall: The door is pure Arts and Crafts, um, it's geometric, it's wide, it's naturally-finished wood, um, again, reflecting the, the interest in making, bringing the indoors out and the outdoors in.

The colors which work so well on the exterior have migrated indoors to adorn the walls.

>>Sandra Marshall: Um, this large arch between the entry way and the living room, and then the connection between the living room and the dining room, uh, exhibits the flow that Arts and Crafts period was interested in in the public rooms.

Um, also the big windows, everything continues, inside, outside, one room into another.

The private rooms, the bedrooms would, of course, be closed off.

But, the public rooms, uh, you often could see from one to the other or, if there were doors, there'd be, uh, French, uh, glass French doors where you could, you know, see long vistas through your house.

MUSIC The Arts and Crafts movement began essentially in England in the 1880's.

It was a reaction against the overblown, over-decorated Victorian era.

>>Sandra Marshall: The idea was that arts and crafts were important, that the, um, frilly decorations of the Victorian period were mostly a product of the Industrial Revolution where these things could be easily mass produced and, for the most part, were relatively cheap in the worst sense of the word.

And, this was a revolt against that.

It showed honest craftsmanship, um, the, the joinery in the doors, in the woodwork, in the furniture, was visible.

It could, you should be able to see how the carpenter put the work, wood together.

The woodwork was usually left natural.

It wasn't painted.

It wasn't tried to make smooth like the earlier periods where everything were, was supposed to be a nice smooth, even surface.

It was basically honesty.

If it was a, a plaster wall it should look like plaster.

If it was a wood lintel it should be wood.

And, it was a pretty radical idea at the time.

John Chartz not only chose to build his home in this new and "radical" style, but he was very much a part of the process.

>>Marcy Chartz-Smith : Well, my father was very interested in building and could do almost anything with his hands, as is evidenced by some parts of the house which he did singlehandedly, and had designed things and had them milled and they came and put them in.

And, so I'm sure, I just can't imagine he did not have a strong influence on this house.

Uh, the only thing I remember them always saying was that this house was built with 'day labor', which even in those days was a major accomplishment.

"Those days."

Carson City at the turn of the century.

What was it like?

>>Robert A. Nylen: Nevada and Carson City, from 1900, had experienced a boom, a growth because of mining throughout the state.

Prior to that there had been a depressed period and Carson City's population had dropped down to 2,100, making it the smallest state capital and actually, uh, went under, uh, Bismark, North, uh, Dakota at that point.

So, by 1910, a little closer to our time period of the house being constructed, we see, uh, Carson growing a little bit, uh, it was up to about 2,500 or a little bit less than that.

So, we see that Carson still reflected some of its historic traditions going back on origins.

We still had the V&T Railroad that played a part with, uh, the famous, uh, Virginia and Truckee Railroad, with the railroad shops and their offices here.

We had, even though the, uh, Mint had stopped operating, we still had it as an assay office, and that presently is the Nevada State Museum.

This house, built in 1914, is modest compared to those that were constructed during Carson City's prime.

Yet, there are details in abundance.

The large windows represented a belief that man should meld with nature, letting the outside in.

>>Sandra Marshall: These are single-hung windows.

The upper, uh, light is fixed, it doesn't move, but the lower light moves up and down, it can be opened.

And, the window treatment, very simple curtains, the exposed wood, the exposed curtain rods was, again, popular at the time.

It was the reaction against the, the overdone treatments of the Victorian windows with layers and layers of curtains and lace.

Built-ins are typical of the arts and crafts period.

>>Sandra Marshall: Often there'd be, uh, like in this case, it's a built-in china cabinet and buffet with a, a pass through from the kitchen where hot dishes could be put out directly from the kitchen to the dining room.

And, the leaded glass is, is very common.

Again, it's another expression of, of the artisan.

It took a real person to, to set the small lights in the lead and the unfinished wood, again, is typical.

Marcy mentioned that in one of the several renovations of the home, wooden columns with narrow bookcases separated the dining room and living room.

Though beautiful additions, her father later decided to further open up the rooms by removing them.

The light in the dining room as well as the one hanging in the entry way are original to the house.

They're unusual and beautiful examples of the style.

The built-in buffet is a "pass through" into the kitchen.

Joyce has added tile, but kept the feel of the space as authentic as she could.

Because this house is now an inn the kitchen isn't required to be fully functional, though there is a dishwasher.

When built, the house was one story.

In addition to the kitchen, dining room and living room, it had two bedrooms and a bath, as well as a breakfast room, all of which can be entered off the back hallway.

Owner Joyce Harrington reveres history.

When she took up the carpets laid during the 1936 renovation, she discovered two things.

First, there were fir floors underneath and second, newspapers had been used as carpet padding.

Both were in excellent condition.

The floors were refinished and protected with a scattering of area rugs.

>>Sandra Marshall: Hardwood floors were pretty typical.

Again, it was reflecting the, the naturalism and more, more often than not, it was a hardwood floor with, um, scatter rugs or carpets often Native American Navajo carpets or, uh, Persian carpets because they were all, even though they were from different cultures they all fit into the Arts and Crafts feeling.

They were real items made by real people.

Rather than toss the newspapers into the trash, Joyce had them framed.

They now line the hallway that houses the staircase to the second floor.

The papers are from 1935 - The San Francisco Chronicle.

Two are from the sports section - One showing a dynamic sketch of Jesse Owens, another a photo of Max Baer in training.

The others are copies of "Vignettes of Life" - a humorous and colorful look at the travails of life.

One page is a black and white sketch of contemporary fashion.

MUSIC In the hallway we also find a sign that Joyce rescued.

It advertised the furniture store which John's brother operated for a time in Carson City, Durst and Chartz.

John's brother never returned from the war and the sign had been relegated to the basement.

This hallway leads to the main floor bedrooms.

The master bedroom is at the front of the house and the second bedroom is at the back.

The floors that were hidden by the carpet show individual wood design.

Joyce has added a bath to each bedroom so that her guests will have all the conveniences of home.

Remarkably she accomplished this with little disruption to the original floor plan.

Though the house, as it stands, is an excellent example of Arts and Crafts, it has been remodeled through the years, and some of the elements which were typical of the style have been updated.

Marcy recalls how her father added to the home as the family grew.

>>Marcy Chartz-Smith: The original house was one-story with the dormer and the, the flooring in for part of the second-story.

By the time there were three of us children there were only two bedrooms in the house, at that point, why, he decided to finish the dormer that was in in that upstairs room.

So, he put in the stairway.

In 1930, my father decided to do a major reconstruction of this living and dining room area and bring them into one room.

He moved some windows around and took out all the buttresses that divided the hall from the living room and living from the dining room.

And, there was a window seat there and took that, as a prelude to the fact that in this major reconstruction he put in the second dormer and the room in the, the west bedroom upstairs, which ended up being my room then.

So, what kind of man settled the west?

Built the cities, founded the banks, ran for public office?

What kind of man stayed, instead of leaving when the strike played out?

John Chartz was a lawyer, a firefighter, a father, a son.

He came from a family of influence, if not extreme wealth.

The Chartz family was one of the early Comstock dynasty's that helped to shape the region.

Alfred, John's father, was born in Montreal, Quebec in 1851.

He came to Virginia City in its early days, signing on as an editor of the Territorial Enterprise, the highly touted newspaper that boasted a number of great writers, including Mark Twain.

Alfred is part of the western history that is so often confused with its myth.

>>Robert A. Nylen: Alfred Chartz has a fascinating life and career and, his, it's kind of interesting that he was involved in an incident out in Eureka.

Before he got into the law he was, uh, very much active in newspaper writing and he had written some things that the, the, uh, local conductor didn't care for in the paper and, uh, it appeared there was gonna be some type of a fight and, uh, Alfred Chartz misunderstood the situation and, as the story goes, is he thought that the, the gentleman who was making these comments or, uh, directing them towards him was gonna pull a gun and when he heard a noise that sounded like a pistol was being drawn, he drew his pistol and killed the man and ended up actually going to the, the state prison.

And, then eventually he was paroled and that's when he got involved in the law and became a very prominent and important legal figure in his own right and then later, his son, who was born up in Virginia City in 1889, of course, was a very prominent lawyer, served for 24 years as district attorney of Ormsby County.

And, so the family had a long, long tradition associated with law, but it was interesting with this, this incident that could've destroyed a man's life, and became kind of a pillar and a very prominent lawyer in our state's history.

Alfred moved to Carson City in the early 1890s.

He fathered six children, lived within a few blocks of his son, and even now is fondly remembered by his granddaughter, Marcy.

>>Marcy Chartz-Smith: He was born in 1851 and he was very active his whole life.

His first job was delivering, uh, the Oakland Tribune that announced Abraham Lincoln's death in Oakland.

He had been, he was court shorthand reporter, the first in Nevada, became an attorney, passed the Bar, no formal education, and had practiced law for many, many years, I don't really know how many, in Carson City.

Uh, he, his mind was keen to the very end and, so we shared lots of his pleasures.

And, he was a very generous and loving person.

Born in Virginia City in 1889, John Chartz was reared and lived his life in Carson City.

He, like his father, pursued a career in law.

He graduated from Hastings Law School in San Francisco and returned to Virginia City to marry his high school sweetheart and begin his practice.

The law firm of "Chartz and Chartz" never really got off the ground.

At the beginning of his career, John ran for District Attorney of what was then Ormsby County.

He was elected and continued to serve for 24 years.

His office was in the Court House and he practiced law from there.

John was an active member of the Carson City community - pitching in as one tends to do in small towns.

He was Chief of the Carson volunteer fire department Engine Company No.

1 for twenty years.

>>Marcy Chartz-Smith: One of my memories is that in the front bedroom there was a chair and my father's boots and his pants, fire pants, were always in the boots with the suspenders there so he could hop out of bed and get into these things and the jacket was on the back.

And, he would go off to the fire regardless of when it was.

And, there were some big fires because the, the theater burned down and the house across the street burned down twice during his tenure.

And, uh, there were, it was, uh, spontaneous.

Of course, Carson was very, very small.

When I graduated from high school there were 3,000 people in Carson.

So, it was very small and the fire department was a key part of the activities.

After John's death, his widow and his son, Jimmy continued to live in the house.

When Joyce Harrington purchased it, the bungalow seemed to have been caught in a time warp, and to an extent that's true.

John Chartz had three children.

There was a gap of several years between the birth of each.

Marcy was the youngest.

Jimmy the most in need.

For whatever reason, Jim needed to be cared for his entire life.

>>Marcy Chartz-Smith: We always had care for Jim, even when, before Mother died.

My mother aged.

She was 90 when she died and she had, and was only in a rest home for about eight months.

And, so she lived here and we had live-in care for both of them for quite a few years.

And then, when Mother went to a rest home, then we had care for Jim.

And, we always had care for Jim.

He became very self, much more self-sufficient after Mother died.

I'm sure that the family, as a whole, tended to hold Jim down.

I mean, Jim was our, our responsibility and so we were very careful that he didn't do things we didn't think he ought to do.

Well, when that gray lifted a bit, why he became, I think, much more independent and the Catholic Church, the priests at that church and the nuns just were wonderful to him.

And, he had that activity and many people enhanced his life significantly.

So the house was willed to the Catholic church, with the understanding that Jimmy could live his life within its walls.

And he did so.

But little changed.

The furniture, the carpet, the draperies were from his youth.

He cared for the house, not abusing it.

The house presently has five bedrooms and five baths.

The number of baths was increased when the house was converted to an inn by the present owner.

However, there was almost no intrusion into the original layout of the home.

On the second floor this was accomplished by adding a dormer like those original to the house.

In addition to the first floor bedrooms, three were added to the second story.

The rooms are spacious.

The dormers add an interesting configuration, and the angled ceilings a certain charm.

>>Sandra Marshall: The, the front bedroom particularly is tucked in under the eaves of the, the dormers in the, the roof, and, which makes kind of a charming room.

Plus, under the, the eaves on either side of the, um, windows are two small built-in closets with little built-in doors and, again, would've been very typical and very handy and, um, very sweet, really.

All three of the upper bedrooms have "windowed" doors.

>>Sandra Marshall: It wasn't unusual at that time to have indoor windows on private spaces, uh, in the doors.

In this case, the privacy's maintained because the, the fifteen light windows have a, a pebbled finish so light can come and go, but you can't see in or out particularly.

The doorknobs are, uh, glass crystals.

Not real crystals, but they're glass and they were very, very popular at the time.

And, they're very beautiful.

One is struck by the size of the space.

Were the bedrooms made spacious due to the limited public space in the house?

>>Sandra Marshall: Rooms were larger often in the, in nicely, you know, middle-class and upper middle-class houses than they had been in the Victorian period.

Uh, they were considered more of a, a multiple purpose room rather than, um, being small spaces made especially for certain activities like in the Victorian period.

MUSIC This house brimmed with life, with love.

It housed a family that cherished it and each other.

>>Marcy Chartz-Smith: This house, well my memories of it are really overwhelming.

The, this house was a very warm house.

One of my, um, best memories is the many, many holiday dinners we had in the dining room, and we had this wonderful, uh, oak table that had five leaves and was 54 inches in diameter, so it would seat, it would fill the whole room.

And my mother was always the one who had the parties, so every holiday, Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, almost, even Mother's Day, I'm sure.

We always had these big, festive holiday parties.

And my mother would use this beautiful, uh, Rosenthal china to put, mold cranberry sauce in and serve.

And, I've never used those dishes, they're too precious.

But, we always had cranberry sauce in them.

It was just a, a family home that was welcoming.

>>Alicia Barber: When Jimmy was on his own, after his mother died, the neighborhood, perhaps the entire town, seemed to look after him.

He would wander the area, speaking with everyone, and most everyone acknowledged him.

The Governor's Mansion was just down the block, and it wasn't unheard of for him to walk in, sit down, and have a cup of coffee.

And he was always welcome.

If you'd like to know more about the Chartz house, or any of the houses in our series, go to our website, knpb.org.

Until next time, preserve the architecture and enjoy the heritage in your community.

MUSIC Major funding for this program was provided by the Nevada Department of Cultural Affairs State Historic Preservation Office.

Additional funding was provided by Nevada Humanities and the Nevada Arts Council.