has been provided by the Department of Cultural Affairs, Nevada State Historic Preservation Office, through a Department of Interior grant.

Major funding was provided by Wells Fargo Home Mortgage.

Wells Fargo is proud to be part of the northern Nevada community for over 150 years.

Wells Fargo, The Next Stage.

Additional funding has been granted by the City of Reno Arts and Culture Commission.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Hello.

I'm Marla Carr.

Welcome to House With a History.

On a side street in Carson City, Nevada there's an attractive but unassuming dwelling.

It sits on a large lot in a park-like setting.

It's not a pretentious house.

The architectural style is ill defined, but it has obviously been well maintained, lovingly restored.

Historians call it the Sadler House.

Home of Governor Reinhold Sadler.

It was here, in this modest home, where questions were weighed and decisions made.

Where social gatherings glittered by gaslight and cronyism doubtless flourished.

For from 1898 to 1902, this house was the Governor's Mansion.

♪♪ ♪♪ Madelena, how nice to meet you.

Very nice to see you.

Oh this is a great house, so much detail.

Yeah, it's great isn't it?

Yes, let's go inside.

All right.

♪♪ In the 19th century in Nevada there was no one governor's mansion.

The governors lived in their private homes and state affairs would happen of a social nature in those private residences.

And, so this would, would be the home of Governor Sadler, and, um state occasions would be held here.. ♪♪ Today one of the most welcoming features of the residence is its property.

The house is placed well back from the street.

♪♪ A sage colored wrought iron fence with elaborate gates gives entry to yard.

The journey up the brick sidewalk allows one to take in the setting.

In the summer the walk would be surrounded by roses, in the fall the trees turn shades of gold and red, and the winter snows make the scene starkly beautiful.

When the house was built in 1877 it would have been on the edge of Carson City.

The original owners, Professor Phillip and Edith Krall, chose a site where there were few neighbors and an unfettered view of the Sierra Nevada.

But through time, people have encroached on its solitude to create a cozy and inviting neighborhood.

I think the character of the building is really elaborated by the, the siting, the landscaping, the approaches, and, and how the building is set on the piece of land.

And, the building, as such, the building really didn't have to be very, uh, very elaborate.

It, they'd already made their statement once you'd made it halfway up the front lawn.

♪♪ The Krall's built an unpretentious house.

Through the years a variety of owners have added their own touches to the exterior.

The porch is not the original.

That was removed in a 1940s renovation that also added a second bay window.

But it was restored in the late 1970s using over scaled balusters that were salvaged from the State Capitol during that building's restoration.

Originally the porch wrapped around the front portion of the house and continued to the north side for access to a kitchen door.

The kitchen has been removed and an uncovered patio remains in its place.

The renovated porch is wide with plenty of room for chairs and conversation.

♪♪ It's a really remarkable place to just sit in the evenings during the spring, summer and fall, um, and kind of watch the world go by.

It has a, has an interesting feeling of, of kind of, we've had people say they liken it to New England or the, or the Mid-West where people actually sit on their front porch in the evenings and chat and kind of watch the world go by, if you will.

And, with the trees in the, uh, in the front yard, it, there's a sense of privacy and yet kind of a window to the world when you sit there.

And, it's a, it's a really restful and enjoyable place for us to take friends and chat.

♪♪ My initial impression about the house is that it.it clearly shows its age in that it's been loved and refreshed and renewed and remodeled by a number of owners.

Um, but somehow it originally had, had a pretty good pedigree.

It was, it was elegantly placed on a wonderful piece of land.

Uh, and even though it was not built by or for Governor Sadler, uh.

It's evident why he purchased it because it's a, it's a house with some integrity.

♪♪ Some of that renewal occurred when in the 1970s restoration.

Looking at original photographs of the house, there is no indication of the dentals or projecting cornices which give the home a Greek Revival and Italianate feel.

Regardless of when they were added, these details have taken a vernacular house and given it a bit of style.

♪♪ The porch is just really lovely.

It was kind of cold out there.

It is chilly.

This is just such a beautiful entryway.

Thank you.

The entry to the home is distinguished by an elaborate staircase, beautifully carved and tucked gracefully into the curve of the wall.

The newel post reflects the occasional elegance found in a house that is otherwise simple.

♪♪ This entry is placed in a manner typical of a 19th Century house.

One can go to the right or left, or take the stairs to the second floor.

But there is no easy access to the rest of the home.

♪♪ There's no place to go from the entryway.

You can come left to the parlor or you can right into the, the living room and make your way into the back of the house through the dining room.

Um, but it's a, it's a bit of a compromise in this building that, that the entryway doesn't actually serve as a central hallway.

So this was the parlor at the time of the settlers.

We choose to move to the left and enter what had been a room of state at the turn of the century.

When the Kralls lived here it was probably the formal parlor, but Governor Sadler transformed the space into a working area.

The elegant lines of the room are still evident.

The bay window is surrounded by an unusual molding.

The carved Italian marble fireplace is the only one on this floor.

Though "modest" does describe the house, it doesn't necessarily describe the details.

Again and again we see appointments that are rich in design.

This is not unusual in an era when the railroad gave access to products that were made on the East Coast.

Architectural details could be ordered through catalogs or local carpenters were capable of turning out fairly ornate work.

Many of the houses in, in this era were actually pattern houses.

They were, they were fairly stock.

These were the tract homes of the time.

But, because this is in this particular area, I think it was probably a little more elegant, and the original builder spent a little extra money on the fireplaces, the, uh, the wonderful newel post and the decorated stair going upstairs.

Uh, so it has some inherent elegance to it even though it was a, a typically small, modest house at the time.

So this is the living room.

We move back through the entryway into the formal living room that is adjoined by the formal dining room.

No pocket doors were built into this house, but the wide openings between these rooms have been enhanced by decorative moldings.

The ceilings on the main floor are ten feet, making the compact space seem larger than it is.

♪♪ We get an interior view of the bay window in the living room that was added in the renovation.

♪♪ Decorative medallions on the ceilings anchor the lighting.

These are wood, and care was taken during the later restoration to return them to the original look.

Each medallion is a unique carving - with the parlor and living room being the most elaborate designs.

♪♪ The dining room is graced with an impressive Waterford Crystal chandelier that Madelena bought in Ireland.

The room is not large - but spacious enough to handle a Sadler's family of seven, or a small dinner party for political allies.

♪♪ Madelena has decorated these rooms - in fact, the entire house -- using an eclectic mix of antiques and artwork.

Kimonos, an antique asian chest, 19th century buffet table and chairs that graced her grandparents dining room, a modern three-dimensional art piece, a 17th century French armoire, a entury French bed that was dismantled and turned into a sideboard and table.

Ethnic art and antiques infuse the house with Madelena's personal style.

♪♪ Off the living room is another bedroom.

High, beamed ceilings and an abundance of windows make it a light, welcoming space.

One can speculate that it may have been used as an office by Governor Sadler or his predecessor, Professor Krall.

It's this first floor area of the historic house that most intrigues the Farrow family.

Well, we love this portion of the house, the older portion of the house.

Um, and we view it as somewhat of a, of a museum in a way.

I mean, every time I walk through here, uh, you know, it catches my eye and it's kind of, gives you pause to think about, you know, the years that have gone by, the people who have lived here, uh, what has gone on in the house, the speculation about what it was like and what the activity level was when the governor was here.

So, the old house, the old part of the house, if you will, uh, provides, um, kind of a warm sense of continuity.

Here we have some um, things that were found upstairs when they did all the remodeling.

Madalena has kept the fragile mementos that survived in the walls of the house.

Some photos, small items that were found during a renovation by previous owners.

Bits of history that lay forgotten in the nooks and crannies.

And another kid's toy that I found up in the attic.

A little chicken.

And there we have some small-added items here.

Playing cards.

What's this?

Keno, Chinese Keno.

I can see some writing actually besides the printed portion.

And here it seems like they were practicing calligraphy or something with the kids.

Yeah they have 'Mrs.

Southworth Carson' in very nice handwriting and then underneath, in not so nice handwriting, it's as though someone was trying to mimic what they see here.

It is amazing that most of the stuff in the wall was children's so you kind of have the feeling that they may have hidden things in the walls.

Sadler purchased the residence in 1896, bringing his wife, Louisa, and his five children to the state capitol when he was elected Lieutenant Governor.

Um, from what we've heard, um, he was very much a man of the time and, therefore, he lived, uh, a fairly raucous existence and, uh, and was a good politician, and drank with the boys at the bars.

♪♪ Sadler lived most of his life in Nevada, and was 48 years old when he moved to Carson.

But he was, like so many of the men who settled and prospered in the west, an immigrant.

Sadler was born in 1848 in Poland.

And, it was very near the Prussian border.

And, as Sadler grow, grew up, uh, Prussian militarism was starting to become stronger and stronger.

And, many families feared their sons having to join the Prussian military as Prussia took over their territory.

Luckily for Sadler in 1863 when he was fifteen, a letter came to the family from San Francisco, um, from a, from an uncle who said that there was room for Sadler in one of his stores in California if Sadler would come to America.

So, Sadler and his younger brother both moved from this area in Poland, uh, to San Francisco.

♪♪ His stay in San Francisco was brief.

Sadler found that city life didn't reconcile with his ambitions.

Nevada held the chance to strike it rich, to find gold, silver, and prosperity.

So his Uncle Albert sent him to Virginia City and then on to Hamilton to make his fortune.

Years later, he ended up as a highly successful and influential merchant in Eureka.

♪♪ To be a merchant in Nevada, to run a general store was a very good proposition.

If you did it well then you would be one of the most prosperous people in that community.

And, from what we can tell, Governor Sadler ran his stores well.

And, I think he was a very prosperous person in Nevada.

As Sadler followed the boom and bust migration of Nevada miners, he became interested in the politics of the state.

A popular local figure, he ran for one office after another.

Most often, he lost.

As a democrat in a republican state, it's amazing that he lost by so few votes.

But lose he did.

It was in 1894 that his fortunes finally turned.

He was finally successful, uh, when he ran for lieutenant governor because now the party, the Democratic Party had fused with the Silver Party in Nevada.

And, the Silver Party became the preeminent party, um, in Nevada.

The Republicans stayed, um, as their own party.

The Democrats sort of disappeared and so you had a, a two-party system throughout the 1890's in Nevada.

But, it was the Silver Party versus the Republican Party.

Um Sadler was a very strong Silverite, was a leader in the National Silver Movement and so he ran lieutenant governor as the Silver candidate and he was successful in 1894.

Shortly after Sadler was elected Lt.

Governor, the death of his running mate, John Edward Jones, thrust him into the position of Governor.

In 1898, he managed to get re-elected.

But not without issue.

The election was extremely close and when the votes were counted, it was 22 votes was the whole difference statewide.

And, Sadler was reelected.

MacMillan challenged this.

Challenged for a recount since, since the vote was so close.

And, the court vote went to the Supreme Court, the Nevada Supreme Court, who then looked at all of the ballots, uh, that came through.

And, the Supreme Court had more Democrats on it than Republicans, or Silverites than Republicans, and so there was some tinge of politicism involved in this, uh, in this court case.

The Supreme Court ended up throwing out lots of ballots saying they were mis-marked, marked in the wrong place, so almost like the hanging chad of 2000 when it came down to ballots.

Twenty-two votes out of an estimated 12,000 cast.

This time the slim margin of victory was in Sadler's favor.

The issues at this time were diverse.

Miners were fleeing the state, putting scores of farmers and merchants out of business.

Since the main revenue stream in Nevada was through property taxes and the net proceeds of mines, the state was financially strapped.

So, as Sadler, um was governor during this depressed period, but right at the end of his time as governor was the big "Second Bonanza' where the big gold strikes were made in both Goldfield and Tonopah.

And, so as he left, hm, the governor's chair in 1903 Nevada was on its way to a major boom.

Most likely, the affairs of state government were conducted on the main floor of the house, while the children were relegated to the second floor.

Moving up the curved staircase, the boxy, staid, Victorian elements of the house give way to a ♪♪ The hallway displays a curve similar to the staircase.

The ceilings on this floor are considerably lower - probably a practical consideration when one bears in mind the difficulty with heating.

♪♪ Um, upstairs we have two bedrooms.

And, a, uh, a wonderfully, uh, frivolous again, out of the same, the same character that created that curved hallway, uh, there's a bathroom upstairs with a wonderful claws foot cast iron tub.

We have closets under the eaves.

And, we're told that the closets under the eaves actually provided a secret passage for the children to, uh, make their way down into the kitchen space, the original kitchen space.

Once again, whoever built the house had fun with it.

And, and you love to find a building like this that, that has that sort of character and mystery to it.

♪♪ It is speculated that the smaller of the two bedrooms was the master bedroom.

It contained the only fireplace and was across the hall from the spacious bathroom.

The room's ceiling is an unusual arched almost rounded shape, as are those of the second bedroom and bathroom.

♪♪ The claw foot tub, painted a vivid red by a previous owner, is thought to be original to the house.

It's been suggested that this cast iron beauty was too massive to move, and thus found its permanent home on a pedestal in the middle of the bathroom.

At some point plumbing was added to alleviate the necessity of toting buckets of hot water up the front staircase.

♪♪ When Roy and Madalena updated the kitchen, they found the secret passage the children's stairway.

It was accessed through a closet off the bathroom under the eaves of the house.

In those days there was no Governor's Mansion as there, as exits today.

So, whoever was the elected governor, that home became the Governor's, um, Mansion.

Um, and so, children don't always behave perfectly, so the solution was since they were upstairs, they couldn't come down the, the main staircase, uh, when there were meetings going on, so the compromise was that they had a stair that dropped, a stairway that drped out of the ceiling into the kitchen.

So, the kids would go from their bedroom, through the bathroom, through a little passageway to this stairway that would then drop out of the ceiling and then they could go have their breakfast and then depart the house from a side, side exit.

Your kitchen is so warm.

All the colors have changed.

It's a very Mediterranean looking.

Before we leave the house, we take a quick look at the rather unusual addition that has become the Farrow's pmary living quarters.

In the 1970s a former owner moved the property's stable or carriage house and added it to the existing structure.

The prior owner actually had a, uh, apparently it was quite a wild place.

He had a very large bar, uh, from one of the old saloons in town that he'd installed.

And, uh, he was also, uh, apparently a movie producer, so they actually had a, a screening room in there.

And, all that obviously is nice, but not really conducive, as you say, to raising a family.

♪♪ The stables have become the perfect family room.

The stairs lead to Roy and Madelena's bedroom.

They view this part of the house as their space, and the older portion as their children's.

♪♪ Since the original kitchen was removed decades ago, the area has been retooled by several owners.

Madelena is now in the process of updating it to reflect her Portuguese roots.

The tile, the colors, the furnishings, the small, decorative ornaments -- all weave a Mediterranean magic.

♪♪ Governor Sadler died in 1906.

Though he was laid to rest in Eureka, his family continued to own the house until 1948.

This was the last private residence to be used as a Governor's Mansion in Carson City.

The next Governor, John Sparks decided to live in Reno and commuted to the capitol by the Virginia & Truckee Railroad.

It was certainly controversial at the time, maybe by others, maybe not so controversial, but certainly the constitution said that the seat of government shall be Carson City.

And, so when the governor doing state business, of course his office was here in Carson City, his office in the State Capitol, but his home was in the Governor's Mansion.

So, there was some thought that he should've been living in Carson City, um, as well as working in Carson City.

It was after Sparks' term that money was found to build a Governor's Mansion.

The present-day structure was completed in 1909, and today's Governor resides on the same street, only a few blocks away.

With regard to Reinhold Sadler's 22-vote victory- the Supreme Court case that decided his fate had another interesting twist.

The election was held during the Spanish American War.

In his bid to overturn Sadler's win, his opponent, argued that the votes of soldiers serving overseas should have been counted.

At that time, there was no provision in Nevada Statute that allowed "persons residing outside the state to cast votes."

The soldiers had voted aboard ship -- on their way from San Francisco to the Philippines to do battle.

By the time the Supreme Court had finished its partisan re-count, Sadler had widened his margin of victory to 63 votes.

If you'd like to know more about the Sadler House, or any of the houses in our series, go to our web-site knpb.org.

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

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Principal production funding for House with a History has been provided by the Department of Cultural Affairs, Nevada State Historic Preservation Office, through a Department of Interior grant.

Major funding was provided by Wells Fargo Home Mortgage.

Wells Fargo is proud to be part of the northern Nevada community for over 150 years.

Wells Fargo, The Next Stage.

Additional funding has been granted by the City of Reno Arts and Culture Commission.