03 Nov Old Washoe Club
Click on the doorway to enter. Once inside, click the hotspots to make your way up to the Millionaire’s Club.
The Washoe Club dates to the early 1860s. It was a high class “two-bit bar,” where a glass of whiskey or a cigar cost twenty-five cents. As one of the finer saloons, the Washoe Club’s furnishings, including the bar and tin ceiling, were among the most elegant on the Comstock. Upstairs was the Millionaire’s Club, reached by a gravity-defying spiral staircase. There the new barons of the silver mines enjoyed the finer things in life, legal or otherwise. Note the bullet holes on the wall. Today the now dark and decrepit upstairs areas are occasionally rented out to ghost-hunting aficionados.
Loading...
The building dates to about 1862. Originally its first floor was occupied by the Crystal Bar and the upstairs was presumably for apartments. After the 1875 fire, the Washoe or “Millionaire’s” Club took over the top two stories. In the 1920s, the Crystal Bar (together with its famed chandeliers) moved north one block. At that point, the owner of the building moved the name of the Washoe Club down to the saloon on the first floor – and purchased new chandeliers. (Virginia City: Secrets of a Western Past)
No Comments