Appeal seeks to block demolition of historic hotel

Brendan Riley

Thursday, Dec. 23, 1999 | 9:51 a.m.

CARSON CITY, Nev. - As wreckers ready Reno's historic Mapes Hotel for demolition, national and local preservation groups are asking the Nevada Supreme Court for an emergency stay order.

"The Mapes is going down, absent a stay," attorney Jeffrey Dickerson said in a high court petition filed Wednesday on behalf of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and local save-the-Mapes advocates.

Dickerson said workers already are tearing into the 52-year-old hotel-casino, causing "irreversible structural destruction" as they prepare for an implosion scheduled Jan. 30, Super Bowl Sunday.

The lawyer added there's a reasonable probability the preservation groups can prevail on appeal. He cited Nevada open meeting law violations by city officials who met in private to discuss plans to blow up the downtown Reno landmark.

The Supreme Court petition was filed after Washoe District Judge James Hardesty rejected a lawsuit filed by the preservationists and lifted an earlier order blocking significant demolition work.

Hardesty agreed Tuesday with part of the lawsuit accusing the Reno City Council of open meeting law violations - but said the violations were "clearly and completely cured" by a Sept. 13 public vote in favor of demolition.

"If the district court's decision stands, then public bodies will be able to violate the law by excluding the public and wash away the taint with a later public meeting," Dickerson said.

The trust has never before lost a fight to save a structure on its list of the top 11 most endangered buildings in the country. The Mapes is was added to that list two years ago.

Built on the banks of the Truckee River in 1947, the 12-story, art deco building was the first in the nation constructed specifically to house a hotel, casino, restaurant and live entertainment under one roof.

During the Mapes' heyday in the 1950s and 1960s, entertainers such as Mae West, the Marx Brothers, Sammy Davis Jr. and Tony Bennett headlined in its famous Sky Room with top-floor views of the Sierra Nevada.

The Mapes has been vacant since 1982. Since then, three plans to refurbish the building have fallen through. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

"The loss of this distinguished local and national landmark would represent an unnecessary shame and tragedy for the city of Reno and our country," said trust president Richard Moe.