Council approves demolition of old Truckee brothel

Monday, July 10, 2000 | 10:45 a.m.

Council members last week voted to allow owners David Taylor and David Giacomini to demolish "Dot's Place" after determining it was not historically significant.

The downtown building began as a family's house sometime after the turn of the century, but became used for prostitution in the 1920s and 1930s. Some old-timers say it may have served that function up to the 1960s.

The old house on Jibboom Street has since been split into three apartments and fallen into a state of disrepair. The owners want to demolish it to make way for an office building.

But the Truckee Donner Historical Society says the building is a link to the town's colorful past that should be preserved.

"It's not as old as some of the other houses in Truckee, but it's a huge disappointment because we don't have that many historic resources in Truckee," said Chelsea Walterscheid, past president of the society.

"We have core downtown Truckee and that's it. We don't have blocks and blocks of homes like in Nevada City. Little by little we're plucking out the few homes we have and it's sad."

But Giacomini said the old house has been significantly altered over the years, and has no historical or architectural value.

He said the property is not an ideal location for housing and he wants to upgrade it by building offices for his company there. He's president of Sierra Mountain Mortgage.

Attesting to the old house's lack of historic value is the fact it failed to make two lists of historic Truckee buildings compiled over the last 20 years, Giacomini added.

But Mary Dutra, president of the historic society, said the author of the latest list admitted he made a mistake by not including the house.

Town Planner Duane Hall said a preliminary survey found the building was not eligible to become a national registered historical site.

It was not associated with significant historical events or figures, and it lacks important architectural features, he said.