Historic downtown house heavily damaged by blaze

Keith Paul

Tuesday, July 25, 2000 | 11:43 a.m.

The historic Whitehead House, which was saved from destruction more than a year ago, was heavily damaged by a fire this morning.

The fire started about 8 a.m. and firefighters needed about 15 minutes to bring the blaze under control, said Tim Szymanski, Las Vegas Fire Department spokesman. The cause of the fire is under investigation, but officials suspect the blaze may have been started by homeless people staying in the house.

Architects and engineers were heading to the house at 10th Street and Carson Avenue this morning to see how the 1928 two-story, Mission Revival style home could be saved.

"This is a major set back," said Louise Helton of the Junior League of Las Vegas, which has been working to save the house and move it to a permanent location. "We don't know if this is the death knell of the house, but it has faced so many perils and survived."

The Whitehead House was nearing destruction to make way for a parking structure on Seventh Street and Mesquite Avenue last year, but was saved by the Junior League and many others in the community. Last year the house was moved -- in three sections -- to a lot on 10th Street and Carson Avenue.

The fire damaged two of the three sections, but fire officials said they don't think the house is a complete loss.

"The fire started on the bottom floor and moved up to the roof of the other piece," Szymanski said. "It was heavily damaged but not destroyed."

Helton said the house was just weeks away from being moved to its permanent location at Ninth Street and Bridger Avenue.

"This house has put up a tremendous fight and as long as we believe we can save it, we will do it," Helton said.

"We were within striking distance from the money to complete the entire project. This certainly didn't help," Helton said. "We already had bought the land and had zoning approval and we were actually talking about renovating the interior."

But Helton said the Whitehead House had come back from the brink of destruction before.

"As long as it's still standing we're not going to give up," she said.

The house's history is rooted in the first industrial boom of the area when Las Vegas was evolving from a small, dusty desert town into a city.

The home was designed and built for the Stephen R. Whitehead family in 1929 at a cost of $15,000. Whitehead was a prominent businessman and the first elected county assessor. A year after his death, the house was sold to the Sisters of the Holy Family in 1942.

It served for 43 years as a convent for the Sisters of the Holy Family and then as office space for an insurance company.

The house was registered with the National Register of Historic Places in 1987 as a historical site.

"It is always sad to see a part of Las Vegas heritage be damaged, particularly when so much effort has been put into trying to save it," said Shirl Naegle of the Nevada State Museum and Historical Society.

In February, the state Cultural Affairs Commission provided about $102,000 to the Junior League of Las Vegas to preserve the house and move it to a new site.

"We hope the community comes together to help save this piece of Las Vegas history," Helton said. "So few people know about Las Vegas history. We want to have this house as a place were people can actually reach out and touch a piece of Las Vegas history. Nevada history needs as many stewards as we can get."