National Register Listing

St. Charles-Muller's Hotel

a.k.a. Pony Express Hotel

302-304-310 S. Carson St., Carson City (Independent City), NV

The St. Charles-Muller's Hotel, built in 1862, is significant on several levels. It was the first permanent hostelry in Carson City, built at a time when the city was in its infancy and important government monuments such as the Capitol building had not been conceived. As two admirable vernacular Italianate structures when constructed, it is the only commercial brick structure from that era remaining in the city. It is additionally significant as the only continuously operating hotel in the State of Nevada, having served the public from 1862 to the present day. It has certainly contributed to the broad pattern of our history.

Muller's Hotel, the southern section of the Pony Express Hotel, begun May 1862, was built by Albert J. Muller upon the site where he and George W. Remington had formerly operated a bakery business. It was finished in August 1862.

St. Charles Hotel, the northern section of the Pony Express Hotel, begun April Fool's Day 1862 by George W. Remington and Daniel Plitt, with local brick-maker, T.T. Israel, as its contractor, was completed in August 1862. Remington's brothers were involved in the teaming business and in a carpenter's shop which had formerly been located on the site of the St. Charles.

There had been another hotel called the St. Charles in Carson City during the year of 1860, although located at another site and short-lived. It was during this time period that George Remington and Albert Muller, both young men in their twenties, and later joined by Daniel Plitt, were operating a bakery business near the corner of Carson and Third Streets. When it was determined that Carson City was destined to become a thriving town and the capital of the Nevada Territory, these young men realized it was the proper time to build a substantial brick hotel. They all liked the Name "St. Charles" for a hotel since many of the finest eastern hotels were so named. The name "St. Charles" had been well-known by these men as a city situated on the Missouri River, founded by the French in 1769, and capital of the Northwest Territory and Missouri State Capital from 1820 to 1826.

It was decided that the men would build two hotels, side-by-side, pretentiously located across the street from the "Playa", where one day they knew the Nevada State Capital building would be constructed. Whether by the flip of a silver dollar, or by mutual agreement, it was Remington who gained title to the name of St. Charles. Barely finished, the St. Charles' owners leased the "bar room and reading room" on August 9, 1862, to Charles B. Slicer for $150 a month rent, reserving a small space therein for an office.

The anxious Slicer placed this ad in the September 13, 1862 issue of the Silver Age: "St. Charles Saloon - Charley Slicer, proprietor. My friends will here after find me at the corner of Carson and Third Streets in the new brick building recently Alterations to the St. Charles include the removal of a one-story porch which occupied the same level as the Muller's porch. Lower porch columns appear to have been stylized doric, while the upper balustrade consisted of numerous turned balusters supported by elaborate turned posts. A wide, plain frieze once appeared below a projecting boxed cornice supported by paired brackets with pendants. The date of the removal of these features is unknown. Also altered are the sills of the second floor windows, raised at some point after the removal of the porch.
Both structures were stuccoed around 1930, the remnants of which are visible at the frieze level of the St. Charles, and on the north elevation. This surface was removed by sandblasting and appears to have affected the structure in varying degrees. The softer brick on the rear and south elevations appears to have suffered the most. Preliminary certification for Tax Act purposes has been issued for the rehabilitation of this structure. A re-stuccoing requirement has been tentatively suggested for the rehabilitation project by the National Park Service.
The Pony Express Hotel, with its 14,000 square feet, has five inch wide pine floors throughout its present sixteen hotel rooms, seven apartments, central stairwells, twenty-four toilet rooms, lobby, saloon, restaurant, and retail shop. The brick walls are twenty-two inches thick.

It will be rehabilitated, with its significant historical architectural features duplicated, including the porches.

Local significance of the building:
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1982.