The Railroad Cottage Historic District is an area originally comprising eight historic cottages along Casino Center Boulevard in

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ...

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

. The eight cottages had once been part of a development of 64 homes constructed by the

San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad The Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad was a rail company in California, Nevada, and Utah in the United States, that completed and operated a railway line between its namesake cities (Salt Lake City, Utah and Los Angeles, California), via Las V ...

to provide housing for their employees. Although a handful of cottages still existed at the time, only eight neighboring cottages were included in the district when it was created in 1987. Beginning in 2005, all but one of the eight cottages in the district were demolished or moved to clear land for the failed Club Renaissance condominium tower.

Las Vegas' railroad cottages

A total of 64

cottage A cottage, during Feudalism in England, England's feudal period, was the holding by a cottager (known as a cotter or ''bordar'') of a small house with enough garden to feed a family and in return for the cottage, the cottager had to provide ...

s were constructed by the railroad from 1900 to 1912 in three different styles. The three bedroom model offered and the two bedroom house contained 768 sq ft. This historic significance of the homes was first identified in a 1978 survey called Historic Preservation Inventory & Planning Guidelines City of Las Vegas, by Charles Hall Page & Associates. 28 homes identified as "Railroad employee cottages" were included in the survey. Most of Las Vegas' railroad cottages have been demolished, although a few have been preserved. In 2002, the cottage at 521 Third Street was moved to the Clark County Museum, where it was restored and opened to the public in 2013. The cottage at 604 South Fourth Street was moved to the Springs Preserve in 2005, where it was later restored as part of the preserve's Boomtown 1905 exhibit. (Neither of these two cottages were part of the historic district.) The former residence at 626 S Casino Center is the last remaining home of the Railroad Cottage Historic District. There are three other former railroad cottages on the same block at 608, 612, and 616 S 3rd, which were not included in the 1987 Railroad Cottage Historic District listing.

The district's eight cottages

The district was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

on December 22, 1987. As most of the district was to be replaced by Club Renaissance, it was decided to save some of the cottages. Three of the homes were moved to a temporary location in the Springs Preserve in 2005 and/or 2006. In 2013, the cottages were moved to a permanent location within the preserve and restoration work began. The three restored cottages were included in the preserve's Boomtown 1905 exhibit that opened February 4, 2017.

References

{{Registered Historic Places History of Las Vegas Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Nevada National Register of Historic Places in Las Vegas Railway buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Nevada Railway buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places Architecture in Las Vegas American Craftsman architecture in Nevada Bungalow architecture in Nevada Houses in Clark County, Nevada Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Nevada