Eric and Julie Peters were honored with the 2023 Historic Preservation Award by the Winnemucca City Council, presented by Mayor rich Stone (right) at the Council’s meeting on May 23.
Julia Maestrejuan
A local family was recently recognized for their quiet work of preserving Winnemucca history.
Unbeknownst to Julie and Eric Peters, they had been nominated by some in the community for the 2023 Winnemucca Historic Preservation Award for their restoration efforts of the Reinhart House, or better known today as The Columns, located on Second Street.
“I thought it was really exciting and sweet [to be nominated]. It’s neat to see that people are enjoying the project that we’re doing as much as we are,” said Julie Peters.
Eric Peters added that it was also “pleasantly surprising” to be nominated. For the past few years, the Winnemucca Historic Resources Commission has sought to honor special businesses, individuals, or groups for their efforts to preserve history in Winnemucca during May for Historic Preservation Month, and “Mr. and Mrs. Peters have not only restored this beautiful home, they have also made it available for events, thus increasing the access to this local treasure,” according to the Commission.
The Humboldt Museum has records dating back to the early 1900s of construction beginning on The Columns, which was quite the event in Winnemucca. Original owners, Simon and Leontine Reinhart had their “mansion” completed while honeymooning in Europe, with their home referred to as “a modern brick residence…which will be an ornament to that part of town.”
The Peters purchased their home just about two years ago and began a full renovation, as the house had sat unoccupied for 40 years and was in need of new electrical, plumbing and fixtures, but Julie’s love of antiques made furnishing the inside especially fun.
“I love antiques, I love taking things and recycling them for a different purpose—taking something that has such amazing architecture and detail— and then just putting a little interesting flair on it, I guess it’s just our style,” she explained.
The project has been a continuous effort of the Peters, with Eric being very hands-on with many aspects of the construction process and finding the right contractors to complete other parts.
“It’s a beautiful home and my interest is in being able to restore something yourself, you know, through the work of my hands and building it up and then sharing it with the community. I got into construction years ago, based on the idea that whatever you build is gonna be around for a long time. So that aspect of things always fascinated me— working with stuff that somebody else built but keeping it moving forward,” explained Eric.
The community has played a big part in the restoration of The Columns, according to Julie, not only making multiple nominations for the Peters for the Award, which was how the winner was decided, but also by contributing antique pieces and such to the property.
“It would be amazing if any of the community had any old photos of events or parties. We have heard that the Sitzers [some of the original owners] used to host a lot of parties here and we would love to have pictures of past events or get-togethers that have happened on the property,” she explained.
Along with the Peters, there were other nominees for the Award that also need mention, including the work of Debra Bezanson and Jeff Griffin on the 1938 Tudor home located at 454 Reinhart Lane, known as the Hughes/Eddy Home, and the EVC chapter, Samuel L. Clemens1856 Humboldt Redshirts for their efforts to plaque historic sites in Winnemucca, bringing awareness to Winnemucca’s history.
“Historic preservation programs and projects elevate communities by fostering tangible physical connections to the past, which in turn can help unite people, encourage a sense of place, and stimulate an appreciation and education around local history,” said Humboldt Museum Director Dana Toth in a letter about the Historic Preservation Award.
Photos taken around 1982 depict the Reinhart House, or The Columns, located on Second Street, in all its glory.
The Reinhart House, built in 1909, is on the local historic registry and retains much of its integrity and charm from the early 1900s.