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The Sparks Heritage Museum Is An Important Architectural

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The Sparks Heritage Museum is an important architectural facet of the Sparks area. The building was built in 1931, by Rousch & Belz Contractors, and designed by Frederic J. DeLongchamps to serve as the Sparks branch of the Washoe County Library. The building served as the first public library in area and is located at 814 Victorian Ave, Sparks, NV (all PDF). The building was placed on the Nation Register of Historic Places in 1984 (Website) and displays influences from the Mediterranean Revival style of architecture, being one of two buildings in Sparks (the other being the Immaculate Conception Church) created in that style (PDF).
The setting for the Sparks Heritage Museum and Cultural Center is in what was the downtown commercial area of …show more content…

The windows on the front and sides of the building differ from those in back. The similarities among all of the windows is that they feature glass panes separated by muntins, have sills, and are without lintels. The windows on the front side of the building have a hinged lower section, feature twelve panes of glass, and the windows have security bars on the basement floor. The windows on the back are slim, with fourteen panes of glass each. Characteristics that the building share with the Mediterranean revival style are its semicircular arched entry, red tiled roof, wrought iron balustrades on its twinned, L-shaped staircases that lead to the first floor, and small paned windows.(PDF) The building features a central, gabled pavilion and the roman arching that frames the double-door main entrance features a protruding keystone, and is flanked on both sides by original light fixtures(PDF). Above the front entrance to the first floor of the building is a half-circle window with five panes of clear glass framed in wood. Two unique stones can be found on the building; one on the northeast corner noting the building as the “Sparks Branch Washoe County Library”, and the other on the southeastern corner baring the image of a Freemason square and compass.
While much of the building’s exterior is original, there are some changes that have occurred both inside and outside of over time. The door for the front entrance

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