The St. Charles-Muller’s Hotel

Constructed in 1862, one of the first hotels in Carson City was also one of the state’s most elegant and became the main stage stop in Carson City. It consists of two utilitarian buildings, a two-story one on the south and a three-story one on the north, each with Italianate details. The St. Charles-Muller’s Hotel is one of the oldest remaining commercial buildings in Carson City, and the second oldest hotel in the state. The northern portion of the building, the St. Charles Hotel, was started on April Fool’s Day 1862.

The St. Charles, named after well-reputed hotels back East, was billed by its builders as a first-class hotel, “the pleasantest resort in Carson and where everything kept by the bar is the best quality.” The builders also realized the potential profits from operating a hotel oriented to members of the second Territorial Session of the Nevada legislature, and arranged for the stage coaches to stop at the St. Charles first upon arrival in Carson City. Construction of the southern section began in May 1862 for Muller’s Hotel, which was consequently marketed toward working-class clientele. Because the operators of Muller’s Hotel were French, a baker and his wife (a skilled cook who ran the restaurant), a large core of French Canadian woodcutters who were in the region to cut wood for the mines in Virginia City, lodged there. The two buildings were rehabilitated in 1992 and operated together as the St. Charles Hotel until recently.