Nev. distillery, winery now a national historic place
By Mike Higdon, Reno Gazette-Journal
The Douglass-Frey Ranch, home of Churchill Vineyards and Frey Ranch Estate Distillery in Fallon, was added to the National Register of Historic Places last month. The National Register is the nation’s official list of properties worthy of preservation.
The Douglass Mansion, the centerpiece of the ranch, was designed by Nevada-architect Frederick DeLongchamps. DeLongchamps is also well-known for designing Reno’s original Main U.S. Post Office, now a retail center, and Second Judicial District Court house in downtown Reno. DeLongchamps designed more than 40 other buildings in the region, most of which are listed in the National Historic Register of Places.
DeLongchamps designed the mansion in the Prairie style, a style of architecture popularized in the American Midwest in the early 1900s by Frank Lloyd Wright. Prairie-style homes are extremely rare in Nevada, according to the historic register, and the Douglass Mansion stands as the only known project of that style completed by DeLongchamps.
