Thursday, Nov. 12, 1998 | 4:21 a.m.
In fact, they can say they have been in the oldest still-standing building that once was a Nevada brothel, according to Guy Rocha, state archivist.
Other houses of ill fame in Nevada have since been torn down and replaced with new structures, he said.
A 1907 fire insurance map of Carson City shows female boarding on the northwest corner of Fourth Street and Ormsby Boulevard - which is now Curry Street - and on the northeast corner of West Third Street and South Nevada Street.
Those buildings and others have since been razed.
"There's nothing like it of its kind," Rocha said. "I know of no other of its kind that old and still standing."
Noreen Humphreys, a local history buff, said the house is classic architecture typical of Carson City.
"It is worthy of recording," she said.
Linda White, who now rents the house for her business Gift Baskets Etc., said the hardwood floor that greets visitors is the original. It isn't in the best shape, but White said she was sold on the location because of the historical value.
"I want the scars on it and I want it to look authentic," she said.
Customers who don't know the house's history get a kick out of hearing it was once a house of prostitution, she said.
Other visitors tell White stories about the days the fancy ladies lived there.
"One guy used to delivery groceries here in the '30s," she said. "Everyone says the girls were really nice."
There's also stories of beer being brought out the back door of Jack's Bar and brought over, she said.
However, the house was not built for the ladies of the night - that was not until later.
Instead, it was a residence for at least two businessmen and eventually the Olcovich brothers. Hyman Olcovich's house still stands today at Spear and Curry streets.
The Hyman Olcovich House is said to be the focal point of Carson City's early Jewish community - believed to be one of the earliest enclaves in the state's history.
Tracking the Fourth Street house through fire maps and directories, it appears Marraton Upton, a trader and an early pioneer from Massachusetts, first purchased the lot where the house sits on Oct. 5, 1863.
The first indication there was a structure on the property came in May 1865, when taxes were paid.
The building changed hands when Upton sold out to his partner George F. Crowell.
Crowell lived in the house until he sold his business and moved to Placerville, Calif. Joseph Olcovich purchased it May 10, 1870.
It appears one of the five Olcovich brothers was in Carson City as early as 1863.
The family reportedly left the province of Posen in Prussia for greater opportunity. Because of their Jewish religions, they were not allowed to own land, Rocha said.
The Olcoviches lived in the house - which became part of the Red Light District that was identified in 1875 - until 1878 or 1879.
A place known as The Palace operated across the street from the Olcoviches' house.
The boundaries of the Red Light District were between Fifth Street and Third Street - although brothels were not on Fifth Street - and South Nevada Street and half a block west of South Carson Street.
The city made money off the properties because they had to be licensed.
It's hard to say when the house became a business place for prostitutes.
In June 1907, it appears on a fire insurance map as female boarding, a euphemism for a house of prostitution.
Joseph Olcovich left to San Francisco and his family was no longer in Carson City, but records show he still owned the house Oct. 13, 1905, before he sold it to Rodolf and Guiseppe Giandeini.
Giandeini sold it to developer William B. Harbin in 1906. Harbin sold to C.H. Peters, a real estate businessman, in March 1907.
Peters, a prominent man in the city, owned the house but did not run any prostitution operation there, Rocha said.
Finally, Peters sold it back to Helen C. Harbin, widow of William, in 1908.
The house probably stopped serving as a house of prostitution when the federal government shut brothels down in 1942. It wasn't until 1980 that the city passed an anti-prostitution ordinance.
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