Savage and Son, Inc.
Built in 1940 to serve as the new headquarters for the plumbing company founded in 1893

The Savage Building at 628 South Virginia Street was constructed in 1940, but the history of the business that the Savage family operated there goes back much further, and continues today. Frank Charles Savage partnered with B.J. Genesy to open a plumbing, tinning, and gas fitting business in Reno in 1893. In 1900, Savage established his own plumbing business downtown, and in the 1920s, his son Leonard Charles joined him under the name Savage & Son. Frank C. Savage died in 1935, but not before constructing the Savage Building at 400 East 4th Street (known today as the Morris Hotel) in 1931.
Savage & Son, Inc. operated out of 214 Sierra Street through the 1930s, until it became clear that they needed more space. Leonard Charles Savage had the building at 628 S. Virginia Street constructed in 1940 for $15,000. The new structure was originally designed to house four separate businesses, and in August of 1940, Savage & Son moved into the southernmost storefront. Within a few months, the other three were filled by the Nevada X-Ray Clinic, R.W. Conant photography, and Jacques Morvay linoleum. By the late 1950s, the building was reconfigured with just two storefronts, which were occupied for years by Savage & Son and an industrial supplier called Styris-Sutton Co.
The company kept its headquarters here for more than 50 years before moving to a larger facility on Yori Avenue in 1992. The Savage family continues to own the building on South Virginia Street as their business builds on its legacy as the oldest contracting firm in Northern Nevada.
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