The historic Rawlins Building in Las Vegas is currently being restored and renovated by local residents Tom and Tina Clayton. The building has been in Tom’s family since 1949, and was built in 1898 by William W. Rawlins, an English saloon keeper – whose name is still displayed on the front of the building.
Based on 1860 England census records, William W. Rawlins was born in St. Pancras, Middlesex, England in November 1846. In 1867, at the age of 21, he immigrated to the United States – just after the U.S. Civil War. His parents were William W. and Emma Rawlins (born circa 1810 and 1814).
Based on accounts in the local paper, Rawlins was a saloon keeper in Las Vegas in the 1890s — running the Antlers saloon on the southwest corner of 6th Street and Douglas Avenue. He married his wife Josephine in 1899. Based on information supplied from U.S. Census records, Josephine was from Louisiana and they had a daughter Pearl Mary Rhodes. In 1902, four years after construction of the building, William Rawlins died in Philadelphia. His wife died several years later in 1913. Both are buried in a non-descript grave site in the Masonic Cemetery in West Las Vegas.
The Rawlins building has a Mesker metal façade on the second floor which is a unique feature in New Mexico. The building was used as a boarding facility and served as living quarters for the Harvey Girls who worked at the Castañeda Hotel. In 1949, Eisabel and Matilde Peña purchased the building and operated the Peña Rooming House — it has been in the Clayton family since then and was last occupied in the late 1970s. The building is on both the National Register of Historic Places and State Historic Properties List.
The Rawlins Building is located in the Historic Railroad District of Las Vegas, directly across the street from the Castañeda Hotel that was built the same year. The Castañeda was purchased by Alan Affeldt and his partners and is undergoing a large-scale renovation. Affeldt also owns another Harvey Hotel — La Posada in Winslow, Arizona. In recent years, there has been an increased interest in the Harvey Hotels and the Harvey Girls that provided quality food service for the travelers throughout the Southwest in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The Claytons hope that with the renovation of the Castañeda, as well as the Rawlins Building, the area will highlight Las Vegas and draw visitors interested in Railroad History and celebrate the wonderful architecture of the district.
The current space offers incredible potential, the overall square footage of the building is approximately 7600. The first floor has two large commercial spaces with 13’ high ceilings. The building can accommodate various uses – office, retail, gallery, bakery, coffee shop, café, etc. The second floor was used as a rooming house with fourteen (14) separate sleeping rooms which are being converted into five apartments. Of particular note on the second floor is a common area with a large skylight that provides natural light to the building.
Tom Clayton was kind enough to host MainStreet at the Rawlins Building recently and commented on the history of the place and what it means to his family, he also noted what it means to take on such a large-scale project. He said he wasn’t sure if he would have taken it on had he known how much investment it would really take, but now he is so glad to be a part of improving a space tied to his family’s history. He is excited about the changes happening at the Castañeda and the opportunity to tie the Rawlins rehabilitation into the revitalization of Railroad Avenue and support the success of the district as a whole. He can’t help thinking that when the project is complete, Mr. Rawlins might approve.