Mountain View Methodist Episcopal Church (301 North Montana)

301 North Montana
Built: 1899
Architect: Link and Donovan
Map 

Rev. Hugh Duncan, a circuit-riding minister, led Butte's first Methodist Episcopal services in 1873. A dance hall, and later a school, served the early congregation. W.A. Clark was president of the original board of trustees for the previous church built on this prominent corner in 1883. Clark later became identified with St. John’s Episcopal Church.

As Butte grew, that wood structure soon became overcrowded. Rev. W. W. Van Orsdel ("Brother Van”) helped lay the cornerstone for this grand church July 22, 1899. William L. Donovan and John G. Link were the architects of the $25,000 building. Link rose to prominence and later helped design the wings of Montana's state capitol.

The church, completed in 1900, features a regal central tower with two arched entries. Magnificent stained glass richly embellishes the triple-arched windows on the south, north, and east. The sanctuary's semicircular arrangement and slanted floor, reminiscent of period opera houses, hosted some memorable community events. Famous speakers included social reformer Jacob Riis in 1906 and saloon-smasher Carrie Nation in 1910. Among Butte's eight Methodist churches, Mountain View was the "mine owners' church." Mountain View has hosted multiple choirs over the years, utilizing one of the most spectacular organs in the Pacific Northwest, installed in 1949 at a cost of $12,000.

The stained glass here was very likely manufactured by the Butte Art Glass Works, although the windows are not signed. Their textured surfaces, created by “rough rolling,” are typical of the Butte factory, and were intended to give depth and increased scattering of light. Two more recent windows were made by J&R Lamb Studios of New York.

Resources: Modified from historic plaque by Montana Historical Society; Historic Stained Glass in Selected Houses of Worship, Butte, Montana, published by Butte Citizens for Preservation and Revitalization, 2006, Mountain View Methodist Church, by Richard Gibson; Architectural inventory; Sanborn Maps; city directories. Photo by Richard I. Gibson.

Mother Lode Theater (315 W. Park)

By Richard I. Gibson

Architects: Link and Haire
Built: 1923
Map
Web Site

The Mother Lode Theater and the Finlen Hotel represent the only large buildings surviving in Butte from the last construction boom in the early 1920s. With the end of World War I, demand for copper declined precipitously, leading to a declining population and ongoing economic woes that discouraged major building projects in Butte. All of Butte's mines were closed for months in the early 1920s.  This Beaux-Arts structure has four colossal engaged columns with Ionic capitals, lions' heads, decorative iron work, and multi-colored terra cotta highlighting its monumental façade. Art Deco interior features include the proscenium arch, whose openings are covered with fabric. The floor above the main theater contains a large ballroom presently used for set design and storage. Upper floors included offices and wardrobe facilities.

The theater was built as the Temple Theater annex by the Masons, whose temple dating to 1901 is attached to the Mother Lode on the east and Masonic symbols decorate the facade of the Mother Lode. The economic and population decline led the Masons to lease their 1200-seat auditorium as a movie theater (the Fox) beginning in the 1930s. By the 1950s and 60s, it was known as the Bow, followed by a reincarnation as the Fox. About 1983 the Masons donated the structure to Butte-Silver Bow City-County, which immediately leased it to the Butte Center for the Performing Arts, a non-profit group that has managed the site since then. The organization raised more than $3,000,000 for a restoration project completed in 1996, including a new roof, electrical and plumbing refurbishments, a new stage floor, upholstery, furnace, and marquee. In 1997 a lower-level children’s theater seating 106 was added.

The Mother Lode Theater is home to the Community Concert Association, the Butte Symphony, Montana Repertory Theatre, Missoula Children's Theatre, Western States Opera Company, San Diego Ballet Company, and the Montana Chorale. It is the only survivor of at least seven grand theaters from Butte’s heyday that hosted performers including Sarah Bernhardt, Enrico Caruso, Rudolph Valentino, Charlie Chaplin, and Mark Twain.

Photo by Richard Gibson.

8 West Park (Metals Bank Building)

Built: 1906
Architect: Cass Gilbert
Map

The strength of Butte’s early financial community is well represented in this monumental steel, brick, and stone skyscraper completed in 1906. Copper king F. Augustus Heinze financed the $325,000 bank building, incorporating the newest steel-frame and curtain-wall construction techniques. Nationally renowned architect Cass Gilbert (1859-1934) drew the blueprints and Montana architects Link and Haire supervised the local work. Gilbert’s best known work is New York City’s sixty-story Woolworth Building (1913) and the U.S. Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C. (1932-1935).

One of Montana’s first skyscrapers, the Metals’ eight floors add significantly to Butte’s urban skyline. A copper-trimmed entry complements the gray stone. Above, brick walls and stone arches culminate at the sixth floor. Ornate wrought iron balconies punctuate the second and seventh floors. The cornice and exterior window casements are copper, largely with a black patina today. An open wrought-iron staircase carries this element inside, where copper-trimmed windows with African mahogany frames and a marble-walled elevator lobby reflect 1906 Butte’s wealth. A huge polished steel bank vault recalls the building’s first use.

Upper floors were renovated in the late 2000s to produce elegant loft apartments and condominiums. 

Modified from historic plaque by Montana Historical Society. 1979 photo from HABS/HAER survey, by Jet Lowe, via Library of Congress (public domain). Photo of copper-lined door by Richard Gibson.

Silver Bow County Courthouse

By Richard I. Gibson

155 West Granite Street
Architect: Link and Haire
Built: 1910-12
Map

This is the second Silver Bow county courthouse to occupy the corner of Granite and Montana Streets. Built in the Beaux-Arts style and faced in part with 70-million-year-old sandstone from Columbus, Montana, the building cost about $385,000 – nearly as much as the state capitol in Helena.

In the rotunda

Basic construction is steel frame. Interior columns contain ducts designed to allow fresh air flow into the building. Rotunda door frames are granite, painted to resemble wood—one of many details that addressed Butte’s persistent fire hazard. Pink railings surrounding the rotunda on upper floors are cast iron with scagliola plaster coatings— colored and polished plaster designed to resemble marble. Genuine marble is found in the main interior steps, rest rooms, and decorative elements throughout the building, as well as in the pendentives supporting the rotunda dome.

Two years after its opening, the courthouse served as barracks and headquarters for the militia that came to control Butte under three months of martial law in the wake of the dynamiting of the Miners Union Hall on North Main Street in June 1914. In September 1914, a Gatling gun was set up on the courthouse steps and a 5,000-candlepower searchlight was placed on the courthouse roof. The steps have seen visitors such as Eamon de Valera in 1919 and Franklin Roosevelt in 1932.

Since 1977 when the city of Butte and county of Silver Bow merged, this building has been the sole seat of government for the city-county. Prior to 1977, the City Hall served the city and this building served the county.

In 2012 the courthouse celebrated its centennial with a grand ball and other festivities.

Photos by Richard Gibson.

Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church

Caledonia at Western Street
Built: 1939-41
Architect: John Link
Map

The Immaculate Conception (I.C.) parish was established in 1906, but the parish school was built first, and the school’s basement served as the church for more than 30 years. Monsignor Joseph Willging, second pastor, spearheaded the fundraising—during the Depression—that led to construction of the church at a cost of $200,000. It was dedicated August 31, 1941.

Stained glass in the I.C. church is unique in Butte. Much of it is in the Norman slab glass style, created by blowing molten glass into a rectangular, bread-loaf shaped mold. The cooled glass is spilt into five pieces, each of which has a much thicker center than edges, making for beautiful color tone variations.

The cross in the eastern window contains a different style of stained glass. Originally, clear glass bricks comprised the cross, but the morning light blinded the priest facing that direction, so the original glass was replaced in a style called dalle-de-verre (French meaning “paving stone of glass”). Angular glass pieces are faceted and set into a stone-like matrix of concrete or epoxy.

In addition to windows with religious themes, the I.C. church stained glass commemorates organizations such as the Catholic Youth Organization and Boy Scouts. Montana history is found as well, with stained glass designs for the Great Seal of the State of Montana and the first mission church in Montana, St. Mary Mission built in 1841 in present-day Stevensville. The first Native American proposed for canonization, Kateri Tekakwitha, is also honored in the Montana Window.

The I.C. church spire is a prominent landmark just below Big Butte, and visible from most parts of the area.

Resource: I.C. Church, by Irene Scheidecker, in Historic Stained Glass in selected houses of worship, Butte, Montana, published by Butte Citizens for Preservation and Revitalization, 2006.

Photos by Richard Gibson.