833 W. Quartz (Soroptimist House)

Built: c. 1895
Architect: H.M. Patterson
Map

Butte architect H. M. Patterson designed this brick home for attorney John Colter in the 1890s. Semicircular windows in the gables, stone lintels, a prominent portico supported by Tuscan columns, and an inviting front porch ornament the residence. Henry Muntzer, founder of the Butte Brewery, purchased the property in 1901 for his wife Mary and their eight children. Family members lived here into the 1940s, adding the east-side addition before 1916.

Butte’s Soroptimist Club purchased the residence in 1947 for $5,500. The charitable women’s organization campaigned tirelessly for funds to transform the house into a temporary “receiving home for dependent, neglected, abused, or abandoned children.” With volunteer help from Butte union members, the Soroptimists added four new rooms to the rear of the building, repaired the porches, updated the wiring, installed fire escapes, added a third bathroom, carpeted the floors, and built a playground. In its first ten years of operation, the home cared for over 1,700 children. After the Soroptimists moved in 1970, the residence fell into disrepair. It was rescued by Steve and Janet Hadnagy, who spent years restoring it to a single-family home.

Text from Historic Plaque by Montana Historical Society (Martha Kohl). Photo by Richard I. Gibson (Anselmo mine in right background). For more information about the Soroptimist House, see Motherlode, by Janet L. Finn and Ellen Crain (2005).

42 West Broadway (Independent Order of Good Templars)

Built: 1891
Architect: Henry Patterson
Map  

Both men and women were admitted to this temperance organization, whose Montana Grand Lodge was organized in 1868. Butte Lodge #14 commissioned architect H. M. Patterson to design this appealing three-story building, completed in 1891, where the third floor served as the group’s meeting hall. While Patterson demonstrated exceptional talent in local residential design, his commercial and public commissions were the key to his considerable reputation. This was his first major commercial project. The upper floors reveal Patterson’s creative flair: graceful semi-circular arches, recessed windows with rough-faced stone sills, and fine decorative brickwork. The building’s sometime use as a bar defied the Templar ethic to “…never cease until the last vestige of that fearful vice … is driven from our land.” Today, an antique shop occupies the ground floor.

In 2013, the vaulted sidewalk here was replaced, revealing the early construction method. A wooden framework was built within the vault, and wood planks, about 2”x12” were laid down to create a substrate upon which the concrete sidewalk was poured. When vaulted sidewalks are retained in Butte today, a steel framework forms the base for the concrete.

 Resource: Historical plaque by Montana Historical Society. See also Historic Uptown Butte, by John DeHaas, Jr., privately published, 1977. Photo by Richard I. Gibson.

635 West Granite

Built: 1896
Architect: Henry Patterson
Map 

“For years, it has been almost impossible to accommodate all the people with comfortable houses or apartments,” a Butte newspaper reported in 1901. “The city is growing very fast, and the builders have all they can do to put up enough buildings to accommodate them all.” This block is a case in point: only two residences stood here in 1891, but almost every lot was filled by 1900. Saloon owner Frank Lynch and his wife Fannie were among those to have a home built for them here in the 1890s. Frank worked as a bartender in Butte as early as 1889; by 1896 he and his brother owned their own saloon, and Frank was prosperous enough to hire prominent Butte architect H. M. Patterson to design this one-and-one-half-story, brick-veneered residence.

The charming Queen Anne style home features decorative shingles, multiple bay windows, turned porch supports, and stained glass. The basement contains an outcrop of the granite that underlies all of Butte. In back was a second small house—likely rented to relatives. The project was a small one for Patterson, whose designs include several grand commercial buildings on West Broadway.

Text modified from historic plaque by Montana Historical Society. Photo by Richard Gibson.

Mantle Block

Mantle Block at left.

14-20 West Broadway
Built: 1892
Architect: Henry Patterson
Map
Present Use: Piccadilly Museum of Transportation

Prominent politician Lee Mantle had this impressive four-story masonry building constructed during 1892, the year he was elected mayor of Butte. Architect H. M. Patterson designed the commercial-residential structure, which incorporates a wealth of decorative architectural forms popular at the time. The curved corner turret and the mixing of stone and brick on the façade reflect Patterson’s distinctive eclectic style. Griffins and scrolls on the capitals between the third and fourth floors enhance the lively treatment of the façade. Remodeling in 1916 to accommodate the building’s long-time occupant, the Liberty Theater, somewhat altered the original storefronts, but fragments of decorative plaster within recall this former use.

Text from historic plaque by Montana Historical Society. Photo by Richard Gibson.

123-125 North Main Street

123 North Main Street
Built: pre-1884
Architect: Henry Patterson (1895 modification)
Map

Cast-iron pilasters, a metal cornice, interior hardwood paneling and a pressed metal ceiling are reminders of the varied remodelings of this early commercial building, constructed before 1884. The saloon and billiard parlor that occupied the first floor here in the 1880s and early 1890s was the uptown outlet for the Centennial Brewing Company, largest in Butte. The brewery was located along Silver Bow Creek, west of where Montana Street crosses it today.

In 1895, architect H. M. Patterson remodeled the building for $5,000, adding a cast-iron storefront. By 1910, Clerke’s Clothing Store occupied both this building and the one next door. Store president Samuel Clerke installed the metal cornice joining the two buildings. During the 1930s at this address Butte’s immensely popular Spokane Cafe served a sizable clientele. The building’s most significant use, however, occurred in 1905. During that year the Woman’s Protective Union (W.P.U.), predecessor of today’s Hotel and Restaurant Employees International Union and the nation’s first union for women, met upstairs. This pivotal organization was founded in Butte in 1893 so that women would not “…be behind their brothers in demanding their rights.”

125 North Main Street
Built: pre-1884
Architect: Henry Patterson (1895 modification)

Like its immediate neighbors, this is one of Butte’s earliest substantial buildings. Dating before 1884, it documents various periods of use through a distinct sequence of visible alterations. The ground floor commercial space was originally occupied by a jeweler and a tailor. Furnished rooms were available at the back and upstairs, accessed by an interior stairway. The upper windows with their graceful brick arches are typical of this earliest period. A dry goods/notions and millinery shop next shared the commercial storefront.

Butte architect H. M. Patterson designed a new façade in 1895, connecting this address with the building to the south. The cast-iron pilasters of that remodeling remain visible next door. In 1900, an inner doorway opened into J. V. Harmon’s saloon at 123 North Main. Clothing store owner Samuel Clerke installed the metal cornice in 1910, further linking numbers 123 and 125. By 1930, Hoenck’s Fur Shop occupied this building, once again separating the two addresses. Art Deco style metal sheathing, added circa 1940 and since removed, further chronicled the building’s alterations as its function changed over time.

Like other buildings in this block, the backs of these two were damaged by a major fire in 1889, and the buildings were declared total losses, but they actually survived. This block, excluding the north and south corners, is among the oldest intact sections of the Butte business district.

Modified from historic plaques by Montana Historical Society. Photo by Richard Gibson.

129-135 West Broadway (J.L. Morris Building)

Built: 1898
Architect: Henry Patterson
Map

H. M. Patterson designed this residential building for J. L. Morris in 1898, replacing an earlier dwelling. A year later, Morris commissioned J. A. Riddell to add a storefront to the east at a cost of $9,000. Danish immigrant L. M. Brobeck rented the building in 1900, opened a grocery business on the ground floor, and lived upstairs with his family. The first floor, with its cast-iron storefront, reflects the 1899 commercial addition, while the upper floor displays Patterson’s lively creativity. Arches of quarry-faced stone, oriel windows, and decorative brickwork distinguish this pleasing building, which today continues its commercial function.

From historic plaque by Montana Historical Society. Photo by Richard Gibson.

Henry M. Patterson (1856-1928)

First Presbyterian Church, designed by Henry Patterson.

By Richard I. Gibson

Architect Henry Martin Patterson was born at Savannah, Ohio, May 5, 1856, of Scotch ancestry. His father, John Patterson, a native of Aberdeenshire in Scotland, came to America in 1835, settled in New York and moved to Ohio in 1837, where he worked as a carpenter and builder. Henry’s mother, Christiana (Lawson) Patterson, a native of the lowlands of Scotland, came over in 1837. John and Christiana met and were married in this country, and had ten children, of whom Henry Martin was the seventh. John was an ardent abolitionist and his house was a station of the Underground Railway before the Civil War.  Henry M. Patterson was educated in the public schools of Ohio and Savannah Academy. He learned the carpenter's trade and worked at it in Ohio until 1881 and in that year he moved to Butte.

 A. J. Gibson, prominent Missoula architect, got his start in Patterson’s Butte office, where both worked as carpenters in 1884. Patterson's first office, in the middle 1880s, on his own and teamed with Whitman & Whitney ("Carpenters, Etc.") appears to have been located on the north side of the alley between Broadway and Granite Streets, "2 east of Montana." It was behind the Congregational Church, whose site is occupied today by the Carpenters Union Hall today. Patterson roomed there as well. But about 1889 he established his architect's office in the Thornton Block; he lived in the Caplice Block. By 1895 Patterson had his own home on the up-scale West Side at 209 N. Alabama, moving in a few years up the block to 223 N. Alabama (still standing). After about 1900, his office was in the Owsley Block until 1902-03 when he moved to Seattle, a brief stop on his way to southern California.

Patterson was the first architect to become a member of the Montana Society of Engineers. He married twice; his first wife, married in 1883, was Theresa Anna Scott, of Savannah, Ohio, who bore him twins, Charles and Bessie. They were born in 1886, and their mother died when they were a month old. In 1891 he was married to Miss Jeannette Willamson Andrews, of Chillicothe, Ohio. Patterson was active in the Presbyterian Church in Butte and in 1901 he was appointed to represent Montana in the national executive committee of the Sunday School union. He was also a patron of baseball teams in Butte.

Patterson arrived in southern California about 1905, where he specialized in churches, although he also designed at least one theater, and hotels, residences, and other buildings. He died in Los Angeles October 20, 1928.

Partial list of Butte and southwest Montana buildings designed by Patterson, in whole or part:

Public library, Presbyterian Church, Inter-Mountain building, old Silver Bow Block, Broadway theater, Murray hospital, Mantle building. William Andrews Clark Jr. mansion, Curtis Music Hall, Lynch & Major's building, Columbia Gardens pavilion, Bowes block (destroyed by fire in 1889), Deer Lodge county court house at Anaconda, Good Templars Lodge, Hamilton Block, Stephens Block, Neuberg home (411 W. Broadway), 635 West Granite, 112 S. Main, original Thornton Hotel (53 E. Broadway), 123-125 N. Main, Kenwood Block.

Among the numerous buildings Patterson designed in Southern California, two of the most notable are the First Congregational Church in Long Beach and the Immanuel Presbyterian Church on Wilshire Boulevard. Additional photos can be found here.

Resources: Progressive Men of the State of Montana (1901); The Architect & Engineer magazine, Nov. 1928; Historic Uptown Butte by John DeHaas, Jr., 1977; Butte city directories. Photo by Richard Gibson.

15 West Park (Curtis Music Hall)

Architect: Henry M. Patterson
Built: 1892
Map

Irish-born lawyer and businessman John H. Curtis constructed this lavish four-story Queen Anne style commercial building in 1892. A skillful designer combined gables, turrets, arched and keyhole-shaped windows, carved stone, and decorative metal to produce one of Butte’s most treasured landmarks. This outstanding showpiece of Victorian-era commercial architecture has served various functions including music hall, theater, saloon, and rooming house. While the untouched façade of the upper floors recalls the exuberant 1890s, the ground floor accommodated Gamer’s Confectionary beginning about 1904. Today it is a restaurant of the same name.

Modified from historic plaque by Montana Historical Society. Photos by Richard Gibson.

Hamilton Block, 45 West Broadway Street

By Richard I. Gibson

Architect: Henry M. Patterson
Built: 1892
Status: ground floor for lease (2013); upper floors vacant
Map

Built for businessman Patrick J. Hamilton, this 52’x100’ three-story brick structure served typical Butte functions: stores on the first floor and lodgings above. The building replaced a pair of two-story restaurants at the corner of Utah (previous name of Hamilton Street) and Broadway, and a Chinese store at 49 W. Broadway.

The iron store-front columns were cast by Montana Iron Works of Butte, located on the edge of Chinatown at 213-215 South Main when the Hamilton was erected. The tin cornice is one of the longest cornices surviving in Butte. Exterior stone sills, lintels, and keystones are likely Butte granite.

The first floor has been somewhat remodeled. Three businesses—from the corner to the west, a saloon, a store, and a restaurant—originally occupied the Broadway Street front, and the hotel entrance was at the middle of the building’s east front on Hamilton Street (the entry archway survives). The first floor was a café prior to occupancy by the antique store, which moved out in 2012. Upper floors are largely intact, though deteriorating, and retain original woodwork and open skylight. Gold leaf formerly decorated picture molding on the third floor.

Photo by Richard Gibson.