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Home My WebLink About23-25-37-39 S Tracy 1985 IVIONTANA HISTORICAL AND r _ " ARCHITECTURAL INVENTORY Site# Legal Description: Story's Blk A/Lots 18-22 �i : _ Address:, 23-25-37-39 South Tracy ■t '� Ownership:name: Tracy—Babcock Imp. , Co. ,X p.nvale address: c/o G. C. Waite, Box 430 Roll# 80 Frame#2-3 Public Historic Name• Unknown T , , Common Name: Unknown l — ❑ document ' mated Date of Construction: 1926 !�documented Architect, Fred F. Willson T- _ .. •. Builder: Unknown 11_j ` Original Owner: Tracy-Babcock Improvement Co. I > I Original Use: Commercial Buildings --- 1 --- -� Present Use, Commercial Buildings Research Sources: r' t ❑ abstract of title F. city directories ❑ plat records/maps M sewedwaler permits l ❑ tax cards ❑ obituaries l -- - ❑ building permit ❑ biographies FEDERAL [� D C R A L 0 Sanborn maps-dates: 192 7 - - [,� C Bibliography: r - i T D I I I I DI N� Department of Sanitation V L Willson Job List . Interview with Gardner Waite-July, 1983 PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Describe present appearance of structure/site,then contrast and compare that with it's original appearance, noting additions,alterations,and changes in materials. Discuss significant architectural features. This one-story commercial structure has a rectangular plan with several storefronts and facades. The brick construction is finished in stucco over several of the facades except the last one (Singer's) which is the original brick with corbeled design in the cornice. The remaining part of the structure has a metal coping above the stucco and a series of small vent-openings along the upper portion of the building. The entrances are glass doors and windows are storefront. The roof is flat of built-up materials and lies parallel to the street. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Justify how the persons,important events,and/or historical patterns associated with the structurelsite and surrounding area lend the property significance. This property is significant because it is associated with a person important to Bozeman history, Fred F. Willson. Son of General Lester S. Willson, an early Bozeman pioneer, Willson was born in 1877 in Bozeman. He attended Montana State College for two years and graduated from Columbia University in architecture in 1902. He studied for two years abroad and upon his return, Willson practiced with C. S. Haire in Helena and Butte. In his long practice from 1910-1956, he designed many public, residential and commercial buildings. This structure qualifies as a contributing element within,a potential historic district due to its association with the commercial aspect of the Progressive Phase of Bozeman 's historic/architectural development. INTEGRITY: Assess the degree to which the structurelsite,and surrounding area accurately convey the historical associations of the property. The historic integrity of this property has been retained due to the survival of original design and materials and continuity of use, setting and location. INFORMATION VALUE: Explain how the extant structure/site may demonstrate or yield information about its historic use or construc- tion. None. FORM PREPARED BY: GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION: NaMe JAMES R. fr CDONALD ARCHITECTS P.C. 0. BOX 8163 uses n(iad - �,, « iSSOULl1, MONTANA 59807 _ UTM's - _- REVISED .. AUG � Matthew A. Cohen F1,)7n•-1an, Montana „!, v r!F'07,Er1IRT-R 1985 Ire ✓,r;,�e ,' (7 � }� r r 7 .r le ,e 't i '"1 FUNERAL SE�RV ,as uation Of Dependabl e Courteous ervi Con tin _mg Gallatin Valley For Over 65 Years r en To Th e ned mg '1 he , :iity , had , •.t• The ;i weto MMI 41 hadthe �• ��e � s ,�� $: �`� �` �. -amp n I,np Howard Nelson g of , d a}' r got s lost No 1930 y our W � '.at it ow �F3 e -�I the .•I�� AWN%,i1 st age ►end so �Ay; N hers. on %N ere -- ,d ms -hade Ili, t0 s #r fv ~ 'h the '`� { W '1 r• �- n �. ' . ,t we w L�� , f ,•Y .' �' ht(all. o the It this i dead ;f were v our � `;. Gene Becker 1890 n long �• our t �u�hing unpack party .,lding I _ , in�c 25-39 S. Tracy 1985 revision Matt Cohen, surveyor This extensive, 1-story commercial block, which wraps around the corner of Tracy Ave. and Babcock St. , is indicative of a demand for expansion of the downtown commercial district of Main St. , even after all lots on that street were full . The specialized storefronts of a funeral parlor and automobile showroom are still evident among the more standard retail storefronts in this commercial block. This building, as well as 23 S. Tracy and 24 S. Willson, was built by the Tracy-Babcock Co. ) , a small , closely held local corporation that formed for the purpose of developing the half block bounded by S. Tracy, W. Willson, Babcock and the alley south of Main St. Built in four sections, from 1926 to 1927, this building forms a somewhat incongruous whole. The first two sections to be built appear on the Sanborn Map of 1927, one facing S. Tracy (25-39 S. Tracy) , and the other facing Babcock ( 15-19 W. Babcock) . Probably erected concurrently in 1926, each contained 3 retail units, and was spanned by an ornamental galvanized iron marquee (similar to that which survives on the Fechter Hotel Building, 138-140 E. Main) . In the westernmost section of the Babcock block ( 19 W. Babcock) , which is still marked by three large, round-headed openings , was the Dokken-Getchell Funeral Home, run by Herman H. Dokken, president, and Martin F. Getchell , secretary/ treasurer (see attached photograph) . The firm later bacame simply Dokken Funeral Home, and in 1936 built the Sunset Chapel at 113 S. Willson, which the Dokken-Nelson Funeral Service occupies today. The northern section of this block was in 1927 occupied by L.W. Watson and Son, Painters and Decorators, while the middle section was still vacant. Businesses in the block facing S. Tracy were, in 1927, the Gallatin Valley Creamery (by 1933, the Ideal Creamery) , a grocery store, and a furniture store. Next to be built, probably in 1927, was a small drug store on the north end of the S. Tracy Building (see 23 S. Tracy, attached) . An automobile showroom was built in the southeast corner of the lot, connecting the existing two sections, in 1927. This section is delineated by both its Spanish Colonial Revival (Mission) style, pan and tile parapet roof, which contrasts with the more common horizontal parapet tiles of the older sections , and by slight discolorations of the stucco where this section meets the older ones. This later section retains the distinctive, large windows topped by semi-elliptical transoms typical of auto showrooms of this period. Both Gardnew Waite and David P. Vaughan remember a Plymouth dealer here. Architect Fred Willson employed elements of the Spanish Colonial Revival (Mission) style to unify this bulky structure, including the repeated mosaic parapet designs which spans the length of the block, the stucco finish, which masks the structural divisions of the various section, and the shaped headed parapet over the recessed entrance of the automobile showroom section, which creates a focal point for the building. Willson designed three other buildings nearby with elements of this style, all three built in 1928: the Baxter Hotel , the remodeled Bon Ton Bakery Building (34-42 W. Main) , and the neighboring Alexander-Dixon Building (15 S. Tracy) . Willson himself rented office space for his architectural firm in a section of this building facing Babcock, after W.W. II . Bibliography Gardner Waite, interview, 9/5/85 City directory, 1927, pp. 35, 54, 195; 1933, p. 176 Application for Sewer Connection, 25-31 S. Tracy, June 1, 1926, Tracy-Babcock Improvement Co. Sanborn Map, 1927 David P. Vaughan, interview, 9/7/85 Fred F. Willson Job List: 1926, job #2606 - "Store Buildings - Tracy-Babcock Improvement Co. " 1926, job #2641 - "Store Building and Apartment House - Tracy Babcock Improvement Co. - Bozeman. " 1927, job #2756 - "Garage - Tracy-Babcock Co. - Simpson & Truitt-Bozeman. " 23 S. Tracy Built as part of a larger real estate venture by the Tracy-Babcock Improvement Co. (also known as the Tracy-Babcock Co. ) this modest commercial building housed Fred Sivear' s pharmacy in the early 1930' s - probably the orignial tenant. Part of the name of a later pharmacy to be housed here is still visible painted on the north wall : . . Man Pharmacy. The present Singer dealer has occupied the building since about 1963. The building, similar to 24 S. Willson which was built by the same company about a year later, was probably the third part of an extensive, 1-story commercial block which was built in four sections by the Tracy-Babcock Co. between 1926 and 1928 (25-39 S. Tracy) . Curiously, this building was not covered by the modestly ornamented, Fred Willson-designed stucco facade that unifies the rest i of the commercial block. I The building appears on the 1927 Sanborn Map as a drug store attached to a larger block as of present, but is not included in an application for sewer connection of June 1, 1926 filed, for the building it is attached to. This, along with the smaller size of the building in relation to the one it is attached to, suggests a date of 1927. Bibliography i Gardner Waite, interview, 9/5/85 Sanborn Map, 1927 Application for Sewer Connection, June 1, 1926, 25-31 S. Tracy, Tracy-Babcock Improvement Co. 1 _Bozeman Daily Chronicle, March 27, 1983, p. 16 I