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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHeating Plant (24GA1629) final MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD For the Montana National Register of Historic Places Program and State Antiquities Database Montana State Historic Preservation Office Montana Historical Society PO Box 201202, 1410 8 th Ave Helena, MT 59620-1202 Property Address: Montana State University Campus Historic Address (if applicable): NA City/Town: Bozeman Site Number: 24GA1629 (An historic district number may also apply.) County: Gallatin Historic Name: Heating Plant Original Owner(s): Montana State College of Agriculture & Mechanical Arts Current Ownership Private Public Current Property Name: Heating Plant Owner(s): Montana State University--Administration Owner Address: 201 Main Hall / PO Box 172440 Bozeman, MT 59717-2440 Phone: 406-994-2001 Legal Location PM: Montana Township: 2S Range: 5E SW ¼ SE ¼ NE ¼ of Section: 13 Lot(s): Block(s): 52 Addition: Capital Hill Year of Addition: 1890 USGS Quad Name: Bozeman Year: 1987 Historic Use: Heating Plant Current Use: Same Construction Date: 1922 Estimated Actual Original Location Moved Date Moved: UTM Reference www.nris.mt.gov/topofinder2 NAD 27 or NAD 83(preferred ) Zone: 12 Easting: 496412 Northing: 5056806 National Register of Historic Places NRHP Listing Date: Historic District: Montana State University-Bozeman HD NRHP Eligible: Yes No Date of this document: July 1, 2013 Form Prepared by: Jessie Nunn / Consultant Address: 600 Meadowlark Lane, Livingston, MT 59047 Daytime Phone: 406-208-8727 MT SHPO USE ONLY Eligible for NRHP: X yes no Criteria: X A B X C D Date: October 2013 Evaluator: Kate Hampton Comments: Contributor in the MSU-Bozeman Historic District MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 2 Architectural Description Property Name: Heating Plant Site Number: 24GA1629 ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION Architectural Style: Other: If Other, specify: Italian Renaissance Revival Property Type: Education Specific Property Type: Architect: Fred F. Willson / Bozeman, MT Architectural Firm/City/State: Builder/Contractor: Company/City/State: Charles A. Pillsbury Co. / Minneapolis, MT (consulting engineer) Source of Information: University Records Setting & Location The 1922 Italian Renaissance Revival Heating Plant is located to the southwest of the core campus area, immediately across Grant Street from the Engineering & Physical Sciences (EPS) Building, on land acquired by the college in 1917. Also completed in 1922 on the same land acquisition to the north across Grant Street were the Engineering Building (Roberts Hall) and the non-extant Engineering Shops (Ryon Labs), the latter eventually replaced by the EPS Building (1997). Over time, the area surrounding the Heating Plant became the college’s “service area,” particularly after the brick Service Shop (Plew Building) was constructed immediately to the east in 1952. Prior to that time, the Service Shops were located in the heart of campus. Today, the facilities complex, a collection of frame and Quonset buildings housing such services the car pool and campus work control, is found immediately behind (south of) the Plew Building and Heating Plant, with the Forest Products Lab, Aquatic Sciences Lab, Outdoor Recreation, University Records and faculty housing still farther to the south. Across a parking lot and open field to the east, are MSU’s athletic facilities including the Marga Hosaeus Fitness Center (Health & Physical Education Building, 1972, renovated 2008) and 1958 Brick Breeden Fieldhouse. Summary The 1922 Italian Renaissance Revival style Heating Plant is a 40' tall single-story reinforced concrete building a with basement and a flat roof. It is clad in red brick, with "pink granite" terra cotta ornamentation. The rectangular building measures 80' x 36'. Its iconic 175' tall brick-clad rear smokestack was removed due to safety concerns in 2003. The Heating Plant rests on granite blocks set on a concrete foundation. The arched multi-light wire glass windows found on all the building ’s elevations are 30' tall, have steel mullions , and are divided into three panels with a central section and sidelights. There are two rectangular panels in the lower two-thirds of the windows with 42-light central sections and 12- light sidelights. The upper panel has an arched top and contains a 42-light central section and sidelights that step down from the center with five lights in the inner column and four in the outer column. Ten-light center sections pivot to allow cross ventilation. The windows are framed by two stacked courses of stretcher and one stacked course of rowlock bricks in an arch pattern that extends down to the granite foundation. Skylights once allowed even greater illumination, but they were removed c. 2000. Decorative circles of rowlock brick surrounding a field of stacked rowlock courses and a brick diamond with corner accents are found between the windows. A heavy terra cotta entablature with a blank frieze encircles the north and east elevations. Above the entablature there is short brick parapet capped with terra cotta. Small, evenly- spaced, dark terra cotta circles decorated in a floral pattern embellish the top of the building on all its elevations. An original 20’ x 20’ brick-clad tower is connected to the west elevation of the main building by a one-story annex. The tower is slightly taller than the main building and has a flat roof. It has poured concrete corners and a concrete belt course encircles second floor. The main building’s granite block and concrete foundation extends under the annex and tower. A brick-clad, single-story, shed-roofed addition was built off the west side of the rear (south) elevation in 1990. It is approximately 30’ x 35’ and has tall parapets on its east and west elevations that are flat at their north end and then slope downward until flattening again at their south end. A small (28’ x 24’), brick-clad detached garage sits approximately 25’ behind (south of) the west half of the main building. Two simple parapets on the garage’s east façade accent its bays, each of which contains a single garage door. North Façade The north, primary, facade has three of the tall, arched windows bays. The central arch contains a typical upper light panel, but the middle panel only has five rows of lights instead of six to accommodate the building’s entrance. A gabled metal pediment and pilasters frame the double metal doors, which have eight-lights above a metal panel containing and “X” pattern. Sidelights contain two columns of six lights. A shield with the date "1922" is centered in the pediment. Two globe light sconces flank the door. Above the entrance bay in the cornice is a large terra cotta shield with a raised torch in MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 3 Architectural Description Property Name: Heating Plant Site Number: 24GA1629 the center. Also accenting the central entrance is a step up in the brick parapet, which contains a terra cotta panel incised with "HEATING PLANT". Granite steps lead to the entrance. Six-light windows flanked by two-light windows are located immediately under the outer window bays in the granite foundation. The annex connecting the main building to its west tower has a long, narrow 24-light window and is coped in terra cotta. Two small windows are found on the north elevation of the tower: a 12-light at the bottom and a 9-light at the top. The main building and tower are also connected by an exposed metal walkway at the cornice level. East and West Elevations The east and west elevation of the heating plant are identical, with each elevation containing a single large, arched window bay. A small, free-standing tower with a low-pitched pyramidal hipped concrete roof is offset to the south on the west elevation. It has double metal doors on its west elevation. On the side elevations of the 1990 addition, there are two large metal windows with 20-light upper panels above 12-light lower panels. The windows are framed by a stacked course of stretcher bricks flanked by stacked rowlock courses. At the lintel level, the stretcher course becomes a soldier course. South (Rear) Elevation The south elevation originally had large arched window bays flanking the base of the smokestack, however, the western window bay is now covered by the 1990 addition. The six-sided base of the smokestack is still extant. Prior to its removal, the smokestack originally tapered as it rose, becoming cylindrical above the building parapet, and was distinguished from the base by a concrete belt course. Iron rungs ran up the side of the stack. Today, three short, cylindrical metal stacks rise above the roof of the Heating Plant . The rear (south) elevation of the 1990 addition contains two 20-light over 12-light metal windows, identical to those found on its side elevations. Its standing seam metal shed roof extends slightly over the building wall. MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 4 History of Property Property Name: Heating Plant Site Number: 24GA1629 HISTORY OF PROPERTY Development of Montana State University Campus Montana State University was founded on February 16, 1893 (four years after statehood) as Montana’s land grant college under the Morrill Act of 1862. It has the distinction of being Montana’s first legislatively-created public university, with the University of Montana in Missoula being created the following day. Initially called the Agricultural College of the State of Montana, the new college was situated on a 200-acre site, part of which had been platted as the Capital Hill Addition in a (failed) bid for the State Capital. Bozeman citizens raised funds to purchase half the land, and Gallatin County donated the other half, which included the County poor farm. The first purpose-built building on campus was the Agricultural Experiment Station (Taylor Hall) constructed in 1894. Main Hall (or Montana Hall), the centerpiece of the campus, was completed in 1898. The construction of the Neo-classical Revival style Agricultural Building (Linfield Hall) in 1909 further illustrated the primary role of agriculture at Montana State. In 1913, the college was renamed the Montana State College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts (MSC). The college anticipated a period of expansion after World War I, and contracted with Montana architect, George Carsley, and nationally-known landscape architect, Cass Gilbert, to develop a campus plan, now known as the “1917 George Carsley / Cass Gilbert Plan.” This plan, which exhibited a formal Beaux-Arts symmetry, was adopted by the Montana State Board of Education in 1920 and guided campus development until the outbreak of World War II. Its implementation was assisted by a $5 million bond to fund building development programs on all of Montana’s campuses. At MSC this resulted in the construction of several Italian Renaissance Revival buildings, including Roberts Hall, Traphagen Hall, Lewis Hall, Harrick Hall, Romney Gymnasium and the Heating Plant. MSC continued to grow and evolve during the Great Depression and World War II. This was spurred in part by the growth of the Extension Service under the New Deal’s Agricultural Adjustment Administration, an increase in unemployed students who enrolled in the years from 1932 to 1939 and expanded military training (including a flight school) during World War II. The 1935 “Quads,” a women’s dormitory financed through the Works Progress Administration, and the oldest portion of the Student Union, completed in 1940, were the era’s most significant additions to campus. Both were designed by Bozeman architect, Fred F. Willson, in the Tudor Revival style. Slight deviations from the 1917 George Carsley / Cass Gilbert Plan during the mid-1940s resulted from a desire for new buildings alongside a need to curb paving and heating costs by reducing the space between buildings. Along with colleges and universities across the nation, MSC expanded to accommodate students attending college under the “GI Bill” after World War II. The square footage of campus buildings doubled in the following decades. At this time, further departures were also made from the 1917 George Carsley / Cass Gilbert Plan as growth demanded expansion beyond its boundaries and within its open spaces. The Renne Library (1949) and the small Danforth Chapel (1952), MSC’s first Modern style building, were the era’s earliest additions to campus but several others followed during the 1950s and early 1960s. Four Mid-Century Modern dormitories were added to the northern end of campus and new academic buildings, including Reid Hall and the Math-Physics Building (AJM Johnson Hall), were erected in open spaces south of Garfield Street. Several older buildings also received significant Modern style additions, including Renne Library and Linfield and Lewis Halls. The result was a campus showcasing a dynamic blend of revivalist and modernist styles. The college was re-named Montana State University (MSU) in 1965, and the high-rise dormitories (Hedges and Roskie Halls) that would symbolize the modern era were completed by 1967. More buildings were added in the 1970s as MSU replaced all of its temporary frame buildings with permanent structures. Growth slowed during the 1980s through the beginning of the 21 st century in the core campus area, although a few new buildings (Visual Communications, the EPS Building and the Chemistry & Biochemistry Building) were added. Many older buildings have also undergone significant alterations in recent decades. Perhaps the greatest addition to campus during the contemporary period was Centennial Mall along what was once Garfield Street. In providing a strong east-west linear focus, the well-landscaped pedestrian mall was actually a return to the axial arrangement of 1917 George Carsley / Cass Gilbert Plan. Today the MSU campus represents a blend of early formal planning, post-war expansion and contemporary buildings that respond to current needs. It offers an excellent example of the evolution of campus planning in Montana. (Burlingame, in passim; Painter, Montana Property Record Form for Langford Hall.) MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 5 History of Property Property Name: Heating Plant Site Number: 24GA1629 Campus Expansion in the 1920s Like the other six academic buildings added to campus between 1920 and 1925, the Heating Plant was constructed in response to a need for increased services for the growing college. According to historian Merrill Burlingame, in 1920, with projected enrollment expected to rise following World War I, Chancellor Edward Elliot urged the legislature and state to pass a special property tax of 2 and 1/2 mills to be used in support of higher education. A bond issue for $5 million for new buildings was initiated. Both measures were heartily passed, and the university was finally able to proceed with construction that would transform the campus and college. Five new Italian Renaissance style academic buildings and the Heating Plant were constructed between 1920 and 1922, followed in 1925 by Herrick Hall. [p. 70] Fred F. Willson, Architect The college hired the successful Bozeman architect, Fred F. Willson to design the Heating Plant. Willson was a former student of the college, and a graduate of Columbia University. He was the only son of General L. S. Willson, civil War veteran, territorial legislator, and Bozeman pioneer. Fred Willson was born in Bozeman in 1877. After attending the Bozeman Academy, Willson completed his junior year at the Montana state College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, then enrolled at Columbia University. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in architecture in 1902. Willson returned to Montana, where he spent two years in the Helena office of prominent architect, Charles s. Haire. In 1904, Willson spent two years in Europe, studying at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, and traveling. Willson returned to the United states in 1906, and worked for a time in New York city, where he was associated with architects Theodore C. Visscher and James Burley. Later that year, Willson returned to Montana to oversee the Butte office of his mentor, who now headed the firm of Link & Haire. Willson returned permanently to Bozeman in 1910 and opened his own office in the Commercial National Bank Building. He designed and built his own residence at 509 Tracy Avenue in 1914. Willson designed numerous buildings in the Bozeman area, as well as across Montana. He was competent in a number of architectural styles, from Craftsman and Mission to Renaissance Revival, Jacobethan and International. On campus, his designs include Hamilton Hall, Engineering Hall, the Engineering Shop and its addition, the Heating Plant, the Chemistry Building, Herrick Hall, the original section of the Strand Union Building, and the Quadrangle. His design of Bozeman's Jacobethan Emerson School won praise from educational groups across the United States. Willson expanded his business interests into areas other than architecture. He owned 640 acres in the Powder River area, was president of the Bozeman Investment company, and a director and stockholder of the Willson Company. The Willson Company was established by General Willson in the 1870s. [Stout, pp.319-20] The Heating Plant Prior to the building's completion, the college used two earlier Heating Plants located closer to the heart of campus. Heating Plant I was south of Montana Hall, and Heating Plant II was next to the Experiment Station Building (now Taylor Hall). The placement of the new Heating Plant was a result of the 1917 George Carsley / Cass Gilbert Campus Plan. The State Board of Education contracted Gilbert, a successful New York landscape architect, to develop building programs for all four of the state's institutions. The plan re-oriented the campus, creating a classical axial arrangement of academic buildings which retained Main/Montana Hall as the center of the campus, but expanded the property to the south. The earlier service buildings were removed, and the Heating Plant was located at an inconspicuous point at the southeast boundary of the campus, but still conveniently near the Engineering Building. The challenge of heating the five new academic buildings planned during the early 1920s was solved when the state legislature appropriated the necessary $150,000 for the construction of a new heating plant. However, so busy were brickyards and masons due to prolific post-World War I construction across Montana, the Heating Plant, Lewis Hall, the Engineering Shops and the Gymnasium were delayed by unsuccessful efforts to secure supplies and labor. Only the Engineering Building escaped this problem. [PA6.2/Buildings-cost Folder 4; The Weekly Exponent, 26 Sept. 1922, p.1). The Heating Plant was described in the 29th Annual Report in 1922. It was equipped with two 375-horsepower Sterling boilers, each with four Riley stokers capable of carrying over 200 per cent of rating. The plant was also intended to serve as a part of the engineering college equipment and was used for instructional and testing purposes. [p. 21]. The plant was MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 6 History of Property Property Name: Heating Plant Site Number: 24GA1629 originally fired by coal, and continues to furnish the steam heat necessary for the entire campus. The coal bins are now used for storage. New boilers have replaced the original units, and the floors strengthened to provide the needed increased support. The garage to the south was also built in 1922, at a cost of $1000, and it served as the firehouse. [MSU Archive Card File; Building Costs, Folder 4] MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 7 Information Sources/Bibliography Property Name: Heating Plant Site Number: 24GA1629 INFORMATION SOURCES/BIBLIOGRAPHY Building Master List. Physical Plant Records, Montana State University. Burlingame, Merrill. A History: Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana . Bozeman, MT: Office of Information Publication, February 1968. "Campus Torn Up By New Changes in Campus Plan," The Weekly Exponent , 24 September 1925. "Folder A6.1/Buildings, History of." Montana State University Archives. "Folder 4, PA6.2/Building-cost." Montana state University Archives. Freeman, Cortlandt L. "The Growing Up Years--The First 100 Years of Bozeman as an Incorporated City From 1883 to 1983," Bozeman, Montana. Bozeman, MT: Gallatin County Historical Society, December 1988. Montana State College. "Catalogue Number for 1944-1945." n. p., n. d. Painter, Diane J. “Langford Hall, Montana Property Record Form,” July 18, 2010. Montana State Preservation Office. Nepper, Carl J. 1939 Building Appraisal. "New Campus is Now Assuming Form," The Weekly Exponent , 26 September 1922. University of Montana Bulletin, Montana State College. "29th Annual Catalogue 1921-1922," no. 22. Great Falls, MT: The Tribune Printing Co., 1922. Stout, Tom. Montana: Its Story and Biography . Vol. 2. Chicago: The American Historical Society, 1921. MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 8 Statement of Significance Property Name: Heating Plant Site Number: 24GA1629 NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES NRHP Listing Date: NA NRHP Eligibility: Yes No Individually Contributing to Historic District Noncontributing to Historic District NRHP Criteria: A B C D Area of Significance: Education, Architecture Period of Significance: 1922-1968 STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE The Heating Plant is a contributing building within the proposed Montana State University Historic District, eligible for listing under Criteria A and C. It is important for its associations with the growth of the university and the college’s second period of construction, as well as for its architectural style and architect. The garage is also considered a contributing building. Built in 1922, the Italian Renaissance Revival building was one of six such structures in the same style constructed on campus between 1920 and 1922. It was part of the greatest construction period on the Montana State campus to date. The Heating Plant was part of a concentrated effort by the State Board of Education and the college to project an appearance of stability within an intellectually nurturing environment. It complimented the classically-inspired 1917 George Carsley / Cass Gilbert Campus Plan, and was appropriate to the academic institution. The style evoked images of the 16 th century’s intellectual rebirth and optimism in mankind’s future. The result was an ordered, refined campus in keeping with the college’s status as one of the state’s leading academic institutions. The Heating Plant was designed to replace the first two heating plants on campus, with a powerful new heating system. This function continues to this day, although the campus has continued to grow, and demands for energy have increased. Despite the demands on the Heating Plant, it has retained much of its original appearance, a remarkable fact for a building that has experienced so much use. The application of a historic style to an industrial structure is evidence of the creativity of the architect, Fred Willson, along with his ability to design structures of differing services to harmonize with a general campus plan. Fred Willson was Bozeman's most successful architect in the early and mid-20th century. Willson is responsible for nearly every significant structure in Bozeman's Main street business district as well as over 40 residences. The appearance of Montana State University is based to a large extent on Willson. Nearly all of the architecture constructed on campus between the years of 1910 and 1940, as well as later buildings, were Willson designs. The architect's work was described by a contemporary in the 1920s as "noted for originality of design... [and] tempered by the broad and thorough knowledge he has of architecture as exemplified in the best creations of all the centuries and in the greatest centers of art in the civilized world." [Stout, p. 320] MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 9 Integrity Property Name: Heating Plant Site Number: 24GA1629 INTEGRITY (location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, association) The Heating Plant retains good historic integrity of design, materials and workmanship, despite the removal of its iconic smokestack in 2003 and the small addition constructed off the west half of its rear (south) elevation in 1990. The building’s brick cladding, terra cotta ornamentation and granite foundation are all still intact, along with its massive industrial-style steel windows. It remains an excellent (as well as the only) example of the adaptation of the Italian Renaissance Revival style to a non-academic building on campus and easily conveys associations with the university's growth and second period of construction. The setting and location of the Heating Plant, just outside of the main campus area, also remains intact. While there has a good deal of construction in the area, including the 1952 Plew Building to the east, all of it is subservient in appearance to the Heating Plant. The area surrounding the Heating Plant now acts and the “service” cluster on campus, a development established by its 1922 siting and construction. MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 10 Photographs Property Name: Heating Plant Site Number: 24GA1629 Heating Plant North Façade Montana State University Campus Jessie Nunn, January 5, 2013 MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 11 Photographs Property Name: Heating Plant Site Number: 24GA1629 Heating Plant North Façade, Detail above Main Entrance Montana State University Jessie Nunn, January 5, 2013 MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 12 Photographs Property Name: Heating Plant Site Number: 24GA1629 Heating Plant West Elevation Montana State University Jessie Nunn, January 5, 2013 MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 13 Photographs Property Name: Heating Plant Site Number: 24GA1629 Heating Plant Rear (South) Elevation Montana State University Jessie Nunn, January 5, 2013 MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 14 Photographs Property Name: Heating Plant Site Number: 24GA1629 Heating Plant East Elevation with Garage in Background Montana State University Jessie Nunn, January 5, 2013 MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 15 Photographs Property Name: Heating Plant Site Number: 24GA1629 Heating Plant, c. 1922. (University Records) MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 16 Site Map Property Name: Heating Plant Site Number: 24GA1629 MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 17 Topographic Map Property Name: Heating Plant Site Number: 24GA1629