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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 8th Ave
Helena, MT 59620-1202
Property Address:
S. Side Centennial Mall (West End)
Historic Address (if applicable): NA
City/Town: Bozeman
Site Number: 24GA1886
(An historic district number may also apply.)
County: Gallatin
Historic Name: Nursing Building / Sherrick Hall
Original Owner(s): Montana State University
Current Ownership Private Public
Current Property Name: Sherrick Hall
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
NE ¼ NW ¼ SW ¼ of Section: 13
Lot(s): 6-10
Block(s): 40
Addition: Capital Hill Year of Addition: 1890
USGS Quad Name: Bozeman Year: 1987
Historic Use: Classrooms, Offices, Laboratories
Current Use: Same
Construction Date: 1973 Estimated Actual
Original Location Moved Date Moved:
UTM Reference www.nris.mt.gov/topofinder2
NAD 27 or NAD 83(preferred)
Zone: 12 Easting: 496025 Northing: 5057030
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: □ yes X□ no
Criteria: X□ A □ B X□ C □ D
Date: October 2013
Evaluator: Kate Hampton
Comments: Noncontributor in MSU-Bozeman HD – age.
MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD
PAGE 2
Architectural Description
Property Name: Nursing Building / Sherrick Hall Site Number: 24GA1886
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION
Architectural Style: Other: If Other, specify: Late Modern (Brutalism)
Property Type: Education Specific Property Type:
Architect: Architectural Firm/City/State: Davidson & Kuhr / Great Falls, MT
Builder/Contractor: Company/City/State: Morgen-Oswood / Great Falls, MT (general contract); Safeway
Plumbing & Heating / ; Yellowstone Electric Company / Billings, MT
Source of Information: University Records (72-0001)
Setting & Location
Sherrick Hall is located on the south side of Centennial Mall at the western end of MSU’s core campus. Reid Hall (1959)
and Traphagen Hall (1920) are found immediately to the east, and Lewis Hall (1923) is to the north across Centennial
Mall. The three-building Creative Arts Complex (1974), a product of the same building campaign that produced Sherrick
Hall, is located to the west across 11th Avenue. Immediately behind Sherrick Hall is the heavily-landscaped duck pond
area, with the Visual Communications Building (1983) and Gaines Hall (1961; 2010) located farther to the south along
Grant Street. Moving west along the south side of Centennial Mall, the 1960 Renne Library Addition, Reid Hall, and
Sherrick Hall create a Modernist pattern of contrasting light-colored vertical elements (limestone columns, projecting
concrete window surrounds) against red building walls.
Summary
Sherrick Hall is a flat-roofed, reinforced concrete building with two stories and a basement that is clad in variegated red
brick in a running bond. It has a T-shaped footprint, with an approximately 95’ x 40’ north/south wing, and an
approximately 100’ x 35’ east/west wing. The north end of the former projects approximately 16’ farther north than the
north wall of the east/west wing. The entrance bay is located on the east/west wing, immediately to the west of the
junction between the wings. Its first story is open, providing access to an approximately 22’ x 28’ concrete courtyard at the
back corner of the building, and its second story contains a curtain wall system. The main entrances are located across
from each other on the east and west walls of the first-story opening. A flush wide concrete band with a broom finish
surrounds the building between the first and second stories, serving as a continuous lintel for first story windows and a
continuous sill for second-story windows (first story windows have individual sills of slanted soldier bricks).There is a
second, wider, concrete band at the roofline, which projects slightly beyond the wall face and serves as a continuous lintel
for the second-story windows. The concrete bands are broken only by stair towers at the inner junction of the building
wings and on the north elevation of the east/west wing. Outside of the curtain walls, windows are either slender aluminum
casement units in a bronze finish with a stationary light above and a louvered panel below or larger, stationary panes
above a louvered panel. All are slightly recessed and are situated between slender pre-cast concrete members that
project from the building face. Windows are arranged somewhat randomly on the building face, with first and second-story
windows only occasionally in vertical alignment. Some windows are paired and share a central concrete boarder, others
are grouped (separated by the width of a typical casement window) and still others are singular. Due to the slope of the
site from east to west, first-story windows in the eastern half of the building extend nearly to the ground, while widows to
the west are well above grade. The concrete spandrels and vertical window borders, which essentially create window
mullions, are the building’s only decorative elements and link it heavily to Brutalist architecture.
North Façade
The north façade faces Centennial Mall and includes the north walls of the both building wings, the west-facing wall of the
north/south wing’s north end and east and west walls of the east/west wing’s first-story open walkway. Moving west from
the junction of the wings is the approximately 20’ wide entrance bay with its first-story open walkway and second-story
curtain wall. Sherrick Hall’s main entrances are found across from each other on the east and west walls of the open
walkway. The east entrance is recessed and contains double aluminum-framed glass doors with a transom and sidelights
all in an aluminum finish. In contrast, the single door west entrance is contained in small curtain wall box that projects into
the open walkway. The second-story curtain wall of six columns and two rows of lights divided by aluminum mullions in a
bronze finish is located immediately above the opening. The second and fifth light columns are wider than the others, and
the shorter bottom row is surrounded by a wider aluminum boarder and its outer lights are operational awning units.
A series of first and second story windows is found between the entrance bay and a projecting stair tower approximately
40’ to the west. Moving east to west, this includes: a slender two-story window column to the west; a large, stationary light
above a louvered panel on the second story; an identical first-story window followed immediately by a typical casement
window with paired second-story casement windows located above (the west windows in these pairs are in vertical
MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD
PAGE 3
Architectural Description
Property Name: Nursing Building / Sherrick Hall Site Number: 24GA1886
alignment); and a single second-story window. The approximately 10’ wide stair tower is slightly taller than the main
building and lacks fenestration, save a single metal door entrance on its east-facing wall. To the west of the stair tower are
two second-story windows and a large, stationary first-story window paired with a casement unit. The western first- and
second-story windows are in vertical alignment.
The north end of the Sherrick Hall’s north/south wing is punctured by a series of first- and second-story windows. First
story windows include paired large, stationary lights flanked by casement windows to the west and a single large,
stationary light to the east. Moving from west to east, there are corresponding second story windows for the first, third and
fifth first-story windows. The west wall of the north/south wing’s north end is solid brick.
East Elevation
The east elevation is the long east-facing wall of Sherrick Hall’s north/south wing. Moving from north to south, the first
story has a single casement window, two grouped casement windows, and a grouped casement window and single metal
door entrance, the latter of which is situated between vertical concrete members like all of Sherrick Hall’s windows. There
are four evenly-spaced, second-story casement windows, with the northernmost in vertical alignment with the
northernmost first-story window, the second widow centered above the space between the grouped first-story windows,
and the third window’s south side in vertical alignment with the north side of fourth first-story window.
Rear (South) Elevation
The L-shaped rear elevation of Sherrick Hall includes the south end of the north/south wing, the southern half of the
north/south wing’s west-facing wall, and the south wall of the east/west wing. There are four first-story windows on the
south end of the north/south wing, with the inner windows being “grouped”, and no second-story windows. The west-
facing wall of this elevation has paired casement windows near the south end of its second story and a single casement
window on its first story, above the rear elevation’s elevated concrete courtyard. The courtyard is reached by a set of
northeast-facing concrete steps on its west side. A bust of Anna Pearl Sherrick, a nurse and educator who was
instrumental in bringing a nursing program to MSU, sits atop a pyramidal base near the south end of the courtyard. A
brick-clad stair tower, which is about one-half-story taller than the main building, protrudes slightly from inner corner of the
wings. There is a two-light window on its south-facing wall above the building’s roofline.
A curtain wall system is situated above the first-story open passage in the entrance bay of the east/west wing’s south wall.
It is identical to the second-story curtain wall on the façade. Moving west along the south wall of the east/west wing, there
is a series of randomly-spaced first- and second-story windows. On the first story, there are two grouped casement
windows, a single casement window, paired casement windows, and a casement window paired with a large stationary
window. Second-story windows include two single casement windows (the second of which is aligned vertically with the
easternmost first-story window), paired casement windows (with the west window aligned with the third first-story window),
paired casement windows in vertical alignment the paired first-story casement windows and two grouped casement
windows (with the east window aligned with the first-story casement window and the west side of the west window aligned
with the first-story stationary window).
West Elevation
The west elevation is the short end of the east/west wing. It contains four first-story windows with the inner widows (a
large stationary window and a casement window) paired. There are three second-story windows (casement, stationary,
and casement), which are in vertical alignment with first, second, and fourth first-story windows from the north.
MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD
PAGE 4
History of Property
Property Name: Nursing Building / Sherrick Hall Site Number: 24GA1886
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 Word 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 21st 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: Nursing Building / Sherrick Hall Site Number: 24GA1886
A Permanent and Walkable Campus: The 1968-1974 Building Campaign
In 1965, Montana State College became Montana State University (MSU), and over the next decade the campus grew to
reflect its loftier name. Between 1964 and 1967 the Hedges Dormitory Complex, which included two high-rise dormitories
and a round food service building, and Roskie Hall, a futuristic clover-shaped dormitory, were constructed at the very
southwestern corner of campus across 11th Avenue. The modern aesthetic and elevated skyline of these buildings
symbolized the evolution of the campus. However, expanding outward and upward would not be enough to keep up with
the University’s growth. Enrollment increased from about 4,000 in 1960 to nearly 9,000 by 1975, and in 1965 MSU’s
leaders decide changes to the campus’s core, including new construction, the renovation of some older buildings and the
demolition others, and the establishment of a network of paved walkways was necessary to complete a modern,
pedestrian campus. (MSU Website, Enrollment History; Classroom-Office Building EIS, 2)
MSU’s campus architect, Andy Van Teylingen, and building coordinator, William Johnstone, introduced the new campus
plan to students in the February 1968 Exponent article, “Buildings to Blossom at MSU.” Among other projects, the plan
included the construction of an Engineering Science Complex, a Life Science Building and an Arts Center. Johnstone also
called for a “pedestrian campus,” which would be created by an, “eight minute circle” with administrative buildings
(Montana Hall and the newly-renovated Hamilton Hall) surrounded by general academic buildings, then professional
schools and finally residence halls. A pedestrian campus, according to Johnstone, would also require the abandonment of
all roads through campus in exchange for paved walkways that would serve both pedestrians and emergency vehicles.
(Exponent, 2/16/1968). Eventually the plan would also include a new Classroom-Office Building and a Nursing Building
within the campus core area, as well as Heath & Physical Education Complex, a new Football Stadium and housing for
married students. A secondary goal of the plan was the, “razing of all the wooden buildings in the academic core of
campus,” which included the Montana Hall Annex, a pair of World War I-era barracks near the Wool Lab and Bridger Hall,
which housed Nursing and Health and Physical Education. (Classroom-Office Building EIS, 2). The frame buildings, which
had always been seen as temporary solutions to MSU’s space and housing shortages, simply did not fit within the modern
university campus envisioned by Van Teylingen, Jonhstone and University President Leon Johnson.
Such an ambitious building campaign naturally provided plentiful challenges and stirred occasional controversy. Funding
the projects, for instance, proved difficult during the Vietnam War, but MSU was able to cobble together sufficient state
and federal funding to complete all of its major construction projects by 1974. Unfortunately for the administration,
however, several projects proceeded slowly, either due to insufficient funds or engineering problems. The confrontational
mood of students during the social upheaval of the Vietnam-era only exacerbated negative perceptions of the building
campaign. When it was revealed in early 1972 that the 7th and 8th floors of the Life Science Building (Leon Johnson Hall)
would remain unfinished due to lack of funds and that its foundation had a settling problem, two sophomores published a
poem titled “Unfinished” in the Exponent. Their poem revealed the frustration surrounding MSU’s construction woes, and
included sardonic verses such as, “Leaning dorms, floating floors, have come to MSU. No you haven’t had too much
Coors / These things happen yes they do,” and “Unfinished Reid, unfinished Library, unfinished Life Sciences Building,
too. Will they ever complete a whole building by 1982?” (Exponent, 2/29/1972). Even the Classroom-Office Building,
which was completed without incident, could not escape criticism, with the Exponent lamenting the loss of campus’s “most
beautiful lawn” and pointing out the building’s resemblance to the latest in “prison architecture.” (Exponent, 1/28/1975).
Van Teylingen addressed the challenges and criticisms in the Fall of 1973, telling the Exponent there was more good
news to be found in, “Montana State University’s most ambitious building program in history,” than bad news. (Exponent,
9/20/1973). Indeed, the 1968-1974 building campaign did achieve its goals. It transformed the campus from one still
partially dependent on temporary structures and bisected by streets to a more permanent and pedestrian-friendly
environment. While the campaign did result in some lamentable losses, most notably in open space and architectural
unity, it undeniably brought Montana State University into the modern era. Since that time only three major buildings have
been added to the core area of campus: the Visual Communications Building (1983), the Engineering and Physical
Sciences Building (1997), which replaced the Ryon Laboratories, and the Chemistry and Biochemistry Building (2007).
Sherrick Hall (Nursing Building)
Instruction in nursing was offered at Montana State College as early as 1916 and, by 1937, a Bachelor of Science degree
was available. The program required two years of coursework followed by three (later two) years of hospital training at an
“approved school of Nursing,” which included the Bozeman Deaconess Hospital beginning in 1922, the Montana
Deaconess Hospital in Great Falls in 1937, the Montana State (Psychiatric) Hospital at Warm Springs in 1934, and
MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD
PAGE 6
History of Property
Property Name: Nursing Building / Sherrick Hall Site Number: 24GA1886
Billings Deaconess Hospital in 1947. (Application for PHS Grant, 1/13/1970). Prior to and during World War II, offices for
School of Nursing were located in Lewis Hall, but the space was too crowded and its rightful occupants, the Botany and
Bacteriology Departments, were also banging on the door. (Request for Heath Center Building, 1945). In 1948, a
temporary solution was found in “Bridger Hall,” a frame building constructed at a nearby mining camp in 1944 and moved
onto campus the following year. However, in 1968, Bridger Hall was deemed substandard by both the Montana Board of
Fire Underwriters and the Bozeman Fire Marshall. In addition to being a fire hazard, Bridger Hall also had several
maintenance and comfort issues, which were cataloged in MSU’s application for a federal construction grant to finance its
proposed nursing building:
The heating, plumbing and electrical systems are old and require frequent repair to maintain operational
condition. The exterior of the building is gray clapboard which is broken in on the east side. The roof is asphalt
shingle and leaks around some of the eaves as the snow or ice melts or the roof is subjected to hard driving
rain…Bridger Hall is poorly insulated and the wooden frame has deteriorated to the point that a strong wind
against one end of the building results in physical discomfort due to cold to personnel and students at that end of
the building and physical comfort due to heat (forced thermostat) for students, faculty and staff located in the
other end. (Application for PHS Grant 1/13/1970).
In fact, a decade earlier, Bridger Hall had already come to represent the worst of MSU’s academic facilities. When W. C.
Baker, Superintendent of the Physical Plant lobbied (unsuccessfully) to locate the new Service Shops within the core
campus, he argued, it “won’t be and worse than Bridger Hall.” (Baker to Renne, April 14, 1949). Clearly, the School of
Nursing, which was expected to grow alongside nursing shortages, deserved better—no other academic departments
were still housed in temporary frame buildings—and by 1969 MSU was ready to approach the Montana State Board of
Education for authorization of a new Nursing Building.
After receiving state authorization in 1969, two obstacles stood in the way of a new Nursing Building. The first, and most
problematic, was funding. With $125,000 in matching funds available from the state, the University applied for a federal
facilities construction grant through the Department of Health, Education and Welfare’s Public Health Service. When Dr.
Kenneth J. Goering, Dean of Graduate Studies, received word that MSU would receive a $264,347 construction grant in
May of 1970, construction seemed imminent, but planning dragged and construction costs rose. (Scott to Goering,
5/22/1970). By the time contractor bids were opened in January of 1972, they exceeded 1969 cost estimates by
$170,000. The University turned once again to the state for a budget amendment (they had already received authorization
to spend an additional $50,000 in 1971), and were able to obtain approval for another $150,000 to cover costs. (Item 222-
206, 2/8/1972). The second obstacle to construction was Bridger Hall. In the fall of 1969, the architects, Davidson and
Kuhr of Great Falls, Montana, had selected the site occupied by the old frame building over one between Traphagen and
Gaines Hall, calling it “entirely adequate.” (Davidson to Van Teylingen, 10/31/1969). MSU contracted with Talcott Tank &
Building Co. to demolish Bridger Hall for $4,275, but the intrepid old mining building lived to see two more locations, when
it was moved to nearby Belgrade. (Construction Breakdown, 12/1/1973; SHPO Research Files, 41.) With both funding
(totaling $575,000) and a site secured, construction of the Nursing Building could finally move forward. A copper capsule
containing renditions of the new building, photographs of Nursing School Directors, the curriculum from 1937 and 1972,
five sheets of paper depicting the “Sign of the Times,” and, of course, photos of Bridger Hall was placed in the
cornerstone during the building cornerstone ceremony. (Cornerstone Ceremony Agenda, undated).
After a slow planning period, construction proceeded relatively quickly and the School of Nursing was able to move into
their new building in June of 1973. (Exponent, 9/20/1973). The Building was later named for Dr. Anna Pearl Sherrick,
Director of the School of Nursing from 1938-1970. It continues to serve its function as home to the College of Nursing.
Davidson & Kuhr
The firm of Davidson & Kuhr was established in 1956 by Great Falls, Montana architects David Scott Davidson and
William H. Kuhr. Davidson was born in Great Falls on December 17, 1925 and attended Montana State College, where he
received his B.S. in architecture in 1950. He worked as a draftsman for the Great Falls firm of George H. & Frank B.
Shanley from 1948 to 1952, and then for the Great Falls firm of Van Teylingen, Knight & Van Teylingen, where he
remained until 1954. Kuhr was born in Chinook, Montana on March 15, 1927 and also received his architectural degree
from Montana State College in 1950. He spent almost his entire career in partnership with Davidson.
MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD
PAGE 7
History of Property
Property Name: Nursing Building / Sherrick Hall Site Number: 24GA1886
In addition to Sherrick Hall and the 1969 Huffman Building (MSU Security & Police Station) at MSU, Davidson & Kuhr also
designed a number of buildings in Great Falls including the US Bank Building, the McLaughlin Research Center, the south
campus of Great Falls High School, the First Congregational United Church of Christ, the terminal at Great Falls
International Airport, and an office building for D. A. Davidson, a financial company owned by Davidson’s father. They also
designed numerous schools, churches and office buildings throughout Montana and the addition to the Montana Veterans
& Pioneers Memorial Building in Helena. Their Bethany Lutheran Church, and Farmers & Stockmen's Bank won awards
from the Montana Chapter of the AIA in 1964. In addition to his architectural practice, Davidson was a painter and
musician. He died in 2008. (Adapted from Painter, 49).
MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD
PAGE 8
Information Sources/Bibliography
Property Name: Nursing Building / Sherrick Hall Site Number: 24GA1886
INFORMATION SOURCES/BIBLIOGRAPHY
Baker, W. C. (Director, MSU Physical Plant). Letter to President Ronald R. Renne, 14 April 1949. University Records, 51-
0003.
Building Master List. Physical Plant Records, Montana State University.
“Buildings to Blossom at MSU,” The Exponent, 16 February 1968.
“Construction Breakdown,” 1 November 1973. University Records, 72-0001.
“Cornerstone Ceremony—School of Nursing,” c. March 1972. University Records, 72-0001.
Davidson and Kuhr Architects, “Specifications for the Nursing Building, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana,”
June 1, 1971. (University Records, 72-0001).
Davidson, David S. (Davidson & Kuhr Architects). Letter to Andy A. Van Teylingen, 31 October 1969. University Records,
72-0001.
Montana State Board of Education, “Item 221-206 Increase Project Authorization and Financing for the Nursing Building
at Montana State University,” 8 February 1972. University Records, 72-0001.
Montana State University. “Fall Head Count Enrollment History, 1893 to Present,” Website accessed online at
http://www.montana.edu/opa/facts/headhist.html.
Montana State University. “Application for Construction Grant, Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Division and
Research Facilities,” 13 January 1970. University Records, 72-0001.
Painter, Diane J. Montana Post-World War II Architectural Survey and Inventory: Historic Context and Survey Report,
December 2010.
Painter, Diane J. “Langford Hall, Montana Property Record Form,” July 18, 2010. Montana State Preservation Office.
Renne, Ronald R. (President, MSC). “Explanation of Request for Health Center Building,” 1945.
Scott, Jessie M. (Director, Division of Nursing, Public Health Service). Letter to Dr. Kenneth J. Goeing (MSU Dean of
Graduate Studies), 22 May 1970. University Records, 72-0001.
Van Teylingen, Andy. “Campus Construction: First the Good News….,” The Exponent, 20 September 1972.
MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD
PAGE 9
Statement of Significance
Property Name: Nursing Building / Sherrick Hall Site Number: 24GA1886
NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES
NRHP Listing Date:
NRHP Eligibility: Yes No Individually Contributing to Historic District Noncontributing to Historic District
NRHP Criteria: A B C D
Area of Significance: Period of Significance:
STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE
Sherrick Hall does not currently contribute to the Montana State University Historic District due to age. Completed in 1973,
it is too recent to fall within the district’s period of historical and architectural significance, 1893-1968. However, it is a
significant example of Late Modern architecture on campus, reflecting many features of Brutalism. It is also an integral
component of the 1968-1974 building campaign, which transformed a MSU campus still partially dependent on temporary
buildings to a more permanent and pedestrian-friendly environment. Its contributing status should be reconsidered in
future amendments or expansions of the Montana State University Historic District.
MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD
PAGE 10
Integrity
Property Name: Nursing Building / Sherrick Hall Site Number: 24GA1886
INTEGRITY (location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, association)
Sherrick Hall has not undergone any major renovation projects, and currently retains excellent integrity of design,
materials and workmanship. It also retains its original location at the west end of the core campus along the south side of
Centennial Mall (formerly Garfield Street). Finally, Sherrick Hall retains its setting, with Reid Hall immediately to the west
and the duck pond, which is visible from the building’s rear deck, to the southwest. Should Sherrick Hall retain its current
level of integrity, it would be eligible for National Register listing in 2023 as a contributing resource with the Montana State
University Historic District.
MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD
PAGE 11
Photographs
Property Name: Nursing Building / Sherrick Hall Site Number: 24GA1886
Sherrick Hall
North Façade, Facing: SE
Montana State University
Jessie Nunn, November 3, 2012
MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD
PAGE 12
Photographs
Property Name: Nursing Building / Sherrick Hall Site Number: 24GA1886
Sherrick Hall
East End of North Façade, Facing: SE
Montana State University
Jessie Nunn, November 3, 2012
MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD
PAGE 13
Photographs
Property Name: Nursing Building / Sherrick Hall Site Number: 24GA1886
Sherrick Hall
East Elevation, Facing: SW
Montana State University
Jessie Nunn, November 3, 2012
MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD
PAGE 14
Photographs
Property Name: Nursing Building / Sherrick Hall Site Number: 24GA1886
Sherrick Hall
South (Rear) Elevation, Facing: N
Montana State University
Jessie Nunn, November 3, 2012
MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD
PAGE 15
Photographs
Property Name: Nursing Building / Sherrick Hall Site Number: 24GA1886
Sherrick Hall
Interior of Ell with Deck, Facing: NE
Montana State University
Jessie Nunn, November 3, 2012
MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD
PAGE 16
Photographs
Property Name: Nursing Building / Sherrick Hall Site Number: 24GA1886
Sherrick Hall
West Elevation, Facing: SE
Montana State University
Jessie Nunn, November 3, 2012
MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD
PAGE 17
Site Map
Property Name: Nursing Building / Sherrick Hall Site Number: 24GA1886
MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD
PAGE 18
Topographic Map
Property Name: Nursing Building / Sherrick Hall Site Number: 24GA1886