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Home My WebLink About307-321 E Main St 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: 307-321 E Main St Historic Address (if applicable): City/Town: Bozeman Site Number: 24GA1739 Historic District Number (if applicable): 24GA0952 County: Gallatin Historic Name: Bozeman Hotel & Annex Original Owner(s): Unknown Current Ownership Private Public Current Property Name: Bozeman Hotel & Annex Owner(s): Multiple Owner Address: Multiple Phone: Legal Location PM: Montana Township: 2S Range: 6E SE ¼ SE ¼ NW ¼ of Section: 7 Lot(s): Lots 14, 15, & 16 Block(s): Block D Addition: Bozeman Original Plat Year of Addition: 1870 USGS Quad Name: Bozeman Year: 1987 Historic Use: Hotel Current Use: Commercial Construction Date: 1890-1891 Estimated Actual Original Location Moved Date Moved: UTM Reference www.nris.mt.gov NAD 27 or NAD 83 (preferred) Zone: 12 N Easting: 497470 Northing: 5058457 National Register of Historic Places NRHP Listing Date: 1986 Historic District: Main Street Historic District NRHP Eligible: Yes No *Property meets the City of Bozeman's definition of an eligible property. Date of this document: 05/03/2021 Form Prepared by: S. Wells and E. Sakariassen, Metcalf Archaeological Consultants Inc. Address: PO Box 1526, Bozeman, MT 59771 Daytime Phone: (406) 219-3535 MT SHPO USE ONLY Eligible for NRHP: □ yes □ no Criteria: □ A □ B □ C □ D Date: Evaluator: Comments: Site contributes to existing historic district. MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 2 Architectural Description Property Name: 307-321 E Main St Site Number: 24GA1739 ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION Architectural Style: Romanesque If Other, specify: Property Type: Commerce Specific Property Type: Retail Architect: George Hancock Architectural Firm/City/State: Builder/Contractor: Campbell and Davitt Company/City/State: Source of Information: Hufstetler 2006 This site the Bozeman Hotel and its annex, a large masonry structure built between 1890 and 1891. It was previously recorded in 1984 by James R. McDonald Architects and subsequently listed in the NRHP as a contributing site within the Main Street Historic District (24GA0952). The site record was updated in 2006 by Mark Hufstetler from Renewable Technologies, Inc. Hufstetler described the hotel as follows: "The Bozeman Hotel is a four-story commercial building on the northwest corner of Main Street and Rouse Avenue. Originally constructed in 1891 as a hotel, the building now houses a variety of retail and office spaces. The building faces Main Street, with a secondary façade on Rouse. Much of the west elevation is a common wall with an adjacent commercial building. A square tower area on the southeast corner of the building adds a partial fifth story there. The interior of this fifth story area has been enlarged somewhat in recent times. The hotel rests on a mortared rubblestone foundation, and includes a basement. Exterior walls are of a soft, bearing brick, laid in a common bond. The roof is flat, behind parapet walls. The parapet area is decorated with a projecting, dentiled cornice. Low pediments at the center of the south and west elevations display lettering reading "THE BOZEMAN." These pediments cap slightly- projecting center bays that enframe the building's primary entrances. Fenestration patterns on the two main elevations are regular. Windows are tall and narrow, most holding historically-appropriate one-over-one double-hung units. First floor doors are modern, but in historic openings. Door and window openings on the first floor and the top (fourth and fifth floor) have continuous, round-top brick cornices. Art glass fills the round-top portion of many first-floor window openings. The lintels and flat cornices are of stone. Little historic fabric remains in the building's interior." Metcalf revisited the site on October 31, 2020, and noted no discernible changes since the 2006 survey. The site is in excellent condition. MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 3 History of Property Property Name: 307-321 E Main St Site Number: 24GA1739 HISTORY OF PROPERTY The Bozeman Hotel and Annex is considered one of Bozeman's major downtown landmarks and, according to Hufstetler (2006), "is both a building of major architectural significance in the district and a historical milestone of the late nineteenth century." The milestone to which Hufstetler refers is likely with reference to the way in which the monumental building project began, which reflects the intense boosterism that attended what has been termed Bozeman's "Civic Phase" (RTI, Inc. 2008). The building was built by the Bozeman Improvement Company and designed in the Romanesque style by a Fargo, ND, architect George Hancock who practiced for a short time in Bozeman. In an effort to attract capitalists to invest in a first class hotel for the growing city, citizens raised $20,000 for its construction and were successful in luring a group from Boston to put up the remaining $100,000. When it opened, the Hotel Bozeman had 136 rooms and modern amenities such as call bells, steam heat, fire escapes, and a 2000 lb. capacity elevator. It also contained reading rooms, a dining room to seat 150, barber shop, and a ladies' parlor (Hufstetler 2006). The Bozeman Hotel Annex was built at the same time as the Hotel, in 1890, and served as rental retail space and offices. According to Cohen, Hancock, the architect of the building, "unified the hotel and annex with common architectural motifs and ornament...The present three storefronts of the three inter-related stores in the building, Caravan, Habitat and Rising Sun Leather Co., were designed by James Nave and Pete Stein and built by the same. The Caravan storefront as built in 1978, that of the Rising Sun Leather Co. around 1979-1980, and Habitat around 1981" (Cohen 1985). According to Historic Montana, "Three real estate firms [Ramsey & Perkins in one of the ground floor spaces, and Lindley& Smith, and Rickards & Lewis, in offices in the second floor (Cohen 1985)] were the original annex tenants, but by 1900 the Chronicle Publishing Company occupied one of the storefront bays. The firm eventually took over the entire ground floor where, from the turn of the century until 1977, daily issues of the Bozeman Chroni19cle were published [when the newspaper moved into newly built facilities on Mendenhall St. (Cohen 1985)." According to Hufstetler, "despite initial enthusiasm, the Hotel Bozeman floundered financially over the next several years, first under the management of George W. Wakerfield, and later others." The business did not weather the economic depression of the 1890s well and within 30 years, the Bozeman no longer met first class standards. At that time, planning began for another large, community- sponsored hotel, the Baxter, in 1928. In 1974, the first floor of the Bozeman Hotel was being used as a bus station and was extensively renovated into an shopping mall. According to Hufstetler, "very little interior historic fabric survived the renovation, the few exceptions being a carved stair (though it appears to have been moved), part of the pressed tin lobby ceiling, and several cast iron structural posts with Corinthian capitals. The entire building was sandblasted, and repainted with wide, gray mortar, rather than the original thin, tinted mortar. The balconies may have been removed at that time as well." The Bozeman Hotel and Annex continued to be used commercially, and as condo residential units in the upper stories of the hotel. MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 4 Information Sources/Bibliography Property Name: 307-321 E Main St Site Number: 24GA1739 INFORMATION SOURCES/BIBLIOGRAPHY Cohen, Matt 1985 Montana Historical and Architectural Inventory for Commercial National Bank, 307-321 E Main St., Revision. Document on-file with the City of Bozeman, MT. Historic Montana 2021 The Montana National Register Sign Program, "Bozeman Hotel Annex," Historic Montana. https://historicmt.org/items/show/560?tour=36&index=3, accessed 4 May 2021. James R. McDonald Architects 1984 307-321 E Main St. Montana Historical and Architectural Inventory Form. Document on-file with the City of Bozeman, MT. Montana State Library. Montana Cadastral records online, http://svc.mt.gov/msl/mtcadastral, accessed 4 May 2021. Renewable Technologies, Inc. [RTI] 2008 Bozeman Historic Resources Survey, revised ed. Prepared for planning Department, City of Bozeman, Bozeman, MT. MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 5 Statement of Significance Property Name: 307-321 E Main St Site Number: 24GA1739 NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES NRHP Listing Date: 1986 NRHP Eligibility: Yes No Individually Contributing to Historic District Noncontributing to Historic District NRHP Criteria: A B C D Area of Significance: Architecture Period of Significance: Historic More Than One Decade STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE The property at 307-321 E Main Street was previously recorded in 1984 by James R. McDonald Architects and subsequently listed in the NRHP as a contributing site within the Main Street Historic District (24GA0952). The site was visited again in 2006 by Mark Hufstetler, Renewable Technologies, Inc. who found that the site retained sufficient integrity to convey historic character. Metcalf finds that no major changes have occurred since 2006 and that both the Bozeman Hotel and its Annex still retain the same level of integrity. The site is currently listed in the NRHP as contributing to the Main Street Historic District and retains sufficient integrity to maintain its listed status. MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 6 Integrity Property Name: 307-321 E Main St Site Number: 24GA1739 INTEGRITY (location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, association) The site is in excellent condition, overall. Modern door on the entrances, and modern windows (openings intact) on the second floor of the hotel, and the small addition to the fifth floor turret area of the hotel affect integrity of materials, but other aspects are retained. MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 7 Photographs Property Name: 307-321 E Main St Site Number: 24GA1739 Feature # 1 Facing: NW Description: Site 24GA1739 (Property 236). Oblique view. (Image #1706, 10/31/2020. SLW) Feature # 1 Facing: W Description: Site 24GA1739 (Property 236). View of east elevation. (Image #1707, 10/31/2020. SLW) MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 8 Photographs Property Name: 307-321 E Main St Site Number: 24GA1739 Feature # 1 Facing: NE Description: Site 24GA1739 (Property 236). Oblique view of annex and hotel. (Image #1705, 10/31/2020. SLW) Feature # 1 Facing: N-NW Description: Site 24GA1739 (Property 236). View of primary façade of hotel and annex. (Image #1708, 10/31/2020. SLW) MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 9 Photographs Property Name: 307-321 E Main St Site Number: 24GA1739 Feature # 1 Facing: S Description: Site 24GA1739 (Property 236). View north elevation, rear of building. (Image #1710, 10/31/2020. SLW) Feature # 1 Facing: SE Description: Site 24GA1739 (Property 236). Oblique view. (Image #1712, 10/31/2020. SLW) MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 10 Site Map Property Name: 307-321 E Main St Site Number: 24GA1739 MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 11 Topographic Map Property Name: 307-321 E Main St Site Number: 24GA1739