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Home My WebLink About118 E Main St 2021 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: 118 E Main St Historic Address (if applicable): City/Town: Bozeman Site Number: 204 Historic District Number (if applicable): 24GA0952 County: Gallatin Historic Name: Cooper Block/Black Building Original Owner(s): N. Ford, Walter Cooper, Cal. Block, W. L. Perkins Current Ownership Private Public Current Property Name: Owner(s): BCA RE LLC Owner Address: 118 E Main St, Bozeman, MT 59715-4766 Phone: Legal Location PM: Montana Township: 2S Range: 6E SW ¼ SE ¼ NW ¼ of Section: 7 Lot(s): Lot 5 Block(s): Block B Addition: Bozeman Original Plat Year of Addition: 1870 USGS Quad Name: Bozeman Year: 1987 Historic Use: Commercial Current Use: Commercial Construction Date: 1872 Estimated Actual Original Location Moved Date Moved: UTM Reference www.nris.mt.gov NAD 27 or NAD 83 (preferred) Zone: 12 N Easting: 497264.2 Northing: 5058382.24 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 (see below). Date of this document: 04/26/2021 Form Prepared by: S. Wells and E. Sakariassen, Metcalf Archaeological Consultants Inc. with C. Alegria and C. Hendry, Extreme History Project 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 the Main Street Historic District (24GA0952) and is individually eligible. MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 2 Architectural Description Property Name: 118 E Main St Site Number: 204 ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION Architectural Style: Romanesque If Other, specify: Property Type: Commerce Specific Property Type: Antique store and eye clinic Architect: Allen Architectural Firm/City/State: Builder/Contractor: Crowell (brickwork) & Jamieson (carpentry) Company/City/State: Bozeman Source of Information: McDonald 1984 This site consists of one historical architectural feature: a commercial structure built ca. 1872. It was previously recorded in 1984 by James R. McDonald Architects, and subsequently included in the Main Street Historic District (24GA0952) as a contributing property in 1986. McDonald described the structure as follows: "This attached two-story commercial structure has a rectangular plan with one of the three storefront sections featuring a Carrara glass design by Fred Willson in the Art Moderne style. The asymmetrical façade has three front entrances with storefront windows at street level and the second floor consists of seven bays (originally there were eleven, four having been removed at the western end of the building) each with an arched window. There is brick corbelling and brick arched keystones over the windows, and a small arched window in the cornice frieze above each window bay. The structure is constructed of local brick and sits parallel to the street. A new cornice has replaced the older corbeled cornice and the street level façade, except for the one store with original Carrara glass, has been remodeled beyond recognition." Metcalf revisited the site on November 7, 2020 and noted some changes since the 1984 survey. The primary north facing façade has been altered slightly above Bozeman Optical (western end of building, includes 3 windows on second floor) in order to give the appearance of a slightly different building above this business. The only observable change is the brickwork border right below the roof line, and the replaced windows (3 most western windows, openings intact) with new 2/2 single-hung. Everything else below this border has remain unchanged including the storefront façade with the original Carrara glass. Even the front door (centered under middle of the three second story windows) is the same just with fresh paint. The south elevation (back end) of the western end is completely new, remodeled, and now extends further out past the eastern half of the building. This western half of the building is in excellent condition, but completely modern. The Downtown Antiques' (the business in the eastern half of the building, includes the four eastern window bays on the second floor) second story has remained unchanged. The flat cornice band above the storefront windows and entrances has since been removed and replaced with a strip of modern rectangular windows in black metal framing. The two remaining entrances still sit on either side of the two storefronts, but are both entrances to the antique store which occupies both store spaces. The storefronts now have the same brick façade. This eastern half of the building is in good condition. Chipped, peeling paint around the windows on second floor (which appear to be the same from McDonald's survey), and the brick is more distressed than western half. The site remains in good condition. MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 3 History of Property Property Name: 118 E Main St Site Number: 204 HISTORY OF PROPERTY This site is one of Bozeman’s early brick commercial buildings. According to Matt Cohen’s 1985 addition to the site documentation, it is in fact the earliest remining commercial block in the Main Street Historic District—predating others by a decade. He further claims, “the Cooper/Block Building is overall perhaps the single most significant historic building in the district.” It “represents the optimism of Bozeman's early entrepreneurs that the town would, in a region accustomed to 'boom-bust' cycles of growth and decline, remain a permanent settlement despite uncertainties about the Indian threat and the progress of the Northern Pacific railroad. In addition to its relevance to the earliest period of Bozeman's history, the building displays the only significant example of Carrara glass storefront in the city, designed by Fred F. Willson. The storefront is one of only three storefronts in the district that date from the 1930's-1940. The building was reduced in width by about one-third in 1972.” Cohen also describes the alterations over time: “Originally eleven bays wide, the building was reduced to only seven bays in 1972, when the First National Bank (104 E. Main) expanded to the east, as far as the Carrara glass storefront of what was still Roecher's Drug store. The original, ornate corbelled cornice, very similar to that of Harper's shop, has been removed and replaced by a simple flush brick cornice. The most striking feature which has been lost was an arcade of round headed, key stoned openings, one in each of the eleven bays, that spanned the first floor (The Tivoli Beer Hall, 1881, 17 E. Main, originally had a similar, 4-bay, segmental arched arcade, which has also been lost). Two clues to the original presence of the arcade include the small, round headed blind knee wall windows that once echoed them, (also found on the Harper Shop), and the round headed, corbelled brick surround the door to the adjacent Saunders Building (1924, 124-126 E Main), certainly intended by architect Fred Willson to continue the rhythm of the first floor arcade of this building. The hood moldings that once capped this 11-baay arcade were very similar in detail to those of the three arched openings of the Harper Shop.” Among past occupants of this building were: Ford & Patterson's Meat Market, Walter Cooper's Armory and Gun Manufactory, W.W. Morris Drug Store, L.M. Black's mercantile business, and a family market run by W.L. Perkins and Mr. Stone. Tate & Smith ran a meat market here alongside Cooper's Armory, while the upper floor was used as a society hall for Odd Fellows, and for Masons (Bozeman Lodge #18). Roecher's Drug, which dates back to at least as early as the 1920's in this building, remodeled their storefront in 1940. In the 1930's, this storefront, which may have been desined by Fred Willson, displayed the first use of neon lighting in the city, in the form of strip lighting for the window display. The drug store operated here until the 1970's, and was followed by the Wine Merchant. According to the Montana Cadastral, the building underwent remodeling in 2003. This included the interior office spaces, the primary storefront façade of the eastern half, as well as the modern addition off the western southern elevation. Currently the western half of the building is occupied by Bozeman Optical, while the eastern half is occupied by Downtown Antiques. MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 4 History of Property Property Name: 118 E Main St Site Number: 204 INFORMATION SOURCES/BIBLIOGRAPHY Cohen, Matt 1985 Montana Historical and Architectural Inventory for Commercial National Bank, 118 E Main St., Revision. Document on file with the Montana SHPO Office, Helena, Montana. James R. McDonald Architects 1984 118 E Main St. Montana Historical and Architectural Inventory Form. Document on-file with the City of Bozeman. Bozeman, MT. Montana State Library. Montana Cadastral records online, http://svc.mt.gov/msl/mtcadastral, accessed 04/27/2021. MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 5 Information Sources/Bibliography Property Name: 118 E Main St Site Number: 204 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: Period of Significance: Historic More Than One Decade STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE The property at 118 East Main Street was previously recorded in 1984 by James R. McDonald Architects, and subsequently included as a contributing property within the 1986 Main Street Historic District (24GA0952). Remodeling modifications in 2003 have continued affected integrity of design, feeling, workmanship, and materials to a degree. However, Metcalf finds that it still retains some integrity to convey historic character. Sect. 38.700 of the Bozeman Municipal Code defines an eligible property as one that meets the criteria for inclusion in the NRHP or State Register either 1) individually or 2) as a contributing building to an existing or potential historic district. This site has been evaluated against the NRHP Criteria. It is currently listed as a contributing site within the Main Street Historic District (24GA0952). Based on its historic associations with some of Bozeman's important historical figures including Col. L.M. Black, Walter Cooper, Col. Ford, W.W. Morris, and W.L. Perkins and its status as the earliest commercial building on Main Street, Metcalf recommends that in addition to its contributing status within the Main Street Historic District, the property is also individually eligible for inclusion in the NRHP under Criterion B and C. MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 6 Statement of Significance Property Name: 118 E Main St Site Number: 204 INTEGRITY (location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, association) The site is in good to excellent condition. The modification to the western half's primary façade brick work, and the eastern half's remodeled storefront affect integrity of design, feeling, workmanship, and materials to a degree. MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 7 Integrity Property Name: 118 E Main St Site Number: 204 Feature # 1 Facing: S-SE Description: Property 204. Semi-oblique view of primary façade. (Image #1758, 11/07/2020. SLW) Feature # 1 Facing: NW Description: Property 204. Oblique view of western half of rear of building. (Image #1772, 11/07/2020. SLW) MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 8 Photographs Property Name: 118 E Main St Site Number: 204 Feature # 1 Facing: N Description: Property 204. View of eastern half of rear of building (recessed section and low storage section). (Image #1771, 11/07/2020. SLW) MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 9 Photographs Property Name: 118 E Main St Site Number: 204 MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 10 Site Map Property Name: 118 E Main St Site Number: 204