Butte News

Victorian era architecture revealed in uptown Butte

Posted: Feb 6, 2013 7:52 PM by Katy Harris KXLF News
Updated: Feb 7, 2013 7:32 AM

BUTTE-A car that crashed into a building on the corner of Park and Montana street has brought back a piece of history.

Victorian era cast iron pillars are now showing in place of the brick that once covered them.

"There was some stretcher brick was put over it to give it a more modern looking facade and this is what they covered over so when the car hit it, it knocked a bunch of the brick off, exposing this pillar," says Silver Bow Property Manager Robert Edwards.

Last Thursday a vehicle drove into the Hilltop Marketplace, located at 146 West Park Street.
The crash created a mess of dust, glass and brick for the store owners.
It also revealed the columns that were popular between the 1890's to 1920's.

Silver Bow Property Management says a photo from around 1895 shows the pillars in it's original form.

The cast iron pillars were covered with this stretch brick around the 1960's to make it more energy efficient.

"That was probably part of it was to reduce the amount of glass, reduce the amount of maintenance that would happen on that, and reduce the amount of energy it would take to heat the space," says Edwards.

There could be more columns around the perimeter of the building.
Edwards hopes they'll be seen also.

"That's ultimately what we're aiming for at this point is to bring it back to a store front very similar. Money is a big portion of that," he adds.

It's up to the property owner if he would want to finance a project to restore the building to a more original look.
Edwards says the Urban Revitalization Agency could also become a player in the project.

Edwards adds that the grocery store in the photo was reportedly the first self serve grocery store in the United States.