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Butte-Silver Bow awards more than $734,000 to revitalize six historic buildings

John Emeigh

butte farmers market returning to uptown butte

By: MTN News

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BUTTE — Butte-Silver Bow's Community Development Department is awarding more than $734,000 in grant funding to revitalize six historic buildings in the area.

The money comes from the National Park Service's Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization Program. Local property owners will use the grants to rehabilitate buildings that have significant cultural value to the Butte community.

Historic Preservation Officer Kate McCourt said the focus was on projects that would make the biggest impact. McCourt said the grants will save underutilized buildings and bring new commercial endeavors to the area. The funding will also create housing for Butte's growing workforce.

Community Development Director Karen Byrnes said the selection process was not easy. Byrnes said the department received many worthy applications before narrowing them down to six final projects.

“We received many worthy applications,” said Byrnes. “It was tough to make the final decisions. We chose six projects that we know will make Butte proud.

Projects include:

- Stella’s Vu Villa Bar & Pizzeria, $200,000. With this funding, critical structural and life safety issues will be addressed. This work will enable the development of residential and commercial rental units on the historic Vu Villa vacant second floor.

- The Thornton Hotel, $184,000. HRP funding will restore the 1890 Thornton Hotel’s historic windows, repair its storefront, brickwork, and common spaces, and stabilize the property. The completed project will deliver a 16-room boutique hotel and multiple first-floor commercial spaces that support small businesses, create jobs, and invite new life into East Broadway.

- The Elks Building, $160,000. HRP funding will give the Elks building an elevator, by utilizing an existing shaft to make all three underutilized floors accessible and allow for the development of the third floor into apartments for housing Butte’s workforce. HRP funds will help prepare the hoist, wire the space, and purchase the cab and equipment for the elevator itself.

- The Myra Building, $92,362. The Myra was a tin shop and brothel that was preserved as a time capsule in Butte. With this funding, the exterior restoration of the original wood windows, a new TPO roof and gutter system, and brick repointing will be completed. On the interior, plumbing upgrades in the bathroom and installation of a kitchenette will provide accommodation for overnight guests and make this an economically viable building that can be preserved in the long term.

- The Isle of Books (historically the Southern Hotel), $62,500. Isle of Books will use HRP funds to complete critical infrastructure restoration, including electrical updates, commercial plumbing and an ADA-accessible bathroom, foundation stabilization, and add a heating system. This funding will open up the currently vacant upper floors of the building to create a vibrant literary and cultural center for Butte.

- Walkerville Mercantile (historic Caplice & McCune Mercantile/Old North Church), $36,000. HRP funds will provide the materials to assist in the final push of restoring
this 1881 mercantile and bringing it back to life as a community hub to service local residents who currently have to travel for groceries. Materials include ceramic tile, paint, insulation (in the basement, where food preparation requires finished surfaces as well as improved heating), drywall, and reintroduced wainscoting in the common spaces, where a fragment remains to be replicated.

1) Name: Stella’s Vu Villa Bar & Pizzeria

Address: 521 W. Park Street, Butte, Montana 59701
Award: $200,000
Scope of Work: This grant application addresses structural and life safety issues in Butte’s historic Vu Villa. A four-phase adaptive reuse project has been planned to create five market-rate residential and commercial rental units on the vacant second floor. Grant funding will address internal structural upgrades for code compliance, and three exterior repair items that are becoming urgent. Internal upgrades include replacement of deteriorating foundations and basement structural members, lateral and floor deflection corrections on both floors, and other items for seismic and fire safety code compliance. One of these structural work items, second-floor lateral reinforcement, covers only the front half of the building to control costs and make the build-out of residential units possible at the conclusion of the grant-funded project. The new rental income will then contribute to the subsequent, post-grant, build-out phases. Grant-funded repair items on the building’s exterior include deteriorated rear wall masonry, the historically significant front balcony, and the historically significant front sign.