National Register of Historic Places
Montana State Capitol Campus Historic District
Helena, Lewis and Clark County, Montana
The record
- Listed
- February 23, 2016
- Type
- Historic district
- Address
- Bounded by E. Broadway & N. Carson Sts., E. 8th & N. Montana Aves., Helena
- County
- Lewis and Clark
- State
- Montana
- Contributing resources
- 12 buildings, 3 sites, 9 objects
- Coordinates
- 46.58673, -112.02025
- Reference number
- 16000033
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
USGS Historical Topographic Map CollectionUSGS Historical Topographic Map CollectionUSGS Historical Topographic Map CollectionUSGS Historical Topographic Map CollectionUSGS Historical Topographic Map Collection
The story
Written by AI from this property's National Register nomination and the record above; every sentence is checked against its sources before it appears here. Corrections: privacy@treealive.com
The Montana State Capitol Campus Historic District is a district in Helena, Lewis and Clark County, bounded by East Broadway and North Carson Streets and East Eighth Street and North Montana Avenue, listed in the National Register in 2016. Its buildings date from 1899-1902 to 1999-2000, in styles ranging from Neoclassical Revival to Brutalism and Postmodern.
Why it's listed
It was listed under criteria B and D, with state-level significance in architecture and politics/government. Its significance runs from 1978 to 1980.
Physical character
Walls range from Indiana limestone and brick to concrete masonry and aluminum curtain wall, under roofs of copper and built-up membrane. Features include a monumental staircase, rounded fanlight with three concentric semicircles of lights, and fluted pilotis. Windows were replaced around 1987 in an energy retrofit and again around 2014, in metal sashes with dark reflective glass and one-over-one wood sashes. An addition was built in 1974, and in 1993 the entrance was altered with an ADA-compliant ramp; the staircase was renovated and the roof given a new membrane in 2004.
Historical context
Gold was found at Last Chance Gulch in 1864; Helena became territorial capital in 1875 and state capital in 1894. The Montana Highway Patrol had offices in the campus during the 1930s. Capitol Park development began in 1971 with a long-range plan in 1972, was authorized in 1977, and completed in 1980.