High transom windows that provide interior light for a mezzanine commercial display area are an interesting design feature of this well-constructed commercial building. The simple chain-patterned ornamentation of buff brick across the tall parapet continues the rhythm of the district’s historic streetscape. James Plunkett moved his plumbing and hardware business to an earlier building at this location after 1909, and by 1917 he had completed this masonry replacement. During the 1930s, avid Red Lodge bowlers enjoyed a basement four-lane bowling alley accessed by the rear entrance. Surviving portions of the alleys and both women’s and men’s rooms reveal that women players, new to the sport in the 1930s, were welcomed. Today the building houses important historic photographic collections of the Red Lodge area, which current owners have made available to the public.
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