Missoula architect C. J. Forbis ushered in a new campus building phase in 1935 with the construction of this student union. The building’s placement and modern Art Deco façade broke ranks with the Renaissance Revival style called for in the old Carsley-Gilbert campus master plan. The old plan had contained no such facility, and the new building was sited contrary to the previous symmetrical campus arrangement. Partially funded by Public Works Administration funds so important to the university during the Depression, in concept and form the building provided an architectural statement of renewed vigor and growth. It now serves as the Fine Arts Building.
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