Filed Under Butte

St. Francis Apartments

Butte National Historic Landmark District

An open balcony adds architectural interest to this brick apartment building, constructed circa 1912 by the proprietress of the adjacent Parisian Dye Works, Maria Paumie Rimboud. Madame Rimboud was born in Paris and always spoke French with her employees. She brought a new method of cleaning when she came to Butte in 1889 to establish the town’s first dry cleaning business. Her first husband died in 1899 and by 1910, she had married Constant Rimboud, proprietor of the Butte Dye Works. The couple lived next door at 60 West Galena and continued to manage their separate businesses into the 1920s. A series of additions link this address with the Paumie cleaning business to the north. A bracketed metal cornice, arched windows with granite keystones and sills, leaded glass transoms, and a polygonal side bay are attractive elements of the simplified bay-fronted flats that were built to provide multifamily housing during periods of rapid population growth. In 1915, the Francis Cafe occupied the ground floor, and for a short time in 1916, Madame Rimboud herself lived in the building.

Images

St. Francis Apartments
St. Francis Apartments facade Source: Montana Historical Society Creator: Bryan Baldwin Date: August 8, 2022
St Francis Apartments
St Francis Apartments Southwest corner view Source: Montana Historical Society Creator: Unknown Date: Unknown
St. Francis Apartments
St. Francis Apartments St. Francis Apartments (PAc 91-51 B1 RollCBD05 F09). Front to side view of the building, facing east on South Dakota Street. B&W. Source: Montana State Historic Preservation Office from the Photograph Archives at the Montana Historical Society Creator: Photographer unidentified Date: 1985

Location

110 South Dakota Street, Butte, Montana | Private

Metadata

The Montana National Register Sign Program, “St. Francis Apartments,” Historic Montana, accessed March 28, 2024, https://historicmt.org/items/show/1903.