Filed Under Butte

1135 West Mercury

Butte National Historic Landmark District

Irish immigrant Charles Jenks was the first resident of this elaborate Craftsman style bungalow. Jenks, his wife Lena, and their small daughter moved into the new residence in 1916. As a cashier at the Anaconda Copper Mining Company, Jenks was a skilled accountant, but his ambitions stretched beyond the company and he moved to California in 1918. Subsequent owners included Stewart A. Leggat, owner of an automobile garage, and the Richard E. Sawyer family. Sawyer came to Butte from Great Falls in the mid-1920s to become the general manager for the Ardsley Butte Mines Corp. By 1930, the Sawyers and their nine-member extended family filled the modest home. In 1938, Sylvanus and Marie White and their two daughters moved in. Mrs. White, an officer of the Butte Garden Club, landscaped the yard with many perennials that survive today. The home displays all the characteristics of the bungalow style: a gable roof, exposed rafters, bracketed eaves, rusticated chimneys, and varied surface textures. The decorative brick of the stairway repeats in the retaining wall shared with its contemporary neighbors.

Images

1135 West Mercury
1135 West Mercury 1135 West Mercury (PAc 91-51 B2 RollLB09 F17). Side to front view of the house, facing northeast on West Mercury Street. B&W. Source: Montana State Historic Preservation Office from the Photograph Archives at the Montana Historical Society Creator: Linda Bell Date: 1984
1135 West Mercury
1135 West Mercury 1135 West Mercury (PAc 91-51 B2 RollLB09 F18). Front view of the house, facing north on West Mercury Street. B&W. Source: Montana State Historic Preservation Office from the Photograph Archives at the Montana Historical Society Creator: Linda Bell Date: 1984
1135 West Mercury, Butte
1135 West Mercury, Butte View of facade Source: iPhone 8 photo, jpeg format Creator: Martha Kohl, photographer Date: June 26, 2021

Location

1135 West Mercury Street, Butte, Montana | Private

Metadata

The Montana National Register Sign Program, “1135 West Mercury,” Historic Montana, accessed March 29, 2024, https://historicmt.org/items/show/2004.