Filed Under Butte

111 West Copper Street

Butte National Historic Landmark District

Built in the shadow of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company’s sprawling Original and Gagnon mines, boarding houses and apartments once crowded along this block. The Scandinavian Methodist Episcopal Church occupied the second story of a rooming house on the corner of Copper and Alaska, reflecting the neighborhood’s ethnic mix. This shotgun style duplex, constructed in 1916, represents the last phase of Butte’s growth when housing was at a premium and copper miners had received a twenty-five cent per day pay raise. Buff-colored terra-cotta brick veneer with a striking, diamond-patterned, crenellated parapet and a two-story walk-up porch with simple wood railings make a visually stunning statement. A row of ornamental red brick above the doors and windows and quoin-like corners accent the buff-colored façade. By the 1920s, copper miner Albert L. Bush was the owner and ground floor occupant while Fannie Dreyfuss, widow of copper miner Julius, was his long-term upstairs tenant. An innovative roll-away bed stored beneath the adjacent bathroom floor slides out from a built-in buffet, maximizing the small second-floor living space.

Images

111 West Copper Street
111 West Copper Street 111 West Copper Street (PAc 91-51 B1 RollCBD01 F19). Front to side view of the building, facing north to northeast on West Copper Street near the corner of West Copper and North Alaska Street. 409 Alaska is seen in the background to the right in the photograph. B&W. Source: Montana State Historic Preservation Office from the Photograph Archives at the Montana Historical Society Creator: Photographer unidentified Date: 1985

Location

111 West Copper Street, Butte, Montana | Private

Metadata

The Montana National Register Sign Program, “111 West Copper Street,” Historic Montana, accessed March 28, 2024, https://historicmt.org/items/show/2370.