Stonework of native limestone showcases the masonry skills of Barry Antich, who built this home for his wife Katie and their five children in 1893. The circular ornamentation in the wooden window insets is characteristic of Helena’s early architecture. The Antichs came from Croatian Austria, and like other established immigrants in the neighborhood, they took in new arrivals. In 1900, the Antichs’ four male boarders were all recently from Austria and worked as laborers at the East Helena smelter. Antich worked there, too. The economic depression that halted construction in the 1890s forced him to find other jobs until the building trade revitalized in the early 1900s. In 1912, Frank Polich, who came from Czechoslovakia with his brothers, married the Antichs’ daughter, Elizabeth. By the 1920s, the couple and their two teenage children had moved in with the Antichs. Elizabeth Polich continued to live in the house built by her father until her death in 1975. The sturdy home continues to reflect the strong work ethic and modest lifestyle typical of south-central Helena’s hard-working emigrant families.
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