Montana Historical and Architectural Inventory (Site # 177)

Address:	505 W. Main
Ownership Name:	Montana Power Company
Historic Name:	Bank Electric Building
Common Name:	Bank Electric Building
Date of Construction:	1913
Architect:	Wasmansdorff & Eastman
Builder:	Seerie Brothers, Denver, Co.
Original Owner:	National Realty Co. of Lewistown
Original Use:	Bank Electric Offices
Present Use:	Montana Power Offices

Physical Description:

Known as the Bank Electric Block, this major downtown building is a four-story flat roof masonry structure with terracotta entablature, terracotta belt course above the first floor, and terracotta appointments. The first floor is of exaggerated height and penetrations of this floor are monumental, although proportional scale is the same as upper windows. Corner window bays are projected slightly and create paired low-relief pilasters at each corner. The entablature includes a crested coping, foliated antefixa at each corner, and two cartouches on the northwest elevation containing the initials "B/E". the cornice is lightly detailed with mutules below and the frieze is a series of recessed panels adorned with engaged terracotta "lion-heads" above the corner bay pilasters. The architrave is a narrow linear element set off from the frieze by a rounded projection with an egg and dart pattern applied. Upper floor windows are deeply recessed, rectangular, and in a flush wall. A series of low-relief brick panels occurs in spandrel areas below each window. There are also terracotta architraves around corner windows only, and all windows have a terracotta sill. Brick pilasters are quoined on all levels. The base of the wall is a series of dressed stone plinths below pilasters and lightly colored brick panels below the monumental windows. The terracotta belt course between first and upper floors is wide and linear with subtle corbeling at the top and bottom. The egg and dart motif repeats at the upper corbel of this band. The back of the building is brick. This structure does qualify for register listing under Criteria C.

Historical Significance:

This property is significant because it is associated with persons important in local history and illustrates development patterns in Central Montana.

The First National Bank, organized in 1904 under the National Bank Act, to become the "lusty offspring" of the Judith Basin Bank (est. 1899).

Bankers generally sought the development of the region both as merchants and as landholders, as they remained dependent upon the farmers’ prosperity, while the land agent lost interest when the transaction was completed. The interest of bankers in real estate was not simply that of normal banking operation, but that of businessmen engaged in multiple ventures. Many Lewistown bankers were not only large landholders, but were involved in private land office businesses and in organizations dedicated to promoting the dry land acres of Central Montana.

Over four million acres in public land were settled in the Lewistown district between 1900 and 1913, and Lewistown served as the commercial center for the influx of landseekers.

The First National Bank and the Montana Power Company, growing with the town, retained the services of the local firm of Wasmansdorff and Eastman to design the Bank-Electric Building. One hundred homes and at least a dozen large commercial buildings were constructed in Lewistown during 1913, and the Bank Electrical Building stands as a visible sign of the development and prosperity of the community during this period.

Officers of the bank at the time of construction were: David Hilger, President; George M. Stone, Vice President; W. J. Johnson, cashier; and John P. Schmit, assistant cashier.

Integrity:

The building has had windows and doors replaced and a marquee removed. The remaining construction is original and the structure occupies its original site. Because of its size and its location on the upper east end of Main Street, it serves to further define the central business district.