One of five buildings erected on North Last Chance Gulch following the 1928 fire, the Beaux Arts styled Lalonde Building is somewhat classical in design, with rich embellishment on its facade, consisting primarily of strings of garlands of fruit and shields. At the stepped pediment are several ornate shields and ogee brackets, below which are a line of terra cotta panels and larger panel with the name
LALONDE. Below that is a series of shields, below which is a string of alternating garlands and shields. Over one entrance is a low arched classical portico over a doorway with substantial terra cotta embellishment.
Over the years the building has housed many businesses and organizations, two notable ones being the Montana Chamber of Mines, an organization designed to develop and encourage the mining industry in the state, which moved into the building in July of 1933, and the office of the Republicans of Montana. The ad to the right is one of many placed by the Republicans while their offices were in the Lalonde Building, this one on October 21, 1948.
The Lalonde Building stands in the centre of the five buildings erected after the 1928 fire, which was started by lightning on July 14 of that year, taking out all of the west side of the block on North Last Chance Gulch except the Power Block, on the north end. From north to south, the five are: Gold Block - 1929, New York Store - 1929, Lalonde Building - 1928, Granite Building - 1928,
Hartwig Building - 1928.
Buildings erected on N. Main following the 1928 fire
These buildings exhibit the influences of Art Moderne, Beaux Arts and Mission style design in the work of George Carsley, John G. Link and Charles S. Haire. Replacing the three to five-story buildings which burned on these sites, these two-story, one-part and two-part plans reflect harsher economic conditions in Helena as the Great Depression approached.
From the NRHP Registration Form