A contributor to the Lewistown Courthouse Historic District, The Broadway presently gives the appearance of a building that has fallen on hard times, but things are looking up. A little bit Classical, with Spanish Colonial influences, the Broadway Apartments came into being in 1913 as an upper-middle class apartment building for young professionals and newlyweds. Built with two stories of red brick atop a ground floor and foundation of Lewistown sandstone, the apartment remained operational for 73 years. Neither its architect not its builder are known today.
With 18 units, six on each of its three floors, The Broadway closed in 1986 and became littered with flotsam and jetsam over the next several years, while a certain amount of internal demolition work took place, removing interior wall coverings and fixtures. In 2015 a chimney collapsed, taking out part of a back wall. The next year, in 2016, the
Montana Preservation Alliance took over the building with an eye to restoring it into an apartment building once again, with the aid of some grant money from the state. The ultimate goal is to repair and renovate to a certain extent and find an investor willing to buy the building then operate it as apartments condominiums, or similar.
The Broadway
A massive three-story apartment "block" with a flat roof. The lower story is cut stone and the upper two stories are common bond brick. The center third of the front facade (northeast elevation) is recessed slightly and continues up past the roof line to culminate in a curvilinear "spanish colonial" gable (derived from Flemish tuitgevel) or pediment. An oculus window and the name "Broadway" are expressed in this pediment. The remaining two-thirds of the facade and the ends of the building have a heavy cornice resting on renaissance "beam ends" with a short section of brick parapet wall above. The parapet is stepped with rectangular projections centering on both the end walls and the portion of the sidewalls that are projected beyond the recessed entry; it is capped with a concrete coping. Wood double hung 1/1 windows serve the apartments; they are expressed in pairs with a wood mullion between. Window lintels are cut stone with dressed dripstone above, and window sills are dressed stone. A dressed stone belt course separates the cut stone first floor from the brick floors above. The back of the structure is brick.
This property is significant because it represents a period of rapid growth in Lewistown due to the phenomenal homestead influx into Central Montana. Although one hundred new homes and several large commercial buildings were constructed in 1915, it was difficult to find even the most "indifferent" housing.
The Lewistown Improvement Company was one of many such corporations formed for the purpose of meeting the rapidly increasing housing demands in the "New City". Articles of Incorporation were filed June 7, 1912, by George M. Stone, Bernard E. Stack, Arthur A. Stapleton., Fred H. Robinson and Thomas L. Pittman.
The building has a hand cut stone foundation, compatible with many others of the period, and is a good example of the move from vernacular stone buildings to more "sophisticated" materials and design.
From the NRHP Registration Form, Site 028