Bakke also saw fit to give the building a rather regal entranceway, set well back within a large polished stone arch. To each side is a tall fluted column with large capitals supporting the deep arch. Within the arch is another stone arch comprising the door frame. Above the door is a transom fully as tall as the door itself, with an engraved stone header and a multipaned arched window above.
Completion of this facility in 1922 provided the School of Forestry a permanent home. In the Renaissance Revival style specified by Carsley-Gilbert’s master plan, Missoula architect Ole Bakke designed a distinctive building that vividly proclaims its discipline. Simple lines enhance the beautiful green pine and ax emblem repeated in terra cotta thirty-seven times around the building. Murals within depicting the history of forestry in Montana by Helena artist Irvin “Shorty” Shope further individualize this unique facility. The building’s only significant alteration is a greenhouse added in 1951, named in memory of six students who perished fighting the 1949 Mann Gulch fire.
From the NRHP Plaque