Built as a brewery, almost immediately closed, then reopened nearly three decades later, this brewery managed to produce Rocky Mountain Beer until 1955. Now a commercial/retail building, it was a purveyor of furniture instead of beer until August 26th of 2013, when its tenant, Black Dog Furniture, closed its doors. Apparently, the building is presently unoccupied.
This brewery was built at a time that bricks were looked upon as artistic elements, not simply construction materials. The many reliefs created by the many depths of brickwork create a very interesting exterior surface. Dentils at both the cornice and beltine, large crosses, circular brickwork of multiple depths around porthole windows and multiple columns and posts with caps simulated with protruding bricks all add to the visual appeal of the building.
An architecturally impressive landmark and gateway to Anaconda’s east side, the Washoe Brewery symbolizes the private enterprise that flourished in this company town. The imposing Italian Renaissance-inspired brewery with its signature corner tower is a bold reminder of an industry important to Anaconda’s residents. It also represents an intriguing, unsolved corporate mystery. In 1904, the upstart manager/vice president of the Anaconda Brewing Company (ABC) suddenly resigned his position to establish a rival brewery. Despite William Haltonhoff’s resignation, he oddly remained ABC’s manager during construction of the $80,000 Washoe Brewery, completed in August of 1905. The ABC purchased the Washoe in December for $81,000 and shut it down. The building was subsequently long unoccupied. After Prohibition in 1933, the Washoe reopened under A. J. Tuchscherer, producing Rocky Mountain Beer until 1955. The brewery’s boardinghouse and bottling works are now separate properties, but the gable-front house and wagon barn remain intact. The brewery itself, little changed over time, is of primary significance to Goosetown’s historic neighborhoods.
From the NRHP Plaque