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 Metals Bank - Butte, MT Posted by:  T0SHEA
N 46° 00.768 W 112° 32.134
12T E 381125 N 5096615
When built the Metals Bank, financed by Augustus Heinze, one of the four "Copper Kings" of Butte, was the tallest building in Butte, remaining so for many years.
Waymark Code: WMWF5P
Location: Montana, United States
Date Posted: 08/26/2017
Views: 1
No longer a bank, the building today offers just one of the many unique opportunities one will find in Butte for an experience one is unlikely to find anywhere else. In this case it is the opportunity to dine inside a huge bank vault, the 64,000 pound door of which remains in place, in case one wishes total privacy while dining.
Weighing in at 32 tons, the Metals Bank vault steel door stands 10 feet tall and is more than a foot thick. It took 36 horses and two days to haul the massive door from the Northern Pacific railroad yards in Butte to its final destination in the late 1880s. The vault still remains one of Butte's magnificent achievements. Today anyone can dine in inside the vault at Metals Sports Bar & Grill, Park and Main. The restaurant was once the bank lobby. The eight-story Metals Bank building -- made of steel, brick and stone -- was designed by Cass Gilbert in 1906 for the State Savings Bank. A portion of the south end sits on the site of the old Theater Comique.
From the Montana Standard
METALS BANK
The strength of Butte’s early financial community is well represented in this monumental steel, brick, and stone skyscraper completed in 1906. Copper king F. Augustus Heinze financed the $325,000 bank building, incorporating the newest steel-frame and curtain-wall construction techniques. Nationally renowned architect Cass Gilbert (1859-1934) drew the blueprints and Montana architects Link and Haire supervised the local work. Gilbert’s best known work is New York City’s sixty-story Woolworth Building (1913) and the U.S. Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C. (1932-1935). One of Montana’s first skyscrapers, the Metals’ eight floors add significantly to Butte’s urban skyline. A copper-trimmed entry complements the gray stone. Above, brick walls and stone arches culminate at the sixth floor. Ornate wrought iron balconies punctuate the second and seventh floors. An open wrought-iron staircase carries this element inside, where copper-trimmed windows with African mahogany frames and a marble-walled elevator lobby reflect 1906 Butte’s wealth. A huge polished steel bank vault recalls the building’s first use.
From the NRHP plaque at the building
Describe the area and history:
Don't stand there reading the sign, go inside and have a meal in the bank vault.
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