Board of Health Building - Montana State Capitol Campus Historic District - Helena, MT - NRHP Historic Districts - Contributing Buildings on Waymarking.com

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Board of Health Building - Montana State Capitol Campus Historic District - Helena, MT

in NRHP Historic Districts - Contributing Buildings

Posted by:  T0SHEA

12T E 422030 N 5159523

Built in 1919-1920, the old Board of Health Building was the second building on the campus to house a government department outside the capitol building.

Another building designed by Link and Haire, this Neo-classical Revival / Italian Renaissance Revival was one of two early additions to the campus, the other, the Livestock Building, being built the year previous, of around the same size and having the same general appearance and style, designed by the same architectural firm.

The board of Health has long since vacated the building, leaving it to the State Historical Preservation Office of the Montana Historical Society and the Montana Commission On Community Service.

Board of Health Building

Board of Health Building (24LC2375), 1919-1920 (Contributing Building)
The Board of Health Building was designed by Link & Haire in a restrained revivalist style that combines elements of the Italian Renaissance Revival and Neoclassical Revival. It is a three-story, reinforced concrete building clad in blond-colored brick. Structural clay tile was also utilized for many of its exterior and interior walls. The building has a 65’ x 40’ rectangular footprint, with the longer elevations facing north and south. It sits atop a granite foundation, which is visible on all four elevations, and has a flat built-up roof hidden by a parapet wall. An approximately 30’ x 20’ half-story penthouse is centered on the roof.

Unless otherwise specified, all window openings hold one-over-one light, double hung wood replacement sashes that closely match the building’s original windows. Ornamentation on the Board of Health Building includes granite coping and window sills, terra cotta detailing and decorative brickwork. All wood and metal components (window sashes, jambs, doors, fire exits, etc.) have been painted dark brown to contrast with the building’s blond-colored brick walls.

The 13’-wide entrance vestibule has a gable roof hidden by a trapezoidal-shaped parapet capped with granite coping. A single course of soldier bricks is found immediately under the coping. Originally, the building’s rounded main entrance held double wood doors with multiple lights, but those have been replaced by a single metal-framed glass door with sidelights. The entrance does, however, retain its original rounded fanlight consisting of three concentric semicircles of lights radiating from a central light with a rounded top. Wood muntins separate the lights.

Finally, there is brick circle centered above the entrance. It contains four square brick blocks arranged in a diamond and is flanked by granite panels, each of which is inscribed with a “19” to mark the building’s 1919 construction date.
From the NRHP Continuation Sheet