BARICH BLOCK
The Barich Block, originally a saloon on the ground floor with apartments on the second floor, is one of the finer examples of Anaconda's early vernacular commercial brick buildings. It is a concrete expression of the desire of early Anaconda to be a legitimate western-urban entity. The fanciful combination of imported brick and local granite, the careful detailing of the principal façade, and the use of granite in pinnacle ornamentation is unique to this structure, although it fits a pattern of care and material use in Montana.
Anaconda was founded in 1883 as the site for Marcus Daly's new smelter-works. During the later 1880s and 1890s, the city expanded rapidly as immigrants flooded the town to work in the smelter. George Barich, the original owner of the Barich Block, served for a time as an agent for the North German Lloyd Steamship Company. Immigrants coming directly from their native land might be consigned to Barish's care upon arriving in Anaconda. Barich operated a saloon and "general" business in this building until 1910 when he retired to pursue his various mining interests. The Barich Block remains a fine example of the kind of commercial construction erected during the period of early growth and prosperity in the city of Anaconda.
From the NRHP Nomination Form
A third building in this district that has previously been listed in the National Register is the Barich Block at 412-416 East Park Avenue. The building features a glazed brick and granite façade that is separated into three bays by large brick pilasters ending in granite bartizans. The vernacular Victorian facade borrows elements from the Queen Anne, Italianate and Romanesque styles and features a semicircular parapet. The street level façade has been greatly altered; but the entrances appear to be in their original locations. The building was designed and constructed by expert brick masons Daniel Dwyer and John Cosgrove in 1892 as a one story building. In 1893, the second story and the current brick and granite façade was constructed.
The firm of Dwyer and Cosgrove constructed a number of large brick business houses and masonry residences in town, several of
which no longer remain. The building is named for George Barich, an Austrian immigrant and saloon/boardinghouse proprietor who
was well known in Anaconda for his generosity to immigrants, the active role he played in establishing St. Paul's Roman Catholic
Church (1888) and St. Peter's Austrian Roman Catholic Church (1898), and his leadership as the founder and first president of the St. Peter and Paul Lodge—a Slavic Fraternal Order established in 1887 and still active today.
416-20 East Park - Brick Front - Queen Anne - 1892 - Actual - Primary Significance
From the NRHP Continuation Sheet, Section 8, Page 8.