Appleton House No. 9 - Helena, MT
Posted by: Groundspeak Premium Member T0SHEA
N 46° 36.342 W 112° 03.905
12T E 418432 N 5161899
Appleton House No. 9 is one of a great many built by prolific builder George Appleton in the then fashionable west end of Helena.
Waymark Code: WMWJ24
Location: Montana, United States
Date Posted: 09/09/2017
Published By:Groundspeak Premium Member Outspoken1
Views: 0
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This Queen Anne style Victorian home was built by George Appleton in 1890 and is known today as Appleton House Number 9. More than anything, Appleton was a builder of houses, mostly Queen Anne in style, the designs mostly taken from pattern books. A carpenter by trade, he also worked on larger commercial buildings but spent the majority of his time in Helena building houses, two of which are National Register properties. Appleton ultimately purchased over 250 building lots in the city, but it is not known how many buildings he eventually put on these lots. In 1895 he moved to Denver, CO, leaving behind a legacy of a series of attractive and well built houses.

For many years operated as a bed and breakfast, the building is today home to the Appleton Furniture Design Center.

Newspaper ad for this residence, placed upon its completion:
"House No.9n "Corner of Euclid avenue and Joslyn street, facing valley. Lot 50x125 feet with 16-foot alley in rear. Basement under entire house. Two stories and finished attic. Brick (with cut stone trimmings) and frame. Eleven rooms; hall, pantry, bath room and six large closets with shelves and hooks, back stairs, double floors, paper throughout walls and under shingles. No.l Oregon flooring, cedar shingles, front hall finished in antique oak, two parlors and dining room in cherry, three member casing with carved caps, plinth and corner blocks, beautiful cherry mantle in parlor with large bevel plate mirror. Balance of house finished in No. 1 Minnesota pine, wainscotted kitchen, cabinet in pantry, wood box to fill from outside, first class range bricked in, kitchen table, cupboards and various labor-saving equipment, weighted windows, expensive art glass, solid bronze hardware, complete system of plumbing attached to pipes of Consolidated Water Co., hot and cold water to all fixtures, bath tub, tank water closet, marble top wash stand, soapstone stationary with cess-pool, piped for gas and hot air furnace, sheds, fences and walks complete. Price, $6,500.00; $2,000.00 cash, balance on time at 10 per cent."
From the NRHP Registration Form
Appleton House No. 9 Appleton House No. 9 is highly representative of the work of this prolific local architect. Apparently patterned after "No. 521"in the Shoppell's Modem Houses series, the home is a scaled down version of the original. Like many of the Shoppell designs which Appleton followed or modified, Appleton House No. 9 is a 2 1/2 story Queen Anne home with a masonry lower story and frame upper finished with staggered butt shingles. Emphasis is given to wrapping porches, octagonal bays and unusual dormers. Chimneys with inset panels and windows were a Shoppell hallmark. Typical of Queen Anne sensibilities, the massing is irregular, with a vertical emphasis. A variety of rich textures adorns the exterior and ornamental wooden detailing on the porches and elsewhere embellish the design. On the interior, formally divided spaces, ornately carved woodwork and angular roof and wall lines give a rich Queen Anne Victorian feeling to the home.

George S. Appleton was born in Vermont. He attended Oberlin College in Ohio where he completed his education. He learned the carpenter's trade in St. Paul, Minnesota and came to Helena to begin as a journeyman carpenter in 1884. He spent his spare time studying architecture and in 1887 began working with Wallace and Thornburgh. They were an insurance firm, yet handled real estate and helped in the financing of many new buildings. The firm transacted business under Wallace, Thornburgh, & Appleton. The Blake Addition was their first residential housing operation. In less than two years, the value of that land had more than doubled.

Wallace, Thornburgh & Appleton began building the Hotel Broadwater, which Mr. Appleton completed after his dissolution of partnership with Wallace and Thornburgh. The Broadwater Hotel and Natatorium was completed in 1889. Appleton continued to build houses and purchased over 250 town lots in different parts of the city, but he preferred to be on the west side along the main motor routes. In 1895, he moved to Denver, Colorado leaving behind numerous residences to his credit in the young town of Helena.

Designs for Appleton's houses were drawn heavily from early pattern books, especially Shoppell's Modern Houses published by the Cooperative Building Plan Association, of New York. Founded by Robert W. Shoppell, the Cooperative Building Plan Association published a large number of architectural designs through a series of catalogs and portfolios, collectively known as Shoppell's Modem Houses. Advertising "artistic modern houses of low cost," Shoppell's designs were high quality homes for average middle to upper middle class residents, predominantly of Queen Anne and Shingle styles.

This home, designated No. 9 in the Kenwood Addition, was completed in 1890. G.S. Appleton ran a column in the Helena Journal advertising his homes for sale. In the April 10, 1890 edition of the Journal he offered "House No. 9" for sale.
From the NRHP Registration Form
Street address:
1999 Euclid Avenue
Helena, MT United States
59601

County / Borough / Parish: Lewis and Clark

Year listed: 1995

Historic (Areas of) Significance: Architecture

Periods of significance: 1925-1949, 1900-1924, 1875-1899

Historic function: Domestic - Single Dwelling

Current function: Domestic - Retail Store

Privately owned?: yes

Primary Web Site: [Web Link]

Secondary Website 1: [Web Link]

Secondary Website 2: [Web Link]

Season start / Season finish: Not listed

Hours of operation: Not listed

National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed
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