Courthouse renovation project slated
The Flathead County Courthouse, built in 1903, is slated for a $1.8 million renovation that will update and preserve the historic building. A May 25 public hearing has been scheduled to consider an environmental assessment for the project.
Flathead County is ready to embark on a $1.8 million renovation project to upgrade and preserve the 107-year-old main Courthouse.
Scheduled to get under way this fall or early winter, the project involves restoring the grand stairway to replicate original construction and preserving the exterior facade, which includes replacing damaged trim and installing rain gutters.
The aging building will be brought up to Americans with Disabilities Act standards by adding an elevator and handicapped-accessible restrooms on each floor. Other improvements include the installation of energy-efficient windows and various structural modifications to ensure building safety and stability.
County Administrative Officer Mike Pence said a key aesthetic piece of the renovation is replacing the windows on the front of the building that have been
covered for years. That will allow light to once again stream into the grand staircase area and second-floor landing that’s a gathering spot and focal point in the historic building.
To restore the staircase to original glory, some office and storage space will be torn out so the stairs ascend on both sides to the third floor.
A year ago the county commissioners agreed to shelve plans for a new, $4 million administration building and instead use some of the $2.9 million set aside for a new building to pay for improvements to both the Blue Building and the main Courthouse.
Since then the county has completed an environmental assessment for the historic structure that will be the focus of a public hearing at 10 a.m. May 25 at the commissioners chambers next to the Courthouse. Written comments can be submitted by 5 p.m. that day.
The commissioners will take action on the assessment following the hearing. Once it passes, the environmental assessment must be submitted to the state for processing. The county Planning Office has recommended approval of the project.
The three-story Courthouse — with lower-level stone walls three and a half feet thick — passed the test for structural soundness some time ago and recently was upgraded with a new heating and cooling system.
Employees of the main Courthouse, which houses the Clerk and Recorder’s Office, plat room, election department and Geographic Information System department, may have to be relocated during the renovation, Pence said, but it’s still up in the air about how that will play out.
The environmental assessment calls for the renovations to be completed by the first quarter of 2011.
Funding for the project will come from four sources: $50,000 from a state historical preservation grant; $126,300 from the federal Department of Energy to install energy-efficient and historically aesthetic windows; $210,000 from the Flathead County Museum Board; and roughly $1.4 million from the county building fund.
The county spent $100,000 on the courthouse and adjoining jail when they were completed in 1903.
Getting voter approval for the bonds needed to build the complex was an onerous task, though. The first election in January 1900 for the sale of $50,000 in bonds passed, but failed to withstand a court challenge.
Voters went to the polls again in November 1901 and OK’d the sale of $55,000 in bonds. That election also was challenged, but eventually ruled legal in District Court, according to Henry Elwood’s book, “Kalispell, Montana, and the Upper Flathead Valley.”
Hastie & Dougan, a Spokane construction firm, won the bid for the courthouse and accompanying jail for a sum of $40,000. Another $4,500 was tagged on when the commissioners decided to use pressed brick. McIntosh Hardware Co. got the heating and plumbing contract for $5,379 and Irwin Hodson Co. successfully bid the steel cells, window guards and doors at the jail for $6,844. Piece by piece, the bills added up to $100,000.
Bell & Kent Architects of Helena designed the courthouse in Chateauesque style with a steeply pitched roof, brick facade with contrasting horizontal belts of concrete, parapeted gable dormers, and spires, finials and pinnacles on the roof line.
The jail and courthouse were a grand pair of buildings, a Mecca at the south end of Main Street.
But time has taken its toll on the nationally registered landmark. Patchwork is apparent throughout the building, and remodeling projects have robbed the building of much of its original charm.
The handsome staircase, still railed with original woodwork, is one of the few elements that recalls the building’s early grandeur. Everything else has metamorphosed to accommodate the 21st century within pioneer walls.
Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com