Barbizon Square/Sturm and Drake Building, 14-16 North 29th Street, ca. 1913

This building housed Sturm and Drake grocery store on first floor, carrying groceries, meats, hay, grain, harness and horse supplies. Upstairs Harvard Hotel rented rooms. In the 1920s Safeway Stores opened a grocery business here. Note the historic painted signs that still grace the facade. In white block letters on black and green they read: HOTEL HARVARD; GROCERIES HAY AND GRAIN.

Historic Name:
Sturm & Drake Building
Current Name:
Barbizan Square

Builder:
Unknown

Original Use:
Store, Hotel
Current Use:
Offices, Dance Studio

Physical Description:
The Sturm & Drake building is a two-story commercial building of brick construction. The building is rectangular in massing and faces east onto N. 29th Street; an alley runs along the south side of the building. . The design of the building is symmetrical, and it is constructed with red brick. The primary façade is faced with cream brick, and the façade treatment wraps the front corners.

On the east elevation, a first floor storefront dominates. It has been altered in recent years, but retains a center entrance, with a secondary entrance to the upstairs level offset to the north. The storefront is currently infilled with red-black brick and has new glazing. A red awning projects over the doorway. The original piers with blocky bases and complex but unadorned capitals still frame the storefront. At one time, a side window panel on the storefront opened toward the alley; it is now infilled with gold brick. The storefront is spanned and accentuated by a cornice of white cast stone.

On the second story, a center bay projects slightly, and is visually supported by scrolled brackets of cast stone. The bay houses a pair of windows under a common lintel. To either side, a group of three windows under a continuous lintel completes the fenestration. All are double-hung, 1-over-1. They share a continuous sill, which bands the façade, and above the windows, a banding of cast stone gives a cornice-effect. The upper masonry terminates in a parapet adorned by a projecting metal cornice with cast stone dentils across the frieze. Short caps and coping of cast stone complete the corners and mark the edges of the bay. Along the south alley, the façade is of red brick, and window openings on the second story are segmental arched. Windows are double-hung, 1/1 as they are on the front. New windows illuminate the lower floor, where original doorways and windows are all infilled. Historic painted signs still grace this façade. In white block letters on black and green they read: HOTEL HARVARD; GROCERIES HAY & GRAIN.

Historical and Architectural Significance:
The Sturm & Drake Building is significant on several levels as a historic building and as a representative example of popular local commercial architecture of the early 20th century. The Sturm & Drake building is one of the most spirited and well designed retail commercial buildings within the Montana Avenue corridor, and actually, within the city. Reflecting popular aspects of commercial architecture, the building features classical influences, dressed brick, cast stone and a typical format of lodgings over storefront - all common patterns in local early 20th century architecture. The building gains significance as designed by Curtis Oehme, it serves as a strong example of his sensibilities in commercial design, and is currently one of the few which can be attributed with certainty to this local architect.

Sturm & Drake shares much common history with the buildings surrounding it. The business took root during the early 20th century, a time of tremendous business expansion in the city of Billings. And by offering both retail groceries and livestock supplies, the store forged links to both city-dwellers and rural customers in the surrounding agricultural zones.

Form Completed For Downtown Billings Historic Survey By:
Chere Jiusto 406-443-2114
2064 Orofino Gulch
Helena, MT 59601
November 1998

Photo Courtesy of Paul Whiting