Historic downtown building could be demolished
The sign for the Frank Lloyd Wright Building has been removed from its spot along Central Avenue and Wednesday morning was laying near the building. (Heidi Desch/Whitefish Pilot)
Trailers sat outside the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Wednesday morning on Central Avenue. (Heidi Desch/Whitefish Pilot)
Debris sits outside the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Wednesday morning. (Heidi Desch/Whitefish Pilot)
The historic Frank Lloyd Wright building in downtown Whitefish once again appears to be headed for demolition.
On Wednesday, the sign that once stood along Central Avenue announcing the Frank Lloyd Wright Building had been removed and was sitting near the building’s front door. Other materials that appeared to have come from demolition inside the building were piled up outside. A warning posted on the door noted that asbestos removal was in progress inside.
Bill Goldberg, owner of Compass Construction, confirmed with the Pilot Wednesday afternoon that asbestos removal is occurring, but said he couldn’t speak about future plans for the building.
John Waters, preservation program manager for the Chicago-based Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, alerted the Pilot Wednesday that the building could be facing demolition.
Plans to redevelop the commercial property on Central Avenue where the building is located first came forward in late 2016. Columbia Falls developer Mick Ruis paid $1.6 million to purchase the Whitefish building, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Plans were submitted in November 2016 to the Whitefish Architectural Review Committee for a three-story mixed-use commercial facility to replace the building. Whether those plans remain in place for the building is uncertain.
As of late Wednesday afternoon, Ruis had not replied to an email inquiring about the building’s status.
However, Montana Preservation Society Executive Director Chere Jiusto told the Daily Inter Lake she talked with Whitefish attorney Ryan Purdy, the legal counsel for Ruis, and Purdy confirmed the asbestos abatement is in preparation for the demolition of the building.
Whitefish Planning Director Dave Taylor Wednesday said a building permit was submitted previously for the project, but it hadn’t been picked up yet. The city does not require a permit for demolition and has no regulations to prohibit the building from being removed and listing on the historic registry doesn’t protect it from demolition either.
A little more than a year ago plans came to the forefront calling for the demolition of the historic building, but a push to save it also sprang up in response. Ruis told the Pilot in late 2016 that he was dropping plans to demolish the building and would put it up for sale noting that he wasn’t aware of who Frank Lloyd Wright was when her purchased the building.
However, by December 2016 plans for the commercial building on the site appeared to be moving ahead and Ruis seemed to be exploring the option of moving the building to make way for the new project.
The Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, a national nonprofit that looks to preserve the work of the late architect, quickly became involved in the issue in late 2016, hoping to find a way to save the building.
The building was designed by the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1958 as a medical clinic. Wright died in 1959 before the 5,000-square-foot building, which became the Lockridge Medical Clinic, was finished. First State Bank moved into the building in 1964 and it was divided into professional offices in 1980. Sharon Morrison and Sean Frampton purchased the building in 2002, but sold it after agreeing to end their law partnership at the end of 2016.
The Frank Lloyd Wright Building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on Aug. 14, 2012. It is one of three remaining Wright buildings in Montana — the other two are cottages in the Bitterroot Valley that were part of Wright’s first planned community in 1909.