Deadline looms in fate of historic Frank Lloyd Wright Building
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)
A red tile incorporated into the brickwork bears the signature of Frank Lloyd Wright. (Heidi Desch/Whitefish Pilot)
Time is running out for those who want to preserve the Frank Lloyd Wright Building to find a buyer.
The current owner of the historic building has agreed to sell it to anyone willing to pay $1.7 million by Jan. 10.
Plans to demolish the building and redevelop the commercial property on Central Avenue where the building is located first came forward in late 2016. Following public outcry over plans to tear down the building designed by the famous architect, the owner of the building Mick Ruis put the building up for sale for roughly a year listing it at for $1.6 million, the cost he said he paid for the building.
“The owner did list it for sale,” attorney Ryan Purdy, the legal counsel for Ruis, said Monday. “Anyone can purchase it.”
Purdy said a deal was never reached on the building when it was listed at $1.6 million and now Ruis has put a “hard deadline” of Jan. 10 for a sale of the building with the new asking price.
The Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy sounded the alarm last week that the building was once again under threat pointing out that if demolition goes forward, it would be the first viable Frank Lloyd Wright building lost in more than 40 years.
“This comes as a great shock to us,” said Barbara Gordon, executive director of the Conservancy, a Chicago-based nonprofit dedicated to the preservation of all Wright-designed buildings, in a prepared statement. “Fruitful discussions were still taking place to bring about a successful resolution to this case, which the Conservancy and our local partners have been working on for more than a year.”
Purdy told the Pilot that Ruis has delayed his plans for the building and has been looking at avenues to work with potential buyers for the building despite “great expense to delay.” Purdy said there were several groups or individuals who showed interest, but that a deal was never struck.
“There were some plans, but none every materialized in to a buy-sell agreement,” he said.
The sign that once stood along Central Avenue announcing the Frank Lloyd Wright Building has been removed and last week 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.
Purdy did confirm that asbestos remediation is taking place inside the building, but said he couldn’t discuss plans for the site.
Bill Goldberg, owner of Compass Construction, last week also confirmed with the Pilot that asbestos removal is occurring, but said he couldn’t speak about future plans for the building.
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 presstime, Ruis had not replied to an email inquiring about the building’s status.
Whitefish Planning Director Dave Taylor 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 he purchased the building.
The Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy quickly became involved in the issue in late 2016, hoping to find a way to save the building.
The conservancy said in a press release on its website last week that it has worked closely with the Montana Preservation Alliance, local officials and a local businessman to explore multiple strategies to preserve the building.
“This news really felt like a gut punch considering the progress that our local partners had made in finding a preservation-minded buyer,” said Gordon in a statement. “There was no indication that the developer planned to demolish the building while these efforts were underway.”
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.