Historic building demolished
An excavator demolishes Frank Lloyd Wright Building Thursday morning. (Heidi Desch/Whitefish Pilot)
Crews began demolishing the Frank Lloyd Wright Building on Central Avenue Wednesday evening. (Heidi Desch/Whitefish Pilot)
An excavator demolishes the Frank Lloyd Wright Building on Central Avenue Thursday morning. (Heidi Desch/Whitefish Pilot)
An excavator demolishes Frank Lloyd Wright Building Thursday morning. (Heidi Desch/Whitefish Pilot)
Crews continued to demolish the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Thursday morning. Excavators loaded debris into dump trucks. (Heidi Desch/Whitefish Pilot)
Crews began demolishing the Frank Lloyd Wright Building on Central Avenue Wednesday evening. (Heidi Desch/Whitefish Pilot)
Crews began demolishing the Frank Lloyd Wright Building on Central Avenue Wednesday evening. (Heidi Desch/Whitefish Pilot)
The Frank Lloyd Wright Building in this 1994 photo. (Pilot file photo).
Trailers sat outside the Frank Lloyd Wright Building on Central Avenue before the building was torn down. (Heidi Desch/Whitefish Pilot)
The sign for the Frank Lloyd Wright Building was recently removed from its spot along Central Avenue. (Heidi Desch/Whitefish Pilot)
A red tile incorporated into the brickwork bears the signature of Frank Lloyd Wright. (Heidi Desch/Whitefish Pilot)
A fence surrounds the Frank Lloyd Wright property Tuesday afternoon on Central Avenue in Whitefish. (Heidi Desch/Whitefish Pilot)
After standing for nearly 60 years on Central Avenue, the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Wednesday came down.
Working in the dark of the early evening, two excavators began tearing into the brick building as a dozen folks gathered to watch. Demolition work continued Thursday morning with dump trucks hauling away debris while only a few passersby took notice.
The building was demolished following a failed 11th hour attempt led by the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy to purchase the property. Building owner Mick Ruis had set a final deadline of Wednesday for a buyer to come up with $1.7 million to purchase the historic building after previously putting the building on the market for roughly a year.
However, the conservancy announced late Wednesday afternoon that a deal could not be agreed upon and demolition would follow of the building that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Chicago-based conservancy was working with the Montana Preservation Alliance and a local business leader in hopes of coming up with a deal that would save the building. It is the first viable building designed by the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright to be torn down in more than 40 years.
More than a year ago plans to demolish the building and redevelopment of the commercial property came to the forefront. Following public outcry over the plans in late 2016, Ruis put the building up for sale.
Attorney Ryan Purdy, the legal counsel for Ruis, told the Pilot last week that Ruis delayed his plans for the building despite his own expense to do so and had looked at avenues to work with potential buyers.
Ultimately Ruis set a deadline of Jan. 10 for a $1.7 million cash purchase of the building.
“This devastating situation underscores the vulnerability of all Wright-designed buildings that don’t have some form of legal protection,” said Barbara Gordon, executive director of the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, in a prepared release.