Floral Park Dust to Dazzle Tour - June 29, 2024
Butte Citizens for Preservation and Revitalization’s annual Dust to Dazzle tour will be held Saturday, June 29 from noon to 5 p.m. The focus this year is the Floral Park and adjacent areas. This tour will offer a glimpse into Butte’s diverse history of architecture in the Floral Park area. The earliest constructed property is a 1916 Craftsman-style home and the latest is a 1952 Mid-Century Modern church.
Tickets are $20. They are available at the CPR office, 27 W. Park St on Mondays between 1-3 pm. Tickets will also be available at the Isle of Books and Books, Second Edition Books, The Corner Bookstore, and Second Edition Books.
As always, there will be a silent auction which will be held at the Home Atherton Fire Hall, located at 3900 Sheridan Ave. If you would like to donate items for the silent auction, please contact our Silent Auction Coordinator at kimberley.mkohn@gmail.com.
1900 Wall Street
Today’s house at 1900 Wall is a modern reconstruction of a lovely Craftsman-style home built at this same location in 1910. A prominent local attorney, Edwin Lamb, first called the original house home, residing there from 1910 to 1915. Eventual longtime residents, miner Risto Kurilich and his wife Carmen, acquired the property in 1955 and established the house as the center of activity for their large close-knit family. After Risto died, daughter Ristine, a popular fitness instructor, moved back home along with her husband Frank Hall.
On a hot August day in 2008, fire destroyed the nearly century-old house. Devastated by the loss, Ristine and Frank rebuilt. The new house displays the same exterior details as the original Craftsman-style home but essentially is double the size. An open floor plan more conducive to modern day living characterizes the interior, but important original elements are replicated such as the wood trim.
2735 Floral Blvd.
The home at 2735 Floral Boulevard was constructed in 1916 at a cost of $6500. Supposedly designed after chalets in Switzerland, the house was dubbed the “Swiss Chalet” at the time of its construction. While other homes being constructed in Floral Park were bungalows, this one was meant to be a showpiece. Its exterior stonework is especially notable.
Its original owners were Ed and Susan Bolever, the developers of the Floral Park Addition. Beginning in 1942, for over 50 years it was the home of Carl Shiner and his family until Carl’s death in 1996. Shiner’s Furniture on East Park Street was a landmark business in Uptown Butte until it closed its doors in 1981.
2904 State Street
This early 1940s house typifies the Minimal Traditional style of architecture that became popular after the Great Depression – minimal in decoration and traditional in style. Its first owners were Weldon Bradford and his wife Hilda, who were owners of a successful laundry business, Bradford Cleaners and Laundry, on Harrison Avenue. After Weldon’s death in 1957, the home was owned by Frank Burgess until 1966, when it was purchased by music teacher Rod Lewis and his wife JoAnn, who taught piano lessons in the living room of this house for many years.
The current owner purchased the house sight unseen in 2020, and has put much effort into bringing back its original charm while updating it for modern living.
3031 Burlington Street
This Craftsman home was built in 1918 by local attorney James Fitzgerald. Located near Lake Avoca, the home is of clinker brick construction and well-appointed with beautiful fretwork, woodwork and maple floors.
From 1945 to 1960, Theodore Wellman, owner of Wellman Motors, called this house home. A string of subsequent owners all owned Ambrose Distributors, a trucking agency, while living here. They included A. Neill Ambrose (1961-62), Herbert Allen (1963-64), Charles Cullen (1965-66), and Albert Stapp (1967-1979). Terry and Linda Guptill owned and occupied the house from 1980 to 2007. They completed many necessary repairs to the home, including asbestos removal and replacement of one of the foundation/basement walls.
In 2007, Mike and Shari Schmit purchased the home. They restored all of the woodwork, the hardwood floors and four rooms of coffered ceilings, returning the home to its original grandeur.
2945 Bayard Street / United Congregational Church
Floral Park pioneer Edward Bolever donated the lots for this new neighborhood church and turned over the first shovel of dirt at the 1952 groundbreaking. The official dedication was just three years later, on Oct. 23, 1955. Besides supporting a large congregation, the church also served as a neighborhood gathering space. The Floral Park Community Club hosted monthly dinners in the basement, and lifelong member Joan (Amerman) Carelli, now church Moderator, remembers Friday movie nights for kids and playing on the shuffleboard courts that were built into the basement floor tiles.
The Crayon Academy preschool is housed in the former Sunday school classrooms, and in 2023, the owners bought the building and crafted a plan to keep the church open.
A small congregation gathers for services every Sunday morning at 10:30, in this beautiful church with a rich history and a proud, long-standing reputation of being welcoming to all.
3900 Sheridan Ave. / Home Atherton Fire Hall
The Home Atherton Volunteer Fire Department was organized in 1947 and acquired their first fire truck that same year. In 1948, they built a one-bay fire hall to house their one truck.
The fire hall that stands today replaced the original hall in 1961, and included a multi-purpose space for community events. It was completed in three months and built at a cost of $19,000.
The Floral Park and Home Atherton departments had a mutual agreement to answer all fire calls in the two districts. This gave each district two fire trucks at a fire instead of one.
Please stop in to view the many silent auction items on display here.
