111 West Copper Street

Built in the shadow of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company’s sprawling Original and Gagnon mines, boarding houses and apartments once crowded along this block. The Scandinavian Methodist Episcopal Church occupied the second story of a rooming house on the corner of Copper and Alaska, reflecting the neighborhood’s ethnic mix.

This shotgun style duplex, constructed in 1916, represents the last phase of Butte’s growth when housing was at a premium and copper miners had received a twenty-five cent per day pay raise. Buff-colored terra-cotta brick veneer with a striking, diamond-patterned, crenellated parapet and a two-story walk-up porch with simple wood railings make a visually stunning statement.

A row of ornamental red brick above the doors and windows and quoin-like corners accent the buff-colored façade. By the 1920s, copper miner Albert L. Bush was the owner and ground floor occupant while Fannie Dreyfuss, widow of copper miner Julius, was his long-term upstairs tenant. An innovative roll-away bed stored beneath the adjacent bathroom floor slides out from a built-in buffet, maximizing the small second-floor living space.