1201 North Alabama Street

Well-known Butte realtor E. Sterrett Shields and his family were the longtime residents of this interesting home, built just after the turn of the twentieth century. Shields was secretary/treasurer of the Butte Land and Investment Company and a nephew of its founder, S. V. Kemper. The firm developed much of the West Side, specializing in “installment sales.

” Shields, who lived here from 1908 to 1941, had established his own real estate business by 1917. He advertised opposite his uncle in the city directory, “We court investigation. If we haven’t what you want, we’ll find it.” The Colonial Revival style home features a full-front gambrel roof, gambrel gable, and open porch with Tuscan columns.

Bay and diamond-paned windows are reminiscent of the Victorian-era Queen Anne style. A band of windows above the porch and square sloping column supports reflect the newer Craftsman style. This adventurous mixture is an attractive bridge between the architecture of late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.