Image: Hotel Baxter 003 - Bozeman Montana - 2013-07-09

Description: Looking northwest at the east side of the Baxter Hotel (105 West Main) in Bozeman, Montana. The seven story Art Deco hotel opened on March 16, 1929, and was designed by local architect Fred Willson. Local rancher Robert A. Baxter financed its construction, and it is named for him. As constructed, the hotel contained 76 rooms, some with full baths and some sharing baths. Several second-floor rooms were small suites, so that traveling salesmen could display their wares. Eight small apartments occupied the top floor. An ornate two-story lobby (which included a small fountain) was overseen by a mezzanine. The lobby was decorated in a Mediterranean motif and featured imitation travertine walls, terrazzo tile floors, an open-beam, and Mission-style lighting (wall sconces which looked like candelabra and large frosted-glass globes encased in Baroque copper cases that looked like chandeliers). The lobby remains largely unaltered as of 2013. The back half of the main floor (the part that looks like a two-story addition) included a dining room, bar, and two-story lounge with a Mission-style motif. Some time in the late 1950s or early 1960s, the ceiling of the lounge was lowered to create a ballroom off the mezzanine. The ballroom quickly became a center for Bozeman social life. What remained of the lounge was added to the dining room. The hotel also featured a unique coffee shop which was designed to look like an English pub from the Norman era. It featured dark woodwork, carved busses, brackets supported by grotesques, and heavy tile stenciled with scenes of English country life in red, green, and blue. The room was 29 feet by 53 feet, and had seating for 52 people in booths, 24 people at tables, and 15 people at the counter. It was accessible only from the street. (This space later became the celebrated Bacchus Pub in the 1970s.) The mezzanine in the main hotel had a writing lounge, and the basement featured a barbershop and beauty salon. The hotel fell into decline in the 1950s and 1960s, and was in serious need of repair and refurbishment. New owners in the 1970s refurbished the hotel, bars, and restaurants. After a change of hands, another set of owners converted all the hotel rooms on floors two through seven to apartments. In 2004, a new set of owners (led by a Bozeman resident) obtained control of the hotel and refurbished it again. The Bacchus Pub closed for renovations in 2004, and reopened -- after a brief legal tussle over the name -- in 2008. A 32-foot high by 45-foot wide neon sign was erected on the roof shortly after the hotel opened in 1929. It ceased to function in the early 1970s, but was re-furbished and re-lit by U.S. Senator Max Baucus on January 10, 2013. In 1988, a flashing blue light was also emplaced on the roof. The light flashes whenever at least two inches of fresh snow has fallen at the nearby Bridger Bowl Ski Area, and remains alight for 24 hours thereafter. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 19, 1984.
Title: Hotel Baxter 003 - Bozeman Montana - 2013-07-09
Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/23165290@N00/9379330406/
Author: Tim Evanson
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0
License: CC BY-SA 2.0
License Link: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Attribution Required?: Yes