Commonly seen on American architecture of the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, the eave return or cornice return serves to aesthetically elevate a building’s façade and to convey a message about the building’s function or perhaps about the people who made their home there.

Festive, cozy, and nestled in the forest — the log cabin is the architectural epitome of the holiday season. A well-built log cabin stays so cozy throughout the winter due to the watertight and windproof seal created in part by a notching system at the cabin’s corners. In “locking” the logs, notches help make traditional sealing materials of mud, clay, and straw (known as chinking when on the exterior of the cabin and daubing on the interior) more effective.

Q: What’s the difference between shakes and shingles?

A: It kind of depends on whom you ask

Imagine a historic Art Deco school turned into low-income apartments, or a warehouse transformed into commercial spaces for small businesses. Since 1997, the Montana State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) has helped to facilitate through the Federal Historic Preservation Tax Incentives Program the rehabilitation of 81 historic buildings across the state.

Montana is home to at least ten historic theaters that are eligible to be listed or are currently listed in the National Register of Historic Places.