Curtis Music Hall, Uptown Butte

The Curtis Music Hall is is part of the Butte Historic Landmark District and one of Uptown Butte’s grandest buildings. This Victorian era time capsule on Park and Main has been a dance hall with live music, boarding house, meeting place, saloon, bakery, restaurant, confectionery, and shoe store.

John H. Curtis, Civil War veteran, attorney and entrepreneur, opened his namesake building to great fanfare in 1892. Richly detailed masonry signaled the building’s status and permanence to a community that had been a booming mining town for 15 years. The rented rooms on the upper floors touted the latest conveniences such as radiated heating and indoor plumbing.

Around 1933, the music hall was converted to Gamer’s Confectionary, which introduced a still-intact art deco interior. Now, newspapers dating to 1942 line the floors of the upper stories, possibly protecting it from the inevitable pigeons that coopt unoccupied parts of buildings.

Today, walking the paneled hallways above the ground floor is like stepping back in time. Like so many other historic buildings of Montana’s past, the Curtis sat unused for decades, waiting for someone with the vision and wherewithal to give it a new life.

Ardent preservationist, Peggy Guccione, is just that person. Guccione purchased the Curtis in 2021 with plans to rehab it in 2025. Gamer’s interior will be retained as a restaurant, and the building’s upper floors will become apartments. If Ms. Guccione’s other meticulously restored buildings in Butte are examples, the Curtis will be one of Uptown’s more prestigious addresses once again.

Montana Historical Society volunteer Woody Wilson is researching Montana’s extant, historic music venues such as the Curtis Music Hall. Please comment to this post with leads in your community.