Westgate Village Shopping Center, Listed!

The 1957 mid-twentieth century Westgate Village Shopping Center represents a mainstay of the Montana State University area and the populace of Bozeman. Designed by Hugo Eck, a locally famous architect and professor at Montana State University, the building represents the first small neighborhood multi-unit retail shopping center built in Bozeman as a response to major post-World War II population and economic growth of the community. The original design of the building, which remains largely intact, included spaces for five business separated by interior common walls, under one roof structure, with a single continuous façade and automobile parking focused on the building.

GALLATIN CO,1003, 1005, 1007, 1009, 1011 West College St, Bozeman, SG100010714

Westgate Village Shopping Center

The 1957 Modernist-styled Westgate Village Shopping Center is a fixture in Bozeman’s Montana State University neighborhood. Designed by MSU Architecture professor Hugo Eck, Westgate Village is Bozeman’s first multi-unit shopping center.
Shopping centers like Westgate Village popped up across the country during the United States’ post-World War II boom. These new buildings, fronted with parking lots, reflected the automobile’s increased role in daily life. Shopping centers of this era also embody a Modernist philosophy rejecting formalism and ornamentation in favor of a rationalism towards building materials, the construction process, form, and functionality. 

Hugo Eck’s Westgate design shows this new approach with its flexible, open-plan interiors, stack bond block construction, and single continuous façade.