So-so

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Several nice Richardsonian Romanesque buildings there, in particular the one housing "Strategies 360" (on the right).

 

I wonder why they have such a concentration of this building style?

 

Stuart

 

Meh.

 

I liked your gallery from Salyersville, Kentucky better. :)

Butte is by far the best city in Montana (for urban stock), but Missuola and Helena are OK. Bozeman is pretty bad, but still a decent and extremely affordable college town (it's like a more sprawled Bowling Green- even the same setup with ugly campus/good downtown). Overall, anything is better than Great Falls!

 

Don't expect good urbanity in the interior west. The whole central part of the United States is pretty bad except for Denver. America's surviving urbanity is almost entirely on the Atlantic/Great Lakes/Pacific coasts, and along the Ohio and Mississippi River valleys. Even with all the losses in cities like Detroit, Toledo, Cleveland, St. Louis, Buffalo, etc., they're still more urban and impressive than healthier cities in the central flyover states.

 

*Butte is really interesting, especially for Ohioans. It's a small Rust Belt city transplanted 2000 miles away. If you're ever in Montana for an extended period of time, it's worth the drive.

This is a tough crowd!  I think these pics of Helena depict some pretty darned impressive building stock cut into some interesting slopes with some funky vistas. I like it. and I can't figure out how I missed it when I passed through Helena 2 1/2 years ago. I snapped shots of capitols in Washington, Montana, South Dakota and North Dakota on my Seattle-to-Columbus Testosterone Tour Twenty-Ten with My Three Sons, and saw the Montana capitol at the edge of several blocks of vaguely downtown-looking strip malls, fast-food joints and gas stations. I never saw this real downtown, and didn't know it existed. I wrongly dismissed Helena as Noplace.

 

When I shot North Dakota's "Penis on the Prairie" capitol, I knew it was separated from Bismarck's downtown. But when I was in Maine in 2008, I somehow totally missed downtown Augusta even as I photographed the capitol and environs. Likewise, the Delaware capitol is removed from downtown Dover (such as it is). I'm baffled by these capitols that are so divorced from their center cities.

Looks pretty nice from the pics. I always wonder, though, when I see an impressive photo thread: Is that all there is? Or is it the tip of the iceberg? Or somewhere between those two extremes?

That view from the capitol onto what seems like just a random ranch home neighborhood is surreal. Lop off everything above the second floor and it's suddenly Helena Central High School.

Eddy's Bread: Good... to eat!

 

I'm surprised you didn't check out Capital Hill Mall:

That view from the capitol onto what seems like just a random ranch home neighborhood is surreal.

 

That random blue ranch is the offices of the Montana Secretary of State.

Well, it looks like it beats the Dakotas' two capitals.

Looks good for the size.