Homestead-era stone building
The “Creamery” was built in the 1880’s by European immigrants who settled in Montana during late 19th century. Milk collected from surrounding homesteads was processed and sold to residents of Great Falls, ten miles to the north. A nearby cold-water spring provided cooling in those pre-refrigeration days.
Rough shape
The Creamery, as we found it in 1999, was in pretty rough shape. The roof had been off for more than 75 years, livestock wandered inside, and the structure was near collapse.
Stone still good
However, the sandstone blocks were solid. The raw sandstone used to build the Creamery was taken from fieldstone piles that had been cleared from nearby agricultural fields. Fieldstone piles, like that shown below, still dot the surrounding landscape. These fieldstones weathered out of the Cretaceous-age Blackleaf Formation, a sandstone layer that forms a bench south of the Creamery location.
Old lime mortar
The stone was originally laid with a mortar of coarse sand and locally-produced lime. Much of this mortar had crumbled away, leaving collapsed arches and window surrounds. The Creamery needed to be saved or it would soon be another unrecognizable pile of stone.
Reclaimed in 2000
Fortunately, JLF Architects of Bozeman, Montana, had a client and a property perfectly suited for the Creamery. In 2000, Select Stone disassembled the stonework of the Creamery, separating out the different walls, corners, and arches. When the takedown was completed, the stone was shipped to Wyoming, where it sat while designs were finalized.
Jackson, Wyoming residence
JLF incorporated a rebuild of the Creamery as part of a residence outside of Jackson, Wyoming. The rebuild was completed in 2006.
Masonry style preserved
The original Creamery was a structural stone building with no framing, no electricity, and no plumbing. The restored Creamery needed to function as a modern residence and meet current building codes. A thoughtful re-design updated the building while preserving the homestead-era style of the original stonework.
This included matching the mortar style and color of the original Creamery.
The interior walls of the original Creamery were whitewashed, presumably for sanitary reasons. The interior stone of the reborn Creamery was laid with a beautiful light-colored flush mortar joint.
