Florence Hotel (Missoula, Montana)

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The Florence Hotel is a seven-story Moderne-style building in Downtown Missoula, Montana, which was completed in 1941. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.^[1][2]

Standing seven floors, it is said to be the fifth tallest building in Missoula.Template:Citation needed It is located at 111 North Higgins Avenue.

Since its original construction in 1888, the Florence Hotel offered railway travelers and settlers lodging. When it burned in 1913, the Florence was rebuilt as a 106-room hotel and served as a regional gathering place until it, too, was destroyed by fire in 1936. Missoula was left without a major hotel, and although the nation was then in the midst of the Great Depression, Walter H. McLeod and other businessmen secured community support to rebuild.

Constructed in 1941 on the same site as the two earlier buildings, the current Florence was designed by Spokane, Washington, architect G.A. Pehrson in the Art Moderne style at a reported cost of $600,000.Template:Citation needed For the next three decades the Florence continued to serve visitors to downtown Missoula. According to local accounts, the actor John Wayne stayed at the hotel.Template:Citation needed The hotel included a central air conditioning system, glass shower doors, underground parking, and interior appointments described as a "harmony of color".Template:Citation needed The Florence remained a hotel until the 1970s, when the building was converted into an office complex with retail businesses on the main floor.

The current owner is Thomas Taylor, a structural engineer from Dallas, Texas,^[3][4] whose stated goal has been to maintain the building's "old-fashioned" aesthetic or "nostalgic charm".^[5][6]

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