The 1993 Office Building was begun in that year after the great Whitefish Fire of 1992. The Old First National Bank Building was remodeled many times since its construction in 1910. There were many businesses occupying the building and each business was a condominium owner. On an early October morning the building began to burn and totally destroyed the Ben Franklin Store on Central Ave, Hileman/Lacosta Law Offices, F and H Surveying, Sunworks Architecture, An upstairs apartment, Dental Laboratory and other offices. the building was a total loss. We were not able to convince the previous owners to rebuild so a vote was taken to sell the site. I was able to organize a group of business owners to invest in a new building located at the corner of O'Brien and Second St. on property owned by Doug Pitman and Chet Hope who also become partners in the new building. This was the beginning of the 1993 office building, completed in April of 1994. This building faces the sun and is nestled into the hillside to block the cold winter winds falling down from the Big Mountain and the Northwest winds funneling down the Whitefish River. All of the windows are operable to gather fresh air and ventilate the rooms. The rooftop has a outdoor deck overlooking the Whitefish River accessible to all tenants. The building is landscaped with edible fruit such as cherry and plum trees as well as aspen and maples. The building is inexpensive to operate and had been the home to Sunworks Architecture for 26 years.
Sunworks Blog
The new website is up and running, thanks to Dersu, my son and graphic artist extraordinaire! Thanks Dersu! I will be posting photos, sketches, links to other work, anything that relates the built environment to the natural world and the art of Architecture. I will be writing on the many aspects of Architecture......To all my relations!
Doug Rhodes,
Whitefish, Montana
Doug is licensed in Montana. He is a certified member of the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards, Longtime member of the American Solar Energy Society and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
