From atop the Gold Dust Apartments, you can see all of Missoula's history. The perfectly appointed church steeples. The railroad tracks and their attendant depot. The produce warehouses and workmen's cottages. The growing complex of modern medical buildings. The bustling downtown business district.
Inside, in its 18 apartments, the Gold Dust is making its own historic contribution.
"The Gold Dust really proves that affordable housing can be beautiful," said Don MacArthur, the project's principal architect. "Putting the label 'affordable' on it doesn't take anything away from the possibility of beautiful light and a beautiful relationship to the city."
A development of homeWORD, the Gold Dust has 14 two-bedroom units, three three-bedroom units and one studio apartment. Out back, just off the alley, are two "accessory homes" of two bedrooms each, as well as a combination workshop-laundry room.
Even as workers hustled Tuesday to touch up the apartments' terra cotta stairwells and to install its distinctive curved metal awnings, neighbors were peeking in the windows and inquiring about the availability of rentals.
Applicants for the Gold Dust must be "income qualified," said homeWORD executive director Ren Essene. That means they cannot earn more than $15,800 a year for a single person, $22,600 for a family of four, 50 percent of the area's median income.
Applicants will be ranked on a scale that takes into account not only their income, but also self-sufficiency, disabled status, mode of transportation, special considerations and current living conditions. Rents will range from $250 to $700 per month, depending on the available subsidy, income and apartment size.
For Essene, the Gold Dust is a dream project. It will eventually feature the largest solar grid in Montana. Public art decorates the sidewalk out front and the backyard common area. A community room faces the street in the center of the building; its roof will hold boxed gardens by summer.
Everything, she said, was designed with an eye to history, sustainability and style.
MacArthur explained. "One of the things we did was select materials that were either low in energy to produce or that were easily recyclable and long-lived," he said. The buildings' brightly colored - yellow, brick red and silver - metal siding is both a bow to the historic warehouses across the street and to durability.
The material was pricey and took a bit of energy to produce, but will last for 50 years, MacArthur said. "You don't have to do anything to it all that time. No paint. Not a thing."
Also selected for their sustainability were the apartments' earth-toned radiant floors - cement underlain by hot-water-heated pipes. "It's the nicest heating system you can have in terms of comfort," said MacArthur. "The floors are always warm. It's very even heat, and studies have shown that people can keep their heat 6 to 8 degrees cooler because there are no drafts."
Warm, too, are the interior colors: terra cotta, muted yellow, gray-green, sage. "Our belief is that a lot of times, if tenants don't have as many resources to create a decor, it's nice to provide some aesthetic pleasure that is inherent to the unit," the architect explained.
Thus, too, the apartments' big, light-filled windows. Lots of them. Said MacArthur: "We think there's nothing more beautiful than the light playing across the floor, particularly in the winter in Missoula. When you get up on the second and third floors, there really is a surprising vista. We knew it would be there, but it was still shocking."
From its vantage just above the Orange Street underpass, the complex has an undisturbed view of the North Hills, downtown Missoula, the railroad tracks and the city beyond. In the 1890s, the Gold Dust Hotel sat on this spot, catering to train travelers. That building was demolished in the 1960s and the street fell into disrepair.
Now comes the revitalization, guided by North Side and West Side residents, who helped design the Gold Dust. The neighborhood, in fact, turned out in force last fall to help build the workshop and laundry room, which was designed with old-fashioned carriage houses in mind.
The neighbors also contributed to the lighted glass bricks that line the front sidewalk - in a railroad track design. Artist Jennifer Reifsneider asked for "wishes, beliefs and memories" to sink into the sidewalk. The resulting bricks carry the neighborhood's promises for the future:
"Goodwill begets goodwill."
"I want a green playhouse."
"Here comes the sun."
"True democracy."
"Happy children."
"The earth in balance."
"Tomorrow is an idea."
Reporter Sherry Devlin can be reached at 523-5268 or at sdevlin@missoulian.com.
If you're interested
Come see the Gold Dust Apartments for yourself during an open house from 4-8:30 p.m. Friday. The ribbon cutting's at 4, followed by food, drinks and music from 5-8:30 p.m. Parking is limited, so walk, bicycle or carpool to the festivities. You'll find the Gold Dust above the Orange Street underpass, at 330 N. First St. To apply for one of the affordable housing rental units, call Bounty Real Estate at 721-7171. All applicants for the Gold Dust must earn less than 50 percent of the area median income.
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