A. J. Seligman House, 802 Madison Avenue, Helena, Lewis and Clark County, MT

Significance: Albert Joseph Seligman came to Montana in 1881 from New York City. He was a member of one of the wealthiest families in the country, one which ranked financially with the Rothschilds and the Morgans. The J. & W. Seligman & Co. banking firm had invested heavily in mining enterprises in Helena, and was having difficulty in managing them from a distance. A. J. Seligman, then a young mining engineer presumably was sent to look after the Seligman interests. Seligman and the family financial backing he commanded became an important factor in the development of Helena and the Montana Territory. During and following the 1893 panic, Seligman and his money helped save a number of Montana businesses that might otherwise have been closed. In 1886, Seligman commissioned Cass Gilbert, then practicing architecture in St. Paul, Minn., to design a "bachelor's abode" for him, amid rumors that he would soon be married. The rumors were correct; he married Lillie Glazier in New York City on Dec. 22, 1886, and brought his bride to Montana to live in this mansion. The building is one of a number of structures, private, public and commercial, designed by eastern or midwestern architects for this prosperous center of activity in the Montana Territory in the 1880's.
Survey number: HABS MT-24
Building/structure dates: ca. 1886- ca. 1887 Initial Construction
Building/structure dates: 1938 Subsequent Work