James F. Battin Federal Building (Courthouse & Federal Office Building)

About this property

The current Billings City Hall, formerly the James F. Battin Federal Building and also known as the Stillwater Building, is an NRHP-listed government building in downtown Billings, Montana, USA. After its completion in 1965, it housed federal courts and agency offices until 2013. Following extensive interior renovations, it has served as the new Billings City Hall since 2025. The federal government identified the need for a federal building in Billings in 1957, which would gather various federal agencies with existing downtown offices under one roof. Architectural plans by the firm J.G. Link were finalized in late 1961. Funding was secured in 1962 thanks to advocacy at the federal level by legislators Mike Mansfield, Lee Metcalf, and James F. Battin. The building contractor was the Hegeman-Harris Company of New York, which engaged around 20 subcontractors. Construction started in March 1962, and the cornerstone was set on October 9, 1964. The General Services Administration (GSA), which would operate the building, moved into its new offices in April 1965. Other occupants included a federal district court; magistrate and bankruptcy courts; and offices for the Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior, and US Marshal. In 1999, the building's name was changed to honor state representative James F. Battin. Battin was a Billings native who had worked in the building as a federal court judge from 1978 to 1990. Largely because of concerns about asbestos, the GSA decided in 2007 to move federal courts and offices out of the Battin Building. These plans culminated in the construction of two new downtown buildings: a 5-story office building at 2021 4th Avenue South, and a new federal courthouse directly south of the old one. The now-vacant former federal building was purchased by the Colorado Tire Corporation in 2013 and renamed the Kono Building. The building was sold again in 2016, this time to WC Commercial, which abated the asbestos and gutted much of the interior. Yellowstone County moved some offices into the third floor in 2018, the same year that WC Commercial built a skyway connected to a parking garage it owned across the street. During this period, the former Battin Building was known as the Stillwater Building. After multi-year negotiations, the City of Billings purchased the building in 2021. The city had run out of space at the old City Hall, even after taking creative steps like converting closets and vaults into offices. Following intensive renovations, the city moved various departments into the new City Hall in 2025, including the Parking Division, Public Works, City Council, and Police Department. These included some office previously housed at the Miller Building, which was purchased by Yellowstone County during the build-out of the new City Hall. The renovation, designed by JLG Architects, introduced a two-story atrium intended to maximize natural light. On the top floor, the front wall of the City Council chambers features a cut-out referencing the shape of the Rimrocks.

Location

Categories

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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