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New Billboard Protests the Demolition of a Frank Lloyd Wright Building

"This was a national tragedy," states the billboard spotted in Montana
Frank Lloyd Wright's Lockridge Medical Clinic building before demolition.
Photo by Brenda Ahearn/Daily Inter Lake. Courtesy of the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy.

It's been over two months since a real estate developer in Whitefish, Montana, razed a structure designed by the great Frank Lloyd Wright, and yet public outcry has not slowed down. On Sunday, in a play that seems inspired by the Oscar-nominated Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, a new billboard was spotted in Montana singling out the developer that ordered the demolition and issuing a public call to arms to current and future residents of Whitefish and its surrounding communities to boycott the future structure. "THIS MADNESS MUST STOP NOW!!!" it reads in large, block print.

A billboard in Montana that calls out the demolition of a Frank Lloyd Wright–designed structure.

Image courtesy of Elaine Francis.

To understand the outcry, one must also understand that the Lockridge Medical Clinic was the only building designed by the famed architect in the state of Montana, and the first complete structure by Wright to have been torn down in over 40 years. When Mick Ruis, the developer who issued the order to demolish the building, purchased the structure in 2016 with plans to turn it into a three-story commercial retail space, it was evident that he was unaware of the structure's historical importance. Upon learning of its significance, he decided nevertheless to continue with his plans. It is likely that Ruis aims to capitalize on the runoff traffic from Glacier National Park, located 30 minutes away. When preservationists and historical societies rallied to save the site, even meeting his asking price of $1.7 million, Ruis moved up the demolition timeline and had the building torn down overnight.

Understandably, this brash move caused a wave of backlash in the architecture community, inciting one angered group to pay for a billboard denouncing the developer. Whoever is responsible for the billboard calls the demolition "a national tragedy" because "Montana lost an irreplaceable piece of its cultural heritage and history," and respectfully urges the public to boycott all projects by Mick Ruis and his subsidiary companies. Text at the bottom of the billboard states that the sign was paid for a nonprofit organization called the Frank Lloyd Wright Coalition, though the group remains untraceable. Both the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy and the Montana Preservation Alliance, two groups that actively fought to save the structure, told AD PRO that they have no affiliation with the group and declined to comment on the billboard. At the time of publication, a request for public information under the Freedom of Information Act has been submitted to the Montana Department of Transportation's Office of Outdoor Advertising. We will update as we find out more.