The birth of the usual western town was spurred by discovery—of gold, land, or trade. But one “old” town, tucked into the grandeur of Montana’s Crazy Mountains, was spurred into existence by the creativity of a Montana architectural firm.
Faure Halvorsen Architects, a Bozeman-based architectural firm created a version of an old western town on a cattle ranch east of Livingston. Architects Matt Faure and Kipp Halvorsen, partners in the firm, were the drivers behind the creation of the town. “It started as a very simple thought,” says Kipp Halvorsen, “We wanted to design a residence based on the concept of an old western town.” The project’s owners were quickly on board with the idea and soon dubbed the new town, “Deadrock,” giving life to the fictitious town from Thomas McGuane’s book Nobody’s Angel.