Arthur M. Garbutt (1875 – December 31, 1953) was an American architect. From at least 1901 to 1924 he practiced architecture in Ridgway, Pennsylvania, Fort Collins, Colorado, and Casper, Wyoming. He is best known for his work completed in Casper between 1914 and 1924, when his was the dominant architectural firm in that city.
Early life and professional career Arthur M. Garbutt was born in 1875 in Rochester, New York. His obituary states that he studied architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but there is no record of him having done so."Architect for many Casper buildings dies," Casper Tribune-Herald, December 31, 1953. He first appears as an architect in Ridgway, Pennsylvania, where he was located from at least July to September 1901.Advertisements for Arthur M. Garbutt, Punxsutawney Spirit, July 31, 1901, and September 4, 1901. By December 1902 he was in Fort Collins, Colorado, where he formed the partnership of Loveland & Garbutt with Clint. J. Loveland."Home and county news," Fort Collins Express, December 10, 1902. This partnership was dissolved in July 1903 and Garbutt continued alone."Notice," Fort Collins Express, July 8, 1903. In 1910 he formed the partnership of Fuller & Garbutt with Montezuma Fuller. This was dissolved in February 1912,"Dissolution of partnership," Fort Collins Express, February 8, 1912. and Garbutt briefly moved to Portland, Oregon, where he worked for architect E. E. Goodwin."Trade notes and personals" in Pacific Coast Architect 3, no. 2 (June 1912): 432.
He moved to Wyoming in 1913, originally dividing his time between Casper and Riverton. In 1914 he settled in Casper, then undergoing an economic boom brought upon by the oil industry. There he formed the partnership of Garbutt & Weidner with Charles T. Weidner, a Pennsylvania native. In the fall of 1919 they were joined by James P. Sweeney, formerly a member of the firm of Meanor & Sweeney in Huntington, West Virginia."Society events," Casper Daily Tribune, September 15, 1919. By March he had become a member of the partnership, and the firm was renamed Garbutt, Weidner & Sweeney.Advertisement for Garbutt, Weidner & Sweeney, Casper Daily Tribune, March 1, 1920. During the oil boom years, Garbutt's firm was the most prominent in the city. Oil production reached its peak in 1923 and declined thereafter.Tom Rea, "Boom, Bust and After: Life in the Salt Creek Oil Field," WyoHistory.org, November 8, 2014. Accessed August 13, 1925. With the economy slowing, Garbutt retired from the firm in 1924 to manage his real estate, shortly after contracts were let for the firm's last major work, the Natrona County High School (1926)."Contract for junior high school awarded," Casper Daily Tribune, February 12, 1924. Weidner & Sweeney continued, but was dissolved after Sweeney and Weidner moved to Seattle in December 1925 and March 1926, respectively."Personals," Casper Daily Tribune, December 15, 1925."Personals," Casper Daily Tribune, February 12, 1926. Their moves roughly coincided with the completion of the high school, which was occupied in January 1926.
By the winter of 1926-27 the economy was in such a state that Garbutt could not sell his property for any price, and instead sold it in a trade for a ranch near Worland in the Bighorn Basin, to which he and his wife moved."Big apartment house is sold: Garbutt disposes of property to take up home on ranch," Casper Daily Tribune, March 2, 1927. In 1933 Garbutt was employed as a Public Works Administration (PWA) inspector and was responsible for supervising the construction of PWA projects throughout the state. He resigned in June 1938."PWA inspector resigns post," Casper Daily Tribune, June 15, 1938. During World War II he was based at Fort Francis E. Warren as an architectural engineer with the United States Army Corps of Engineers. In that role he was involved in wartime construction projects including the Heart Mountain Relocation Center (1942), where Japanese Americans were incarcerated for much of the war. Shortly thereafter he retired to another ranch near Greybull, also in the Bighorn Basin, where he lived until his death.
A number of his works are listed on the United States National Register of Historic Places, including a concentration of partnership works in Casper, Wyoming.
Personal life In 1904 Garbutt was married to Emma Dickinson, a native of Ridgway, Pennsylvania, where he had formerly lived. They had five children that survived him, including three sons and two daughters. He died December 31, 1953, at his home near Greybull.
Garbutt was a charter member of the Elks lodges in Fort Collins and Casper. During his professional career in Casper, he was a member of the American Institute of Architects.
Architectural works Casper Fire Department Station No. 1, 302 S. David St. Casper, Wyoming (Garbutt, Weidner and Sweeney), NRHP-listed St. Anthony's Catholic Church, 604 S. Center St. Casper, Wyoming (Garbutt, Weidner and Sweeney), NRHP-listed Consolidated Royalty Building, 137–141 S. Center St. Casper, Wyoming (Garbutt and Weidner), NRHP-listed Elks Lodge No. 1353, 108 E. 7th St. Casper, Wyoming (Garbutt, Weidner and Sweeney, et al.), NRHP-listed Fort Collins Armory, 314 E. Mountain Ave. Fort Collins, Colorado (Garbutt, Arthur M.), NRHP-listed Midwest Oil Company Hotel, 136 E. 6th St. Casper, Wyoming (Garbutt & Weidner), NRHP-listed Natrona County High School, 930 S. Elm St. Casper, Wyoming(Garbutt, Arthur), NRHP-listed Roosevelt School, 140 E. K St. Casper, Wyoming (Garbutt, Weidner and Sweeney), NRHP-listed Townsend Hotel, 115 N. Centre St. Casper, Wyoming (Garbutt, Weidner & Sweeny), NRHP-listed Tribune Building, 216 E. 2nd St. Casper, Wyoming (Garbutt, Weidner and Sweeney), NRHP-listed
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