From my wonderful bed and breakfast, The Sanders, everything I wanted to see in Helena was within easy walking distance. This small leafy small city is delightfully uncrowded, open, and terrifically manageable. It’s also home to one of the most beautiful historic districts in the United States, and its architectural stock is unexpectedly impressive. These are my favorites.

#1 Cathedral of St. Helena

The building that stunned me the most by its very existence was this cathedral. It doesn’t belong here in Montana’s capital with a population of about 33,000; it seems like it would be more at home in a much larger European city. Nevertheless, there it was, a couple of blocks from The Sanders, gracing the city skyline. More than a century ago, the bishop wanted to construct a cathedral that would rival those in Europe. He personally selected the location for it, an entire city block that allowed for the grand edifice he imagined. After 16 years of construction, his vision was realized, and the Cathedral of St. Helena was completed in 1924. The European connection is evident in both the obvious neo-Gothic style and, with a little digging, the history. Designed by a Hungarian-born architect who studied his craft throughout Europe, the cathedral was based on Vienna’s Votive Church. Visible from great distances thanks to its soaring steeples (reconstructed after the devastation of an unexpectedly strong earthquake in 1935), it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. I stood before it, admiring the Gothic arches and the glorious rose window above the central doors with their six statues of holy figures. The open twin bell towers rise up to 230’, with their spires topped by 12’-tall gold-leafed crosses.

Inside, I passed around the green marble and tile immersion baptismal font and explored the cathedral’s more than 11,000 square feet. Down the central aisle, Gothic arches and clustered columns support the clerestory, and chandeliers that look like royal crowns illuminate the way to the crossing. Steps to the sanctuary lead to the marble altar with the Last Supper sculpted into its front and to the golden organ pipes behind it. The luminous stained-glass windows are creations of a German firm, which claimed that its 37-window set (out of a total of nearly 60 windows) that told the Christian story from Adam and Eve to the early 20th century was the finest it had ever made in the first half-century of its existence. Without seeing any of the firm’s other works, I would have to agree. These windows are, indeed, spectacular—rich jewel colors depicting everything from the persuasive serpent to the golden calf to a surprisingly young Joseph sawing wood next to his stepson.

#2 Montana State Capitol

Surrounded on all sides by accessible well-trimmed lawns, the Montana State Capitol is an inviting public space, the grandest in the entire state. Built from 1895 to 1902, with wing annexes added by 1912, the capitol had a bumpy start: The original design competition committee was exposed for its plan to scam money from the project and was promptly disbanded. Then the original plan was deemed too costly and abandoned (but, interestingly, it resurfaced later as the basic design for Arkansas’ state capitol). Today, it’s a handsome sandstone and granite Greek neoclassical–style edifice with fluted ionic columns at the main entrance supporting a plain architrave with “MONTANA” etched into it, four lovely volutes, and a dome made from local copper topped by the Montana statue. Inside, my footsteps echoed along the deserted marble hallways, the only sound I heard on a Wednesday morning. With nary a soul about, I was free to ramble leisurely around this impressive structure. The magnificent 125’-high rotunda features bust-filled niches, hollow Corinthian columns, trompe l’oeil paintings, tile flooring, and four circular paintings depicting important archetypal figures of Montana’s early history—a Native American, fur trapper, gold miner, and cowboy. A grand staircase leads to second-floor balconies, half-moon murals, stained-glass windows, and a fantastic barrel stained-glass skylight. It’s all very yesteryear beautiful, but, at the time, the capitol was astoundingly forward-thinking: It was the first state capitol in the United States to be built specifically for electricity, running water, and elevators.

#3 Morris Silverman House

I couldn’t take my eyes off this eclectic home and its intricate ornamentation. Built in 1892 for a Russian-Polish Jewish immigrant, whose daughter lived here until 1969, it’s a standout in an already charming neighborhood and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. Its three stories of Victorian whimsy reveal clever imagination and details. The first two stories are a bright red brick; the third floor, with a steeply pitched gabled roof, has wooden dormers and fish-scale shingles. The first floor sports a fantastic porch with a latticed base that wraps around the corner turret and with a roof supported by pairs of thick round pillars and fan-shaped gingerbread brackets. Above the main steps is a fan-shaped pediment. There’s a smaller porch above, on the second floor, and an even smaller one on the third, suggesting a pagoda. There are more than 30 windows, many with thick granite lintels and sills, and include a playful stained-glass marquis window on the second floor. The survival and superior upkeep of the building’s architectural integrity is amazing, except for the three original chimneys that were victims of the 1935 earthquake and have long since disappeared.

#4 Original Governor’s Mansion

One block from The Sanders, Montana’s original governor’s mansion has been on the list of the National Register of Historic Places since 1970, 82 years after it was built as a private residence for about $85,000. It served as the governor’s mansion from 1913, serving nine governors and their families until a new location was found in 1959. Today, it’s an elegant house museum, open to visitors who can explore its 20 rooms, including a library, servants’ pantry, ballroom, seven fireplaces, and original bathroom (the fact that the original owner was also owner of the town’s water company clearly had something to do with its installation, quite the talk of the town back then). This Queen Anne–style three-story beauty is faced with brick, stone, and terra cotta, and the one-acre corner property includes a two-story brick carriage house. Its design reflects a romantic yearning for a simpler life that preceded the Industrial Revolution. That’s reflected in the turret, arches, dormers, shingled gables, balustrades, and especially the wraparound porch. I could just imagine how it used to simply clamor for slowing down and enjoying relaxed conversations in the days of calling cards and horse-drawn wagons.

#5 Conrad Kohrs Home

Following the discovery of gold in the area in 1864, Helena’s population nearly quadrupled between 1880 and 1890. By 1888, before Montana achieved statehood, more than 50 millionaires were living in town—more millionaires per capita than any other city in the world. Many of them chose to build lavish homes in what is now the Mansion District. A walk around the tree-lined streets revealed to me how very well these wealthy Helena citizens spent their money, and the Queen Anne–style Conrad Kohrs Home is the district’s finest example. Built for a mining investor in 1890, it passed ownership to cattle baron Conrad Kohrs in 1900, when he purchased it as an anniversary gift for his wife. Today, still a private residence, the home measures nearly 8,000 square feet with five bedrooms, three and a half bathrooms, a grand formal dining room, parlors, and a study, finished with pocket doors, oak woodwork, brass hardware, and custom engraved door hinges. The brick and granite exterior features several gabled dormers with fine ornamentation, rectangular and lozenge panels with terra cotta flowers, an octagonal tower, and spindled porches and balconies on each of the three floors. A stone retaining wall frames the lawns around the corner-lot property, which includes a carriage house that’s now a garage with living quarters above—a pretty nice in which to reside in and of itself.

Five Runners-Up

• T.C. Power Home (1891)
• Lewis & Clark County Courthouse (1885)
• Former First National Bank (1886)
• Atlas Block (1887)
• Masonic Temple (1885)

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