European Influence in a Montana Home

Text by Heather Bode  |  Photography courtesy of Golden Eagle Construction and Nicole Keintz

Dream homes start with a vision, or in this case, it starts with a dream in 2001. Marty Angeli explains, “I literally had a dream about buying property in Montana. It was right before I was deployed to Saudi. I took a week of leave, came up here from El Paso, rented a car, and drove all over the state. I came back through Canyon Ferry Lake and decided on this lot.” Angeli was no stranger to Helena. In the early to mid 90’s he was stationed at Fort Harrison for a time. “That’s when I really started appreciating the area,” he says.

The land remained untouched while Marty and his wife, Beth, moved to the city of Brussels in Belgium. Marty was stationed in Kabul. They fell in love with the old farmhouses dotting the landscape surrounding Brussels and eventually purchased one for themselves, perhaps unknowingly influencing the future.

Warming Up in Shades of Gray

The proverbial Montana home – thinking log? Think again.

Home designer and builder Tim Wilkinson was born and raised in Montana and his latest home reflects the free spirit and originality of the West by breaking free of the cliché Montana home. He recently completed what he describes as a “Montana Modern” home in Spring Tree Ridge, one of Wilkinson’s housing developments located three miles outside of Great Falls overlooking the Missouri River and to the Highwood and Little Belt Mountain ranges.