2009 Heritage Homes Tour
West Warm Springs Historic District
Situated only blocks from downtown Boise, the West Warms Springs Historic District serves as a gateway to Warm Springs Avenue, the city’s most prestigious residential section. Together with the neighboring State Street Historic District, this neighborhood is architecturally signifi cant for its high proportion of well designed residences. The area, which mainly developed between 1890 and 1910, contains a number of Boise’s fi ner houses, executed by some of the city’s leading architects, and displays a high variety of compatible late turn-of-the-century styles. The area is also a cohesive architectural statement on the shifting tastes of the period.
Furthermore, both districts are historically significant for their connection with the social and political elite of Idaho which called them home. These districts are the product of the first prosperous decade of the twentieth century. The years following 1897, and especially from 1904 onward, saw a steady immigration of people to Idaho. The state “boomed” in those years, and Boise was no exception. The neighborhood developed in part because a Natatorium had been built in 1892 at the end of Warm Springs Avenue with a street car line to serve it. At this time Warm Springs replaced Grove Street as the fashionable residential district. Due to its location, the West Warm Springs Historic District has attracted the city’s more socially prominent persons as its residents. The State Street Historic District, located only four blocks from the Idaho State Capitol building, has many political associations. Together, the districts were home to three Idaho governors, and numerous congressmen and senators, lawyers, bankers, and merchants. Both districts were further populated by individuals with more humble, though no less important histories.
These neighborhoods, part of the original portion of Boise City, were platted in 1885. Mainly built up before 1910, these streets were predominantly populated with one to two story, single-family dwellings. However, the area also originally included both St. Luke’s and St. Alphonsus hospitals, apartment houses and occasional commercial structures. Styles seen in the neighborhoods include Queen Anne, as well as Craftsman and Colonial Revival. Due to the variation in the size and uses of the homes in this area, these styles are either well articulated, high style examples designed by architects such as Tourtellotte and Hummel or Wayland and Fennel, or more mixed, vernacular versions built by contractors. This mix of house styles and sizes produced a beautiful, if eclectic, neighborhood unified by the regular pattern of street, sidewalk and street trees provided by the city.
As the East End grew, expanding the neighborhoods above Warm Springs Avenue, and the downtown area continued to spread to the west, the West Warm Springs and State Street Historic Districts became a busy connector between the city center and the newer residential neighborhood. The historic districts provided a transition between the heavy concentration of commercial and offi ce enterprises of downtown and the lighter residential uses of the eastern neighborhoods and a way to travel from one to the other. The traffic became increasingly heavy, the buildings aged, and eventually the area was threatened by neglect and the pressures of urban renewal. By 1950, offices were added to the neighborhood. Owners split larger single family residences into small apartments, sometimes enclosing porches to provide more room. Other structures were demolished to make room for modern structures or for parking.
In 1972, historians recognized the value of West Warm Springs and several blocks around it and listed the West Warm Springs Historic District in the National Register of Historic Places. A similar listing followed for the State Street Historic District in 1978. These areas became a source of concern for the Boise City Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) as well. The HPC surveyed and nominated these neighborhoods as city historic districts. However, due to property owners’ concerns regarding the constraints this would place on their investments, these districts failed. Although listed in the National Register of Historic Places, these neighborhoods remain vulnerable to the whim of property owners. No protection from demolition or inappropriate remodeling exists for these areas.
Today, the area still faces certain threats. St. Luke’s Hospital, which owns large sections of the neighborhood, has recently suggested an interest in expanding their facilities at the expense of this signifi cant historic district. Due to the desirability of this area and its location near the downtown core, properties are currently soughtafter. However, because traffi c can be heavy, some parts of the neighborhood have diffi culty in attracting families rather than businesses. Also, because many modern homeowners crave large houses, inappropriate additions and developments are still a concern. Hopefully, with the attention garnered by the National Register Nomination and tours like this one, the West Warm Springs and State Street Historic Districts will continue their renaissance in a way that is both productive and sensitive to their historic integrity.