Walter Abbs House

This historic home was built in 1903 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places both on its own and as part of the Fort Street Historic District, a residential district with buildings dating from around 1890 to 1940. The Queen Anne style home was built for Walter J. Abbs of the firm McGrew & Abbs. The five-room cottage is significant due to its architects, John E. Tourtellotte and Charles F. Hummel, and also was listed in the National Register in 1982 as part of a thematic study of multiple buildings in the vicinity designed by the firm. The Walter Abbs House was later divided into multiple dwelling units but has been returned to a single-family plan.

Walter James Abbs arrived in Boise in April 1901. He was a Canadian native and the son of George Abbs, a Methodist Episcopal minister who lived in Canada for his whole life. Walter emigrated to the U.S. in 1894 when he was in his twenties and worked in Michigan as a banker before the move to Idaho. He married a schoolteacher, Mattie H. Bartlett in Dryden, Michigan in 1892. Their daughter, Helen Hope Abbs, was born in 1895 in Imlay City, Michigan.

Abbs hired a prestigious local architectural firm, John E. Tourtellotte and Company, to design the Fort Street cottage. John Everett Tourtellotte (1869-1939), a Connecticut native, was a practicing architect in Boise beginning in 1896 before hiring Charles F. Hummel (1857-1939), a German immigrant, in 1901. The partnership was responsible for designing a number of Boise homes and other buildings during the first two decades of the twentieth century, including the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, the Eichelberger Apartments, the Elks Temple, the Idaho State Capitol, and the remodeling of the Boise City National Bank (also a Clio entry). The firm was renamed Tourtellotte and Hummel in 1910. The company opened a second office in Portland, Oregon in 1913, where Tourtellotte later partnered with Hummel's son Frank K. For the last few years of his life in the 1930s, Tourtellotte partnered with Truman E. Phillips (1902-1989) to form Tourtellotte and Phillips.

The decoration added to Abb's W. Fort St. cottage is modest compared to most Queen Anne style dwellings. The one-and-a-half-story frame house cost about $1,800 to build in 1903, or around $61,000 in today's dollars. It features a lateral gabled roof with a gabled bay at the right side of the main facade. There is a recessed entry porch on the left and another entrance further back on the right. Sometime between 1912 and 1949, the one-story rear porch was enclosed, and a small rear wing was added.

After arriving in Boise, Abbs became a partner in McGrew and Abbs, a firm that abstracted land titles, made loans, and sold insurance. In 1906, Abbs bought out the interest of his partner, Benjamin H. McGrew; a few months later, Abbs' business was acquired by the Boise Title and Trust Company. The Abbs family was living elsewhere in Boise by 1910 - at 1312 Jefferson Street, in a house Abbs rented. The 43-year-old Abbs and his 40-year-old wife shared the home with their only child, Helen (age 14). It is uncertain whether Abbs sold or rented out the Fort St. cottage. By 1914, Abbs was general manager and secretary of the title company. His only child, Helen, was then a senior at Boise High School. by 1915, according to a Boise city directory, Abbs owned fifteen acres in Ada County (which includes Boise), valued at $3,400.

The Fort Street Historic District consists of 47 blocks north of the central business district that was part of the original boundaries of Boise City as platted in 1867. The primarily residential district covers much of W. Hays, W. Fort, W. Franklin, and W. Washington Streets roughly between N. Fifth and N. Sixteenth Streets. The W. Fort St. cottage was owned by the Leonard family by 1982. The cottage has once again become a single-family home with three bedrooms, an unfinished basement, and nearly 1,500 square feet of space.

French, Hiram Taylor. History of Idaho: A Narrative Account of Its Historical Progress, Its People, and Its Principal Interests. Volume 3. Chicago, IL. Lewis Publishing Company, 1914.

Hayes, Jeffrey A. Tourtellotte & Hummel architectural illustrations, circa 1915-1936, Archives West: Overview of the Collection. January 1st, 2022. Accessed January 23rd, 2023. https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv99621.

Lichtenstein, Suzanne. NRHP nomination of Fort Street Historic District, Boise, Idaho. National Register. Washington, DC. National Park Service, 1982.

Official Data Foundation. $1,800 in 1903 - 2023, CPI Inflation Calculator. January 1st, 2023. Accessed January 20th, 2023. https://www.officialdata.org/us/inflation/1903?amount=1800.

R.L. Polk & Co. R.L. Polk & Company's Boise City and Ada County Directory 1915. Volume X. Salt Lake City, UT. R.L. Polk & Co., 1915.

U.S. Census Bureau. Household of Walter J. Abbs at 1312 Jefferson St., District 15, Boise, Idaho, dwelling 5, family 5. Washington, DC. U.S. Government, 1910.

Wright, Patricia. National Register nomination of Tourtellotte and Hummel Architecture Thematic Resource. Washington, DC. National Park Service, 1982.

Zillow. 915 W. Fort St., Boise, ID 83702, Zillow. January 1st, 2022. Accessed January 21st, 2023. https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/915-W-Fort-St-Boise-ID-83702/79626197_zpid/.