Daniel F. Murphy House

The stone house at 1608 N. Ninth St. is the Daniel F. Murphy House, built by and for a local stonemason. Murphy and his wife lived there for the rest of their lives. Constructed in 1908 of Boise sandstone, the two-story house is L-shaped in plan with a front corner porch topped by a balcony. Murphy and his firm worked on many other stone structures/foundations built in Boise, including the Idaho State Capitol, the Montandon Building, and Boise High School. The house was modified to contain four apartments in 1956 but has become a four-bedroom, three-bath single family home. The Daniel F. Murphy House became a National Register of Historic Places listing in 1982 for its significance in architecture.

Daniel Francis Murphy, the son of an Irish-born building contractor from Springfield, Massachusetts, came to Boise in 1903 after working for years in New York City and Chicago. He was then in a partnership with Charles Storey in a construction firm called Storey and Murphy. Later, Murphy's firm was renamed Capitol Construction Company. In 1900, Murphy married Emma Louise Woesner. The couple's only child was a son, Raymond Francis, born in Idaho in 1905; another child did not survive. Murphy was a Catholic and a member of the fraternal organization the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks.

In 1910, 39-year-old Daniel F. shared his Ninth Street home with wife Emma (age 35), son Raymond (5), and sister-in-law Edna C. Woesner (24). Emma and her sister were born in Michigan. Emma passed away in 1934. Sometime between 1935 and 1940, Daniel F. rented out the house to Frank O'Conors; O'Conors lived in Lewiston, Idaho in 1935. In 1940 Frank (56) worked as a shovel runner in the mining construction industry. Frank shared his rented house on Ninth St. with wife Mary (47) and two boarders, one of whom was the widowed Daniel F. (68), who had retired. The other boarder was a house maid named Bernice O'Neill (22) who lived in Rexburg, Idaho in 1935. Frank's rent was $50 monthly. Daniel F. died on September 25th, 1940, and was buried with Emma at Boise's Pioneer Cemetery. Son Raymond F. Murphy lived until 1965.

L-shaped in plan, the Murphy House is about 57 feet long by 30 feet wide. The two-story house was built of sawn (smooth-faced) coursed ashlar Boise sandstone. There is a square front porch where the wings meet with Doric columns; the porch originally had two entry doors but was reduced to one door plus one large picture window in 1956. The front porch is topped by a balcony accessed by a bedroom doorway below a hipped roof. The home is topped by a hipped roof with carved exposed rafters and a central stone-faced chimney. There's a rear corner porch with another entrance. The foundation is rough-faced sandstone, and the basement is unfinished. A clapboard-sided garage along the rear of the lot by the alley was thought to also date to 1908. Sandstone fireplaces were hand-carved with frieze relief sculptures.

The Murphy House was occupied and owned by the Maley family in 1980 when the building was documented for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. The house is significant for its architectural uniqueness. The neoclassical elements of the home's design combined with Italianate details make this house one of Boise's only sandstone villas. Murphy built this house at the same time he was building the State Capitol. Unlike most stone houses in town, which were usually rough-faced, Murphy went to the effort of using sawn stone, not unlike the surface of the Capitol. The buff-colored, high-quality sandstone Murphy used to build the Capitol came from the Jellison Brothers quarry at Table Rock, east of Boise, and has proven to stand up well to the local climate. To streamline work on the Capitol, Murphy used huge stone saws and metal planers for increased efficiency and uniformity in stone pieces. The Murphy House last sold in 2003.

B, Kathleen. Memorial for Daniel F. Murphy (1870-1940), Find a Grave. November 3rd, 2009. Accessed February 9th, 2023. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/43878493/daniel-francis-murphy.

Briggs, Richard. NRHP nomination of Daniel F. Murphy House, 1608 North Ninth Street, Boise, Idaho. National Register. Washington, DC. National Park Service, 1980.

Hawley, James H. History of Idaho: the gem of the mountains. Volume 3. Chicago, IL. S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1920.

Re/Max. Details for 1608 N 9th St., Boise, Idaho 83702, Re/Max. January 1st, 2023. Accessed February 8th, 2023. https://www.remax.com/id/boise/home-details/1608-n-9th-st-boise-id-83702/2871741961277272555.

U.S. Census Bureau. Household of Daniel Murphy at 1608 Ninth St., Boise District 12, Idaho, dwelling 117, family 123. Washington, DC. U.S. Government, 1910.

U.S. Census Bureau. Household of Frank O'Conors at 1608 Ninth St., Boise District 13, Idaho, dwelling 72. Washington, DC. U.S. Government, 1940.