Idaho Building

Completed in 1911, this five-story red brick building with terra cotta trim is the Idaho Building. The building's opening was celebrated in local newspapers who proclaimed this structure to be Boise's first skyscraper. Designed for one of Boise's leading real estate developers and former mayor, Walter E. Pierce, the building was owned by the family of L.H. Cox, a partner of Pierce, until the 1960s. As of 2023, the ground floor of the historic building houses Cupbop Korean Barbecue (278 N. 8th), Wild Root Cafe (276 N. 8th), Prost! German pub (274 N. 8th), and Tonic Hair and Skin Bar (707 Bannock). The upper floors now contain Idaho Building Apartments. The building was documented in 1980 by the Historic American Buildings Survey and was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

The architect of the Idaho Building was Henry John Schlacks, based in Chicago. This was one of several buildings designed for real estate developer Walter E. Pierce. From 1895 to 1897. Pierce served as Mayor of Boise for one term and instituted the city's first street paving project. Pierce was born in Texas in 1860 and worked as a hotel proprietor in Missouri in the 1880s. He moved to Boise soon after Idaho became a state in 1890. Pierce partnered with Lindley H. Cox and John M. Haines to form W. E. Pierce and Company, a real estate and title abstract firm. The firm was originally located at 820 Main St. but moved into the new Idaho Building.

The six-story plus basement building is second Renaissance Revival style. It is U-shaped in plan and measures about 103 by 122 feet. The first floor is stone with Doric pilasters. The upper floors are faced in red brick with banded brick pilasters marking the seven bays on each side and terra cotta panels above and below the windows. At the top of the fifth story is a band with egg and dart molding. The sixth floor is the fanciest, with pilasters of contrasting bands of brick and terra cotta with terra cotta brackets below a denticulated cornice. The brick visible on the two non-street sides is buff/ tan.

In 1912, the first floor featured two elevators beyond the central entrance lobby (on the west side), with office spaces to the north and south. There were six retail spaces on the first floor, with the one closest to the street corner containing a drugstore. The upper floors were designed with a hallway down the center of each wing with offices on both sides of the hallway. A number of attorneys and architects had offices in the building in the 1910s. Other early tenants were Boise Title & Trust Company, with Pierce as a business partner, and Darice Beauty Parlor.

W. E. Pierce and Company sold the Idaho Building to Lindley H. Cox, the company's vice president, in 1923. Cox headed L.H. Cox and Company, a local real estate and insurance firm. The Idaho Office Building Company purchased the Idaho Building from the Cox family in 1964. There were plans to raze buildings in a wide swath of downtown Boise, including the Idaho Building, to create an outdoor shopping mall; thankfully, the urban renewal project did not take place. Boise Redevelopment Agency became the new owners in 1973.

Alexander's, a men's clothing store, occupied the corner ground-floor space when the building was photographed for the National Register. When the building was studied by the Historic American Buildings Survey in 1980, the original doors were still present on the office floors, plus original mosaic tiles in the hallways. The upper floors were partially converted into housing after renovations in 2000 and were leased to become a hostel in the early 2010s. They are now Idaho Building Apartments and feature the original hardwood (maple) flooring in the 49 studio, one-, and two-bedroom units.

Apartments.com. Idaho Building Apartments, Apartments.com. Accessed January 19th, 2023. https://www.apartments.com/idaho-building-boise-id/8beqbj3/.

Boise Title & Trust Company. "Protection." Evening Capital News October 9th, 1912. Classifieds sec, 7-7.

Darice Beauty Parlors. "The Darice Beauty parlors...." Caldwell Tribune (Caldwell, ID) May 26th, 1911. Classifieds sec, 3-3.

Downtown Boise Association. Idaho Building, Downtown Boise. January 1st, 2023. Accessed January 19th, 2023. https://downtownboise.org/go/idaho-building.

French, Hiram T. An Illustrated History of the State of Idaho. Chicago, IL. Lewis Publishing Company, 1899.

Hibbard, Don. NRHP nomination of Idaho Building, Bannock and Eighth Streets, Boise, Idaho. National Register. Washington, DC. National Park Service, 1978.

Rowse, Patricia L. Hunsucker, C. Wayne. Historic American Buildings Survey documentation of Idaho Building, 216 North Eighth Street, Boise, Idaho. HABS ID-21. Washington, DC. Department of the Interior, 1980.

W. E. Pierce & Company. "W.E. Pierce & Co., Incorporated, Paid-Up Capital, $1,000,000." Evening Capital News (Boise) February 4th, 1917. Anniversary ed, Advertisements sec, 4-4.