![]() The Boise High School was now a three building campus. In 1936, two blocks from the central wing, the school added a red brick gymnasium in the then popular Art Deco style. In fact, these two porticos were being constructed at nearly the same time. The two-story Ionic portico of the school’s central bay is one of only three such monumental porches in Idaho and is similar to the portico of the State Capitol, just five blocks away. The three- and four-story sections of the school were constructed using a gray-white brick, an unusual choice in a city known for its frequent use of local sandstone. This section housed administrative offices, classrooms, and a 1,800-seat auditorium with an opera-sized fly loft. A grand classical staircase leads to the school’s porch and the piano nobile. It has an imposing Greek portico that includes a denticulated pediment featuring a roundel with a portrait of Plato. The central section of the school was completed in 1922. The new building was designed in a commercial classical style to blend with the two older high school wings. In 1920, a new, three-story industrial arts building was built across the street from the east wing. ![]() The west wing, added in 1912, contained classrooms and home economics labs. The high school was constructed in three stages with the east wing-housing classrooms and a gymnasium-completed first, in 1908. (In fact, five of Tourtellotte’s most famous buildings stand within five blocks of Boise High School.) Selection of the architect began a fourteen-year effort to create a high school worthy of Idaho’s capital city. John Tourtellotte, the Boise architect who designed the State Capitol in 1905, as well as the public library, was chosen to design the new structure. Led by local architects, debates about the quality of the school were intense, and by 1908 a new design had been approved. The original red brick high school built on this site between 19 was constructed quickly and with little oversight. ![]() Most school districts search for large tracts of land outside the city, but Boise High supporters and local preservationists fought to keep the high school downtown. It is distinguished as being one of the few remaining urban high schools in Idaho. At the north edge of the city center, Boise High was the only high school in Idaho’s capital city between 19. There are no designs available at this time.Boise High School is one of five traditional public secondary high schools within Boise’s city limits. If all goes according to plan, Safdie Architects will work with local firm CSHQA on the Boise building, which should be complete in late 2021. His practice designed a public library in Salt Lake City, Utah, a science museum in Wichita, Kansas, and a performing arts center in Kansas City, Missori. “The building program, the public engagement process, and the site itself, will be the foundation of a design solution unique to Boise, one that reflects its highest aspirations and values as a community.” “The City of Boise has a clear vision for how the new Boise Library can be a gateway to the city,” said Moshe Safdie, in a city-issued press release. The total budget for the project is around $60 to $70 million, money that would come from fundraising and public financing, the Idaho Statesman reported. The initial contract, valued at almost $400,000, would cover preliminary designs, which may include proposals for reusing the existing library building. The stacks and related programming will take up the bulk of the new structure, but the building will also include roughly 20,000 square feet of public events space and 20,000 square feet for Boise’s Arts and History Department. The building will be sited on the same five-acre parcel as the existing library, a converted 1940s hardware warehouse. Yesterday, the Boise City Council approved a three-month contract with Safdie’s firm, Safdie Architects, to come up with a concept design for the 150,000-square-foot public library.
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