Art Deco apartments to be demolished. Here’s what is planned to go in their place
When Creed Herbold contemplated tearing down a 1937 Art Deco apartment building and replacing it with a modern condominium building, he wanted something he could be proud of and that fit into the neighborhood at 16th and Bannock Streets.
With the release this week of plans for a five-story mixed use building at 1620 W. Bannock St., Herbold believes he’s accomplished that.
“We think the architect did an amazing job,” Herbold said Friday by phone. “And I think it’s going to be a beautiful building for the neighborhood.”
Herbold hopes to begin work next June, tearing down the three-story Travis Apartments with their 10 small, one-bedroom apartments that rented for $825 a month. Construction on the new building is expected to take 12 to months months, he said.
Historic preservationists tried to save the Travis Apartments. Preservation Idaho called it a historic building and lamented that “80 years of history will go to the landfill.”
The stucco building’s exterior features full-height stepped pilasters — rectangular, column-like ornaments — that wrap each corner and flank the central entrance. That architectural motif is repeated between each of the upper walls with stepped embellishments emphasizing the vertical characteristics of the Art Deco style.
Art Deco emerged in the 1920s in Paris in arts, crafts and architecture and gained popularity in the 1930s. The Chrysler Building and Rockefeller Center in New York were built in Art Deco style.
Visual Arts Cork, an Irish online arts encyclopedia, writes: “The art deco style, which above all reflected modern technology, was characterized by smooth lines, geometric shapes, streamlined forms and bright, sometimes garish colours.”
Last spring, Herbold told the Idaho Statesman that he considered renovating the building with its apartments of between 500 and 750 square feet each, but decided against it. The electrical system is old, insulation is thin, and there are just too many items that need upgrading to make it worthwhile, he said.
Neighborhood residents seemed to approve of the new building, with 85% of those polled by the West Downtown Neighborhood Association giving their OK, though 60% wanted to see the building’s 65-foot height shortened.
The building did not have a historic designation, but those who wanted to save it said it was rare for an Art Deco building in Boise to be used as residences. They also decried the loss of affordable housing.
Paula Benson, president of Preservation Idaho, told the Statesman last spring the loss of the building would move the city away from its goal of retaining a diversity of housing costs.
Nonetheless, in September, the Boise City Council approved a zone change that allows the housing density on the lot of a third of an acre to double. It also approved the 65-foot height.
The new building will have 22 condominiums. Six will have 800 to 850 square feet, one bedroom and one bathroom. The rest will have two bedrooms and two bathrooms with 1,100 to 1,250 square feet.
Herbold and his wife, Ann Swindell, will occupy the entire top floor. It would have 4,351 square feet plus a 2,522-square-foot private deck.
Prices have not been set. “It’s two years away, so it’s hard to know where the market’s going to be at that point,” Herbold said.
A survey of downtown condominiums for sale on Friday found prices ranging from $279,000 for a studio with 500 square feet to $525,000 for a two-bedroom, two-bathroom unit with 1,387 square feet.
Plans call for 28 parking spaces for cars and 32 for bicycles.
Each unit will have a balcony. There will be indoor parking on the ground floor, with other parking spaces outside the building. The condos will be on the second, third and fourth floors.
“One of the special features of the building is the way it kind of undulates back and forth,” Herbold said. “It’s attractive, plus it allows for all those balconies.”
